Gold Bar Access Plan

The DNR has just made their recreation plan for the Reiter Foothills Area (encompassing the bulk of Gold Bar bouldering) available, and you can find it here. The plan is the last document referenced and covers some 61 pages. Interestingly, the only reference to climbing in the entire document is a tangential reference to climbing in Forks of the Sky State Park, home to the Index River Boulders and Hagakure.

I plan to write a short comment and submit it to the DNR by the public comment deadline on December 4, as well as attend the public meeting on November 18 in Monroe. At the very least, the DNR needs to be aware that climbers are using the area and are essentially "hikers" in terms of our environmental impact (we won't tell them about the mid-height platform rigged up to protect Johnny's 40-foot problem J-Boogie). I will post the comment on this site before I submit it, and I welcome comments. If other people want to submit comments, I think it would be more than appropriate... just keep in mind that you are representing our wily herd of kittens to a governmental agency - respect and restraint are key. I'll post further updates here as they are available.