Charging Fees to Access CO 14ers

There is a rumor floating around that the Man is looking at your Access to Colorado's 14'ers with hungry eyes.

Good plan or bad policy?

mountainnewsdesk.com/index.…

The Watchdog wrote: Good plan or bad policy?

Doesn't matter...the fee-for-use dam broke a long time ago, when we were all asleep during prosperous times. Now that Leviathan is starved for cash, there is no stopping it.

Translation for campaign season: "It's either fees or _____ will end Medicare as we know it"

It's the age old story of taxing the working middle class until they become poor.

From Watchdog's "talking points":

"Furthermore, nature is not fragile but rather it is an ever-evolving system that is constantly changing. Yet, liberal environmentalists believe terrible things are happening when anything changes in nature: An animal migrates to a new zone, they call that a non-native species. Seeds blow into a new area and take root, they call that an invasive species."

I'm not sure where to begin so I'll just point out that your understanding of the issues is incorrect. No one calls a species migrating an invasive species.

There's nothing like objectivity when reporting subjective material

"CPW to kill all fish in Miramonte Reservoir"

telluridenews.com/articles/…

Those fish migrated to that body of water illegally and now they will be killed.

The article has two #4's. Good for offwidths but not so much for incremental lists....

Tough room.

1. Crag Dweller seems to find my personal philosophy more interesting than an issue that will impact the next generation of climbers. Sorry I think different than you.

2. I bring up the The Miramonte Reservoir because it is the next thing the eye is drawn towards when you start realizing the people in charge aren't the brightest. None of those fish are native, the game fish CO Parks and Wildlife stock at Miramonte are non native. A random fish shows up and they are going to poison the whole rez.... killing All the fish. ?

The fishing community is divided on the issue:

coloradofisherman.com/forum…

A couple rebuttals to what the linked to article had to say:

"I have been hiking Colorado high peaks for about three decades, the garbage and poop they speak of is a lie."

I've come across plenty of garbage and shit while hiking, including 14ers. I passed multiple wag bags sitting on the trail while doing Whitney.

"The peaks around Alma are NOT tourist attractions, they are a heaping pile of rubble that no one would climb unless they are attempting to climb all the 14ers. Only peakbaggers know of these choss pile mountains and fewer of them actually stop in Alma."

I assume they're talking about Lincoln, Democrat, and Cameron. Just because the author doesn't want to climb them doesn't mean nobody wants to climb them. It doesn't look like the best hike, but it's short and is a good easy way to get into 14ers, especially for kids or those less experienced. In fact, I plan on doing them this weekend with my wife and a coworker.