I thought I'd bump this old thread since it includes a bit of history and some great comments from BigRacket. Anyway, a lot has transpired in the last 3 years and most of it has not been good for America's primitive areas and/or natural treasures. For example, the forest service, even with the huge ...

Thanks for the words of welcome. I keep a personal hiking journal, documenting trail conditons, etc...which makes me more of a lurker here, unfortunately. However, this is absolutely the best hiking site for Arizona, or anywhere else, for that matter. It's well-designed and the participants are more...

Phoenix. More choices and easier to get out of town. I think it's harder to get out of town in Phoenix. Nothing kills the hiking mood like a traffic jam. This IS a good question. I've given it quite a bit of thought and I choose Tucson, but that may be because I think it has a higher quality of lif...

I thought some of you might appreciate an update, especially for those who participated in this discussion: (the following quote is from the aznofee.org website) “In what is being called a 'remarkable victory,' opponents of the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program are today celebrating what they see...

In response to bigracket1's reply: Excellent points, bigracket. There is a major difference in levying use fees for high-use areas (close to metros, etc.) and levying fees for wilderness areas; however, none of the legislation being pushed thru Congress makes that distinction (one consideration tha...

In response to Photosmith's reply: Please don't use a tired cliche ("nothing is free") to argue for or against something that is so important and misunderstood. First, the Forest Service is a government organization funded by my tax dollars (and yours). We are already paying to use public...

I'm not sure if anyone has posted this, but here is a link to sign a petition against the extension of the federal fee demo program (which is responsible for the parking fee in the Tonto Forest). http://www.petitiononline.com/feedemo/petition.html The petition is... · As U.S. citizens we have alread...