Re: [Paddlewise] Wild women of the Colorado

At 07:21 AM 12/20/01 -0500, Rich Kulawiec wrote:
>On Wed, Dec 19, 2001 at 08:57:51PM -0800, Steven A. Holtzman wrote:
> > About 7-8 years ago, I did the Colorado through the Grand Canyon on a
> > commercial raft trip. Along the way, we ran into 2 kayakers, a man and 
> his dad
> > doing a private trip that they had been waiting for about 10 years for 
> their
> > permit to come through.
>
>One of the unfortunate things about the (mis)management of the permit
>system for the Grand Canyon is that it heavily (very heavily) favors
>commercial outfitters over private individuals.
>
>Roughly the way it works out is that if you're willing to pay a large
>amount of cash and ride on a motor-powered barge that spews pollutants
>into the environment, you can go next year.  If you are a private boater
>who wants to kayak, canoe, or raft the river, then you should probably
>apply for your permit when you buy your first boat, because by the time
>you're good enough, you may be lucky enough to get one.
>
>It's a sickening perversion of our national park system for private gain.
>(And, as you might guess, any attempt to reform it is met with howls of
>protest by the commercial outfitters, whose greed knows no bounds.)

You were doing so well until that last sentence fragment.  While I don't 
have a huge amount of experience with commercial outfitters, my general 
impression has been that most are not in it for the money.
   


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