Hey All -
I'm just about to post the updated Climbing Advisories on the first page of this thread, but wanted to respond briefly about the trash and trail braiding problems first.
I really appreciate the responses about trash / trail braiding and absolutely agree that the problems have gotten worse... In the 11+ years I've been working here (and the few before that when I was also hiking / climbing here), the trash and trail braiding are the worst I have seen. The trail braiding is bad in many places but I agree that it is particularly shocking along the Tunnel Trail. As someone who lives and works at the Pinns, is is so frustrating to see this place we love getting degraded.
As for things to do about it. First, I strongly recommend that each and every person commenting here sends personalized emails on the subjects directly on to our trails foreman James (james_bouknight@nps.gov)... You can CC me (gavin_emmons@nps.gov) as well if you'd like. Bruce Hildenbrand already sent a couple of emails on these subjects, and I think the more we receive, the better, as the emails help to document visitor concerns with the problems.
Second, organizing clean-up days (of trash and degraded trails) are great ideas. As many of you probably know, Pinnacles gained National Park designation a year ago, and that has definitely contributed to greater visitation (and visitor impacts) here. What you may not know is that the National Park designation brought absolutely no new money to the park, for more staff, maintenance, or anything else. With shrinking federal budgets and sequestration effects, the capacity of NPS personnel to adequately respond to park needs - law enforcement, trail maintenance, etc. - has been strained even further. Right now, we basically do not have a trails crew due to the funding cutbacks.
With these things in mind, any efforts on your part to remove trash and tend to braided trails are invaluable. I'm sure James would be thrilled to have folks agree on times to come out and have focused days of litter clean-up and trail repair. On my end, I have tried to organize trash clean-up days a couple times a year for NPS staff to be a part of, but of course the trash keeps on coming.
I am hoping to keep pushing the idea of having (more or less) mandatory trash clean-up days for Pinnacles staff, at least a couple times a year. Beyond that, we should work with James to organize some days when we can mobilize enough folks to bring down the trash load and work on trail projects. I would guess that with enough people, even a few hours in a day would have a substantial effect... And still leave some time for climbing afterwards.
Okay, enough for now... Advisory updates coming soon.
