zorglub

Remember the days of the internet when information was free flowing? At current rate, there will zero free content to read on the net in a few years. It'll be nothing but walled off paid for content.

@IamZOSO: Exactly!! The only thing that matters is the language of the bill. It could have been written by (insert your favorite villain here), it would still be a good bill.

@KavuRider: That's the slippery slope fallacy. If bikes are again allowed in Wilderness, then the only consequence will be for bikes to be allowed in Wilderness. The odds of opening Wilderness to extraction via a new law are absolutely nil.

@KavuRider: dude, all those Wilderness areas used to be inhabited before European settlers deemed them to be so special as to kick out the natives. Anyhow, banning cyclists to limit usage is conflating issues. If issue is overusage, limit it. Hikers/cyclists have the same impact, though cyclists rarely do multi day trips in wilderness while taking a crap everywhere. So, one can argue that cycling impact Wilderness less. The banning of cyclists is an irrational argument made for 2 reasons: either some puritanical imagery of wilderness as some kind of new age religion, or to limit the usage of public lands to one's preferred mode of enjoyment (i.e. hiking or atop some poor horse).

Another wildernut puritan.

@KavuRider: chicken little argument as usual. That argument from Patagonia is full of *sugar*. If one really wants to protect Wilderness, about we close to the horsey crowd who form pack trains to go take out of shape tourists glamping in Wilderness while defecating everywhere. Horses are not even native to the Americas. Furthermore, cyclists rarely go for a week in Wilderness to camp and what not. Most MTBers will go do a 20-25 miler and then go home for a shower. Being in and out in one day is way less disturbing to the wildlife. Finally, setting up a permit to limit number of visitors is really easy to do, though it's probably not necessary in most places. Anyhow, glad to see that the bill is brought back up again. One day, it'll happen, simply because it makes sense. Wilderness belongs to all human powered users, not just the chosen few that have lobbied their way into a monopoly access.