Joseph Don Mount will not be visiting, legally anyway, any national park in the state of Arizona for two years. Those privileges are reserved exclusively for people who do not plan to lead enormous groups of people on hikes without any kind of permit or permission, or, frankly, common sense.
Mount was busted for organizing a hike of 139 people in 2020 on a rim-to-rim hike at the Grand Canyon. The park allowed max group sizes of 11 people, and forbids would-be megagroups from splitting into smaller groups to skirt the rules.
Park authorities say Mount was aware of the rules but kept right on planning the trip and recruiting hikers anyway. He was made aware of the rules after tipsters alerted authorities after seeing Facebook posts advertising the hike, including pleas to keep their plans a relative secret to avoid being shut down. Rangers told Mount his hike, apparently a religious gathering of some kind, violated the rules. Mount had collected thousands of dollars in “registration” fees, and to pay for guides and transport.
Eventually some 139 people or so did make the hike, drawing complaints from fellow park goers about violating Covid safety protocols and blocking trail usage for many as the enormous group clogged the paths.
Mount pled guilty to misdemeanors and gets two years of probation in addition to being banned from Arizona national parks.
Photo: Jennifer Rogalla/Unsplash
Eventually some 139 people or so did make the hike, drawing complaints from fellow park goers about blocking trail usage for many as the enormous group clogged the paths.
…And how would you even coordinate such a thing to begin with? Just because something works on a social media (fantasy) website doesn’t necessarily make it feasible in real life!
Hopefully all these
suckerspeople got their “registration” fes refunded.I also read that the Park Rangers were aware of this and were waiting for them at the North Kaibab Trailhead, they witnessed the large crowds together, others with coordinated efforts using radios, no social distancing and overcrowding the trail, yet they did not stop this group from actually hiking the trail. The best deterrent from this happening again would have been to deny access and kick them out of the park right then and there.
Park rangers avoid confrontation.
This dude is a great organizer, maybe should be like a wedding planner or some stuff. Man sometimes me & 4 or 5 local buds are so busy we have trouble planning a suds at a local pub.
This was first thing I thought too
It’s no longer ‘amazing’ to me that some jerks use religion to exempt themselves from reasonable existing laws. Over and over and over! WTAF?
That mind set is getting more pervasive with dire consequences to everyone. “It’s my belief, but you will pay & obey.”
There’s often a financial agenda behind the posturing anyway.
Kind of reminds me of the vigorous discussions here about people building ‘meditative’ cairns in wilderness protected areas…
Even the text it’s usually based on says to follow the laws.
The people “forbidding” this, are the ones who should get an earful! The “National Parks” are there for the People! Comes dang close to violating his Constitutional rights as part of We the People! Now if this was only about “covid” and social distancing, well that’s just plain Ignorant and Stupid! These people were all outside!
Man you “Scared” little sheep, really need to stop your “bleating” and tell the government, ( National Park Service), to Shove It!
Ryke, you’re not winning anybody over here.
Amen.
A Bunch of National Park Supervisors are being very Visitor Unfriendly. Especially the Lady Beaurocrat at Big Bend NP !!
Limiting an outdoor hike to 11 per group somehow reduces Covid transmission? Did they have to wear masks? What a pathetic story! The science has changed!
The group size limit I don’t believe has anything to do with Covid. There’s size limits on trails throughout the park system and it’s been that way for a while.
It has nothing to do with COVID and everything to do with limiting commercial operators from clogging the trails with obscene amounts of people. 11 is the max size for commercially organized groups. Maybe do even a basic amount of research before commenting on stuff you know nothing about.
What type of hiker finds making an extended trip with 138 people desirable?
I agree, having 139 people on one hike down (and up) what can be a dangerous path at certain points, is way overboard. With that said using the excuse of CDC rules for social distancing is 100% B.S. It is a slippery slope (and a tricky balancing act) to regulate public lands. Hopefully, we can find common ground for public access. Our latest attempts to “regulate” overcrowding, to me, seems over-reached a bit.
This had nothing to do with CDC guidelines about social distancing. This was against the rules before COVID. The one mention of COVID in the article is in reference to the complaints of other park visitors.
How does one really ban someone from a national park? I don’t recall them ever taking my name upon entering a park.
It’s the thoughts, words, and actions of *gentlemen* such as yourself, that really drive home how bad the erosion of the public educational system your orange master is trying so hard to eradicate, is.
I was talked into joining a couple buddies on a casual R2R in 2020. Of course they picked a Saturday in October when everyone was itching to escape Covid lockdown. Wow, let’s just say I’ve made better decisions!
Where does it say that limiting group size is due to Covid? Group size is limited on many public lands, whether federal, state, or other. With just one google search, I was able to determine that, in additional to the Grand Canyon NP, group size is limited to 12 in Olympic NP, 12 in Yellowstone NP, 10 in White Mountain NF, 9 in Adirondack State Park (NY), 12 in Greylock State Reservation (MA) and 12 on the Appalachian Trail.
None of these restrictions mention Covid, rather the restrictions are in place to protect the environment and enjoyment of other users. These size restrictions predate Covid by many years.
Yeah, group limits have been in place for a long time. In UT, I call that the “Boy Scout rule” 🙂