The Coast to Crest Trail is another assault on private property and business in Del Norte County.
On French Hill the trail crosses a private holding that contains the largest rock quarry in Del Norte County that is not on a river bar.
The owners of the property are under attack from the Friends of Del Norte and the other trail advocates. Clark Moore is a leader in pushing for yet another piece of private land to become park.
When highway 199 was being repaved the rock was quarried on French Hill. The “Friends” stopped the location of a temporary asphalt plant there because trucks would use the road. One of the loudest opponents is the daughter of a high ranking county “economic development” bureaucrat.
The asphalt plant was then placed right next to the highway and the river for all the tourists to see. Plus, all the trucks had to make extra trips so the cost to Del Norte County taxpayers and world energy supplies went up.
Del Norte County has great hiking with little to no crowding on our trails. There are alternative routes to the Crest, but God forbid someone might have to sleep over night in the sacred Redwood National Park. The current route was chosen to focus energy on converting the French Hill gravel mine to public land.
The owners of the French Hill property are fighting to keep their land private and productive. The way to help them is to look at the big picture and just say, “NO MORE”!
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3 comments:
I see the RAC committee pushing the funding of money for this venture. JM
Say do the local tribes have a reverence for the spirits of the mountains that ring us in all sides save one? 'Cause the Spirit of Siskiyous has come down from the mount yet again with some real wise insight, "Moore is Less"!
OMG, one has got to wonder why, with the 100s of perhaps 1000s of miles of government owned, supported and controlled (74+% of Del Norte) forest / mountain / beach / ocean enhanced venues (roads / trails); general growth in tourism in our county community continues to be of lowest in state and bounce along the very bottom of our state curve. Soooo, do we all really need "50 miles moore" (AKA)?
Geeeezzz, when all those many long trails of reality are matched upside time & money to be spent with "50 miles moore", aren’t we in fact saying whoa whoa whoa to the machinery of new touristical market-tivity? When what we need to be saying is giddy-up instead! Or from another perspective, aren't we in fact trying to "beat a dead horse" here. Soooooo, do we all really need another "50 miles moore"?
Stay with me on this; if more is "50 miles moore" and in our case more has been found wanting; than for Christ's sake (no profanity intended) do we truly need "moore"? Mmmm LOL, WE DON'T! So as the Queen of Hearts was fond of saying; "off with his head!"
What we do need is a Phantom Ranch, El Tovar Lodge & Angel Bright cabins (as in the Grand Canyon) in our Redwoods! These articles bring in the tourista dollars and leave them here. Not only that but they would change our county community image from a "dilapidated strip-mall" of lunch counters and drive through latte kiosks to a destination's destination.
So when someone comes along & offers you "moore" of the same; Remember, we've been there, done that, and these are nothing "moore" than old myths being sold by known entities to feed long hidden agendas.
Mme. Defarge
Del Norte county is attempting to create tourism? We have a great amount of ink spent on the coast to crest trail.
Real story: A county visitor asked me where Stout Grove was. My answer was “About a mile and a half down the road but when you run out of pavement slow down to less than 5 MPH because the road is so bad you really have to want to get there.
The question is “how many people will come to DN County to hike the coast trail and how many people come to DN County to see Stout Grove? It would seem likely that more of our resources should be channeled to what is good of DN County rather than a “Pet Project”. The “coast to Crest” thing really means little to DN County.
It is a definite application for “high risk” grant money. The definition is this: The money is spent and nothing is achieved but some sort of philosophical gratification. What does it accomplish for DN County? If your answer is nothing, you catch on quick.
Historically, grant monies have started out as a big snow job and wind up as lot of slush.
The Cal –Works program, the saw- mill etc. Where are they now? All produced good excuses but no results.
Are we going to ask for more grant dollars and expect no results? If so vote for the “Coast to Crest Trail” Go for it.
Why not venture for something more mundane such as improved road maintenance to Stout Grove.
I was embarrassed when I was asked, “Is this the road to Stout Grove” I had to answer “yes”. I also said that your vehicle must travel very slowly to get there. It was embarrassing to realize that DN County is applying for a 900K grant to create the “Coast to Crest Trail” but wheel alignment was required after visiting the beautiful Stout Grove. Anybody that does not believe me should visit Stout grove and see how tourist friendly the access is. That is the true test of the credibility of my words. If a grant for Del Norte County is issued it should be for the road maintenance to Stout Grove rather than a “a pie in the sky” nature trail.
It is odd how the “system” works. The “system” seems to work great for our minority special interest groups and their pet projects but not for the citizens of Del Norte County.
That is why I refuse to vote a shortsighted (pet project) candidate running for District 3 Supervisor. Del Norte County deserves better leadership. In many elections we vote for the lesser of evils. We are fortunate in this district 3 election to not have that problem. We have a clear choice of what is good for Del Norte County. Do we want to elect part of our problem or a solution to our problem? Please get out to vote! Your vote is important in this election. Let the silent majority be heard.
EP
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