Guilty plea for man who led oversized Grand Canyon hike group

[Pivo]

A Washington state man who acknowledged organizing a rim-to-rim hike at Grand Canyon National Park for 139 people when the size of such groups is limited pleaded guilty Friday to a misdemeanor charge connected to the October 2020 trip.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/lo ... 172859001/

[sam_hikes]

There's a popular group of about 100 here in Phx who were caught doing this same thing but NPS did little even after sending their R2R enforcement ranger lady from the park to his home in Scottsdale.

Yes, NPS actually has someone who specializes in R2R enforcement targeting at least some of the bigger groups.

My understanding is the ranger then helped the group obtain future R2R SUPs instead of shutting them down as the leaders knew their R2R enterprise was illegal.

This same group still advertise their hikes and have a large R2R hike scheduled for this May 20 which is opening weekend for the R2R masses.

This group was so special and held a huge party for upwards of 100 hikers in the North Rim Campground after their hike for many years which NPS was well aware of but for some reason allowed them to continue their R2R enterprise even when NPS was aware of the exact date of their hike. ( they also had special shirts printed that they wore )

Seems like a double standard as I think at least one or 2 here on HAZ still use this guy's "services" as you often see them all wearing those special shirts in their HAZ R2R photos.

Sad as no one should want a group of 100 doing a R2R as wasn't the limit supposed to be 11 but instead I wouldn't be surprised if NPS requires day hiking permits on SK & BA.

[hikeaz]

Sad as no one should want a group of 100 doing a R2R

No s*it! Having trail-worked at/near Phantom on a couple of the October weekends I can tell you that there are vast amounts of folk who do NOT know how to behave in/revere the outdoors. Seemed the number ramped up significantly when people started replacing the terms hike/'hiking' with 'did'.

[chumley]

It's ok because the group was mostly single people of the same religious faith. I'm not an expert, but is there any faith that doesn't teach humans to be stewards of nature?

[big_load]

Sad as no one should want a group of 100 doing a R2R

One is a good group size. Much more than four puts too much between me and the environment I'm trying to soak up.

[rcorfman]

Sad as no one should want a group of 100 doing a R2R as wasn't the limit supposed to be 11 but instead I wouldn't be surprised if NPS requires day hiking permits on SK & BA.

R2R Special use permits are needed for groups of 12-30. Groups greater than 30 aren't allowed. Groups of 11 or less don't need a special use permit. Grand Canyon Special Use Permits

[ShatteredArm]

Seemed the number ramped up significantly when people started replacing the terms hike/'hiking' with 'did'.

On my way up BA on Monday I was asked if I "did the overnight thing". Wasn't sure how to respond.

[big_load]

@ShatteredArm

I came out on BA Monday, too. It generally wasn't bad, but there were a ton of dayhikers with no water or insufficient water as far down as the 3 Mile Rest House. I'm not sure if they adequately publicized that there was no water between Indian Garden and the Rim.