Space aliens using Appalachian Trail Shelters and campgrounds as a hideout! Park Service closes all camping facilities with a crazy cover story. Emergency Tree Inspection. Are you kidding. Facilities closed until further notice. You can’t make this crap up!
Francis
The Maryland Park Service, with the Potomac ATClub and the ATC, has temporarily closed ALL overnight shelters and campgrounds on the Maryland portion of the AT (40 miles). One exception: The Dahlgren campground will remain open.
This action has been taken as a precaution as they assess and conduct maintenance on hazardous trees near overnight facilities. The work is scheduled to begin on March 18, 2015. Shelters and campsites will be reopened as tree work is completed.
Hikers are permitted to camp along the trail on public lands.
:nerd
Canoeman
And this somehow makes sense to all 3 of these organizations as a method the prevent trees falling in the woods and landing on campers. I can just see the meeting where they came up with this hair brained idea. Lets close all the shelters and campgrounds along the AT in the entire state for some unknown amount of time so we can inspect the trees for dry-rot. I hope that Virginia isn’t next. Gee, I wonder how they did this in the past…?
Francis
Would the o.p. please return that magazine and kleenex box to daddy’s dresser when you’re all done? Thx.
ted beard
Dear MD Park Service, Potomac ATC Club and the ATC,
Perhaps instead of closing the shelters and campgrounds, you might consider information displays warning of the hazards of falling trees.
It’s the friggin’ woods - eventually all trees are going to fall and be replaced by new growth. Awareness should be on everyone’s agenda before they venture in. Of course, that assumes some acceptance of personal responsibility.
In the People’s Republic of California, with huge sections of forests burnt or subject to burning, even the far out wackos accept the danger of falling trees as an inherent risk of going into the mountains.
Booger
If anyone actually cares to check on why the closures in MD…It has to do with the death of a hiker 3/15/15 from a fallen tree. Please see A.T.dot com for more information. 
Lady Di
Should the trail club keep an eye out for possible tree dangers around campsites and shelters? Of course. Should they close all the shelters and campsites as a phoney publicity stunt to show just how concerned they are now that a hiker has been killed? The knee-jerk reaction here is the highly publicized closing of the shelters and campsites until further notice. Not the tree inspection. I wonder why the trail club failed to inspect the trees prior to the hiker being killed? Perhaps the knee-jerk action is out of guilt.
Francis
Many of the camping areas have already been re-opened and they are working on the rest. Just a short term thing to give them a chance to see what was needed in terms of trimming and such.
Billy
Everyone understands that the closures are a result of the death of a hiker. The issue is in my opinion that all this is a CYA overreaction. How does the bureaucracy determine what makes a tree “safe”? Once the shelters reopen, what happens if nature causes another tree to smack a hiker? If falling trees are an ongoing concern, why hasn’t continual incremental remediation been accomplished - vice these draconian measures? It just gives the impression of bureaucratic incompetence.
I’m a CA guy who lives between the Sierra and Death Valley (yes - outdoor life is very good). Nearly every year 2-3 folks accidentally die enjoying each area without the nanny state going crazy. Venturing into the wilderness - or woods - brings different risks that won’t disappear through bureaucratic intervention. Still a lot safer than living in a city.
booger
Booger, I completely agree. You and Francis are overreacting, demagogueing, and otherwise knee-jerk reacting. I suspect you’re about done now that the AT in Maryland is reopening already. See you, I’m sure, for your wild take on the next innocuous news clip to come out of the Appalachian hardwood forest.
ted beard
i know that particular area has been ravaged by gypse moth over the past decade… could it have something to do with an access of dead trees from that? seems that closing the shelters is a bit excessive though…
mls26cwru
I’m happy that they are trying something, even if it doesn’t make sense. Although, I have a rant. Why is it the public never hears about the AT until someone is killed? I get the same question from everyone now that I have announced my 2016 thru hike. That is ‘It isn’t safe out there, you shouldn’t go. Won’t you be scared?’ OMG, please media let the public know more about the AT. OK my rant is over.
Raven
Don’t worry, Raven. That’s what Bob Redford’s Walk in the Woods movie will be for, overexposing to AT to wider audience, just in time for 2016 spring thru-hiking season. Brace yourself for the blowback.
tron