Attached is a thoughtful email and my response..just my response comes first. I appreciate gracious feedback.

Nice idea and I couldn't agree more. When I was a child visiting the
> Smokies I thought of Rangers as probably the coolest job around. It led
> me into a life devoted to science and the outdoors. It dismays me to see
> how with time, our society (and the realities of running a world class
> Federal parks system) has rendered the job to be more focussed on
> enforcement and maintenance, rather than Service.
>
> However it is my opinion that a majority of first time visitiors will
> always flock to the "hot spots" of Newfound Gap/Clingman's Dome and Cades
> Cove. The outer areas (where most of we regulars go) require more effort.
> Whether we like it or not, the Smokies are becoming the world's largest
> city park. If you've hiked around the Park perimeter, there are houses
> literally on the Park Boundary throughout the TN side, and much of the NC
> side. The view at night is nothing like it used to be. We have to face
> the fact. I am no Luddite and want people out of the Park. We just have
> to find ways...and make tough choices...to deal with the
> future.....BTW...with your permission, I'd like to move this discussion to
> the blog...but only if that is OK with you. And thank you for your
> thoughtful post and kind feedback.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Unverferth"
> To: "James Wedekind"
> Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2005 2:19 AM
> Subject: Re: [Notes by Ole Slew Foot] New Comment Posted to
> 'Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-anges'
>
>
>>I think you are missing my point. I am not suggesting that they write
>>tickets. I would like to see them do more interpretive stuff in the park.
>>Yes it would mean an increased presence, but would that be such a bad
>>thing? I do not want anymore roads in the park and I don't see how more
>>enforcement would bring more cars. Here is my experience: I have known
>>of a number of people (most that I meet) who knew nothing about the park
>>when they vacationed there. Because of their lack of knowledge they tend
>>to go where the crowd goes. While there are places such as the Cove that
>>are overcrowded, there are other places that see relatively little
>>traffic. I believe that more staff at the visitor center and better
>>promotion at those centers about all the park has to offer would improve
>>conditions greatly. I also believe that there are a number of spots in the
>>Cove that are natural sites for bear jams. The park has even posted those
>>sites in the past with the bear warning signs--why not have staff
>>interpret there? Finally the last two Octobers that my family visited the
>>park there were rangers patrolling the Cove. They kept traffic moving
>>nicely and the jams were kept to a minimum. I do think the shuttle would
>>be welcomed for those of us that do like to hike and I for one would like
>>the chance to hike some of the trails that are the drop off and pick up
>>type. By the way thanks for taking the time to post your blog. It is
>>nice to read and talk to someone who cares about the Smokys as much as I
>>do.
>

Every once in awhile you run across persons that remind you that We are the People that the Constitution was written for. Such are the Grand Old Broads. These ladies are coming to our nick of the woods to expose the North Shore Road for the pork barrel and natural catastrophe that it is. Read the attached and please attend and Beat the Devil!

I've been the told by the Powers that Be that the KNS is "headed in a new direction" with this blog and decided to open it up and make it more of a chat room. Though I was never laid off in my many years in Oak Ridge, I can take a hint. Guess they didn't like my stuff, or my message...so whatdahey? I'm takin off the gloves and lettin it fly.

The most replies I got was my piece on Cades Cove. The gist of most replies said shuttles won't work...just charge admission and enforce a law that says you can't stop except at a pull off. Sorry. I don't buy it. The Park Service has no stomach or the funding to post cops (tree pigs they called 'em back in the day) all around the Cove just to make traffic flow. I think that's a riduculous idea myself. It would greatly ruin the experience to see an army of Rangers directing traffic all day. Not my idea of a good time...and certainly not the job most folks go into Rangering to do.

No one ever said WHY shuttles won't work. The bottom line as I see it is that most people like the comfort and security of sitting in their own vehicle, listening to their own musical backdrop while safely removed from anything natural or social. Sorry again, folks. Things gotta change. This ain't Disneyland. Yes it is a place with a warped history, and a strange message (i.e. "We ran out the native folks, then we bought out the settlers, now you can drive around and look at where a few of these people used to live"). Pretty place to look at though. And I admit it was great place to drive around back in the 70s in winter with few other cars, enjoy the deer, some companionship and cheap wine, throw a frisbee in the fields, and listen to the Ozark Mtn. Daredevils or Barefoot Jerry and celebrate the countryside. Well there's just too many people like us and we gotta move on. Before too long we may come to realize we like ridin the shuttle..hope to God they don't have some touchy-feely driver telling us all about the glory of Nature and what an idyllic life these people once lived before we threw their sorry souls out, and instead have WDVX piped in with a kick-arse sound system!

With the recent tragedy in the Gulf, the Smokies issues are quite trivial in comparison. The Smokies have seen their fare share of storms, floods, and loss of life – but thankfully nothing like what recently hit Down South. Most were back in the days when folks had stripped the hillsides bare and then moved in along the banks of the high-gradient streams. The streams in the Smokies are “flashy” in that the water rises and falls quickly, quite unlike our friends in Evangeline. The most talked about flood happened in 1951. Carson wrote one of his last columns about it.

Many may have already forgotten that last year’s one-two punch of hurricane Ivan and tropical storm Frances pummeled the NC side of the Smokies, flooding many out of their homes and triggering horrific mudslides. Hurricane Opal in 1995 arrived in the Smokies with full hurricane-force winds. The storm devastated the high country from Newfound Gap to Mt. Guyot. I remember hiking along the AT soon after the trail crews had (literally) blasted their way through the carnage. It was amazing how the storm had completely leveled certain plots, and not touched others. Even areas on the western (leeward) side of the main range were not spared. In many ways it looked like the way a storm damages a field of corn, with patches squashed flat, like the hair on the back of your arm.

I recently returned from a five day trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. That area was subject to a freakish, non-tropical storm called a derecho (noaa.gov/) on July 4, 1999. The storm raked the area with 100 mph winds over a path tens of miles wide. The storm injured many, but thankfully caused no deaths. Today, the effects of the storm are still quite evident. Some areas lost 100% of their trees. Evergreens were stripped of their needles, thousands of acres of trees were uprooted huge areas now resemble the ragged look of recent clear cuts. Some called the storm a 5,000 year event (wonder who came up with that?). But the place is still there. There was no looting, or riots, or finger pointing – just many stories of heroism under extreme duress.

One of the reasons we love wilderness is it lets us experience all that nature can throw at us. In fact catastrophe is one of nature’s most enduring qualities. Natural selection depends on it. Extinction leads to explosions of speciation. However, when catastrophe hits the populated areas, it exposes the fragility of our existence. It makes those used to comfort resort to the lifestyle we take to the backcountry – the life of spare meals on cookstoves, flashlights to pierce the darkness, unfiltered water, lack of sanitation, and encounters with vermin of all kinds. Storms are the stuff of awe and legend for good reason. We best revere and fear them.