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Best of NC Wilderness besides Picketts, Ptarmingan


johndavidjr

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Assuming the highest 'wild' scores will be from places with minimal human impact and travel, I propose the following hypothesis:

 

1 - The 'Wild' factor is directly proportional to the difficulty of gaining access. Lack of roads or trailheads nearby will deter many. Long, hard bushwhacks will deter most others.

 

2 - The higher the perceived rewards, the more suffering people are willing to endure on the approach. What if you had to bushwhack for two days straight to get to Das Toof? What if Terror peak had a road running to its base as Index does? What if the most remote and 'wild' place was a swamp infested with tons of mosquitoes and had little or no value to climbers, hikers, hunters, or campers? It probably stands a better chance of staying wild than do the Pickets, right?

 

Lauding great wilderness areas might increase the numbers of people who perceive a high reward, but it may not increase traffic if the access difficulties still deter most folks from going. How many people do you know who talk about climbing Challenger, Luna, Terror, Bear or other remote peaks but have never gone?

 

I see no reason to curtail discussion of 'wild' places, particularly if heightened awareness might encourage those who go to do so in an environmentally sensitive manner, and leave no trace of their passing.

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That's easy. Get yourself a DeLorme Washington atlas and gazeteer (see delorme.com if the stores in your neighborhood don't have them). Open it to pages 97, 98, 111 and 112. If you like your wild stuff above treeline, look at the white areas. If you like it below treeline, look at the green areas. It's as simple as that. They're all good and yes, people go there. They're probably less crowded than the Ptarmigan and Pickets because they get less publicity.

 

That's as close to spoon feeding as I'm willing to go.

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I worked as a climbing ranger in NOCA for ten years. Didn't see it all, but quite a bit. Wild? There's the Bacon Rim Traverse from Watson Lakes to Thornton Lakes via Bacon Peak, Green and Berdeen Lakes, Despair, and Triumph. If you ever get in there, note the rock walls NW and N of Berdeen Lake ...tucked into the little valley N of the unnamed peak NNW of Berdeen Lake. Take fly rod... Another remote traverse is Prophet Ridge from Big Beaver to Beaver Pass via Mt. Prophet and Skymo and No Name Lakes. Even if someone sees me write about these locales here, I'm not worried about over use really. If you can get to these places, you deserve to be there. I throw down the gauntlet. bigdrink.gif

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