Etienne Note: Art of Liberty Foundation supporter Mark Barrett is facing a trial for refusing to submit to the organized crime "governments" fees and rules about hiking on "public" lands. Mark's harassment, fines, and upcoming court appearance lay bare the organized crime government's lies about "public lands." They aren't really the public's... The organized crime "government" seized the coolest land in the US, blocked it off, and charges fees to use it. They got a bunch of shave-headed cult members to threaten people with violence if they don't pay. It is only because of people like Mark who understand their rights (A "Right" is anything that is not a Wrong in the natural law tradition... If you aren't hurting anyone, then you should be left alone) that expose the scam to other. I am making his Give-Send-Go our violuntaryist charity of the week to help support him in the resistance that exposes the lies of "government" to others. Please share his case around and kick in if you can!
Right to Hike
Our God given and Constitutional rights are being violated in big and small ways every day. In my travels backpacking in the United States I’m seeing it everywhere. I’m speaking up, taking a stand, and educating people why it’s so important that we defend our rights now.
I want to encourage everyone I meet to stand up for their rights and to do it in a loving, Christian way.
One way, is by refusing to comply with the federal government requirement to carry a permit to hike in National Parks, forests and wilderness areas. I believe this is an unconstitutional violation of our right to travel and our right to privacy, and so, I refuse. The federally administered lands I hike in are the worst in the country for violating our rights. Many no longer accept cash payment for entrance or campground fees. You must pay online by card, or in person, again only by card. Both violate our right to privacy and federal law to accept cash.
Still more require hikers to give their names and addresses, state where they are going and on what dates they will be there, and to sign a permit changing them into a party to a contract, limiting their rights. Further requiring them to show this permit at any time to any federal employee who asks to see it under penalty of interfering with a federal employee in the performance of their duties. Violations can carry penalties of 6-12 months in jail and fines in the $1,000s.
Every day, thousands of times, at the entrance stations to National Parks like Yosemite and the Grand Canyon, visitors are not allowed to pay cash. Every day, at Wilderness Permit Offices in the National Parks, Ranger Stations in the National Forests, and at the on-trail kiosks to federally designated Wilderness Areas, thousands and thousands of people are having their right to privacy and travel violated by the federal requirements to have and carry a permit. It’s unconstitutional and it’s wrong.
I talk to other hikers and people I meet in towns along the way. Many agree, and are frustrated, but afraid not to comply. By refusing to obtain a permit, I am exercising peaceful civil disobedience and I’m encouraging others to do the same in the ways that feel right for them.
My actions have had consequences. I am backpacking on the Continental Divide Trail now spreading this message but I was cited by a Ranger earlier this year while hiking in the Cleveland National Forest in San Diego, California for hiking without a permit on the Pacific Crest Trail.
The Ranger also gave me two additional tickets for impeding a federal employee in the performance of their duties. These two additional tickets were in retaliation for standing up for my right to maintain my privacy and for exercising my right to free speech.
If I am found guilty at my hearing in December, I face substantial fines and six to twelve months in jail. I am prepared to face the jail time to protect and defend the Constitution and our God given rights but I can’t afford to pay the fines.
If you believe in what I’m doing and want help me continue to stay on trail and spread my message, please pray for me, donate if you’re able, and share my fundraiser with your friends.
Thank you for reading.
Mark Barrett
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Back in the early 1980's, I used to get permits to camp in the MN National Forests adjacent to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and then go somewhere else. Rinse and repeat in the Gallatin Mtn Range in Montana, and more. If you get far enough back, you are in your own, self-imposed "No Rescue Zone." There weren't enough public agency staff to keep up with the more remote hikers, and I don't think they really cared anyway.
That was the big debate back then. Should the government simply define a boundary around the most remote areas of our public lands and declare them "No Rescue Zones." The average El Capitan helicopter rescue was $30K back then....
Then I spent 4 months stuck in a hotel room at night after I tore out my only bathroom. The TV was a joke. The Weather Channel broadcasted survival techniques with Stewart Creek. It was a trip! The shit that happened to people in his stories was unthinkable back in the 1980's. Nobody would be that dumb. Some of them did not make it and their kids didn't make it either. My truck is now equipped for getting stranded right down to the life straws.
But I really see Mr. Barrett's point. The cash ban is hugely un-lawful. The penalties are out of proportion. The attitude of all of this is patronizing in the extreme and reeks of assuming that someone hiking a remote public land is some kind of wacko criminal.
In 1981, I paid $525.00 to go hiking in the Glen Canyon Recreational Area in SE Utah for a month with BOSS, and be trained how to survive, do land navigation, etc. Those trips are insanely expensive now ($6,590.00; https://www.boss-inc.com/collections/courses), and you have to figure out what to do with your vehicle while you are off hopping over guardrails and hiking off into the uncharted canyonlands for a month. So it's a lot cheaper to just go hiking in remote wilderness areas.