About Mike DeSocio

Mike De Socio is a freelance journalist based in upstate New York. He covers cities/communities, climate change and the LGBTQ community.

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Comments

  1. Boreas says

    Excellent Article!!

    Frankly, I wish DEC would actually CLOSE trails with excessive mud/erosion concerns throughout the mud season. Mud season also has another issue – DEEP snow up high with none at the trailhead. Temporary warning signs recommending snowshoes on certain trails where dangerously deep snow is present. I learned this 40+ years ago on a mid-April hike out of Keene Valley and found myself wallowing in soft, rotten snow to my armpits in a col with 60 degree temps. It was exhausting and water was under the snow, soaking my feet and pants. I purchased my first set of snowshoes after that. We don’t get as much winter snow any more, but this never seems to get mentioned in mud-season articles. This residual late-season snow up high can literally be a killer without snowshoes.

  2. Tony Goodwin says

    I’ve always noted the size of many of the vehicles parked at trailheads. Obviously, it would be far better if everyone arrived in an electric vehicle, but that will be awhile. Meanwhile, I have happily existed always driving small, four-cylinder, two-wheel-drive vehicles. Why does someone need a full-sized, four-wheel-drive, SUV to drive dry roads from Albany or wherever to the Cascade trailhead.

    One ongoing complaint has been about the charter buses from Canada. These were a problem when they simply deposited 40+ hikers at one trailhead. Now, they drop them at several trailheads to limit group size. And with the bus, those hikers have made the trip to the trailhead getting about 250 passenger miles per gallon rather than the two people in a full-sized SUV getting about 30 passenger miles per gallon.

  3. Zephyr says

    I fail to see how the shuttle buses will reduce emissions. For many people it means they have to drive further to get to the shuttle bus in the first place, and then they ride in the bus which generates more emissions, then on their return trip they also have to drive further. I agree with Tony, drive a smaller, more fuel efficient car. It will be a long, long time before electric vehicles are feasible for many people, and many studies indicate that simply keeping your existing car on the road and driving it into the ground is more energy efficient. It takes a lot of energy, requiring emissions, to collect all the materials and build new cars, whether electric or otherwise. Besides, EVs are just way too expensive for most of us. Plus, you have to install the charging infrastructure to make them feasible. We have to contemplate hiking and other recreating closer to home if we truly want to green our hikes.

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