The Gospel Hump in Idaho also had a road going into it, though it doesn't go all they way through. It enters from the northwest and loops down almost to the center of the wilderness. There is also a road coming into the east portion of the wilderness, but the non-wilderness around it is actually a broad lobe due to the several private mining claims along it being excluded from designation.
A big chunk of the National Park is a designated Wilderness. A (limited-use, dirt) road runs through it from east to west, bisecting the Wilderness: the road terminates at Wonder Lake which is in the middle of the Park but outside the west edge of the Wilderness. Along the road are carve-outs from the Wilderness where there are developed visitors' centers. map
edit: Here's another map where you can see that the wilderness boundaries were drawn to exclude the road.
Interestingly, two of the largest carve-outs are at desolate river crossings, presumably to leave room to build a new bridge when needed.
Yeah, the Wonder Lake Road really pisses me off because we knew better at the time. The Ken Burns film tells the story of Adolph Murie fighting the road -- Burns classified it as a "success" because it's limited use and unpaved, but I'd call it a "failure" because it's a road.
Being unpaved just means that for a few days each spring, the road is continuously used by dump-trucks bringing gravel to repair the road. We joked that the dump-trucks were actually bringing the incredible swarms of mosquitoes that hatched a couple of days later. But I'm glad the road was there - we cached half our food at the park entrance and hitched a ride back when our roundabout route reached Eilson. It would have been very difficult to carry all of our food for three weeks.
mrh - Oct 7, 2009 1:36 pm - Voted 10/10
Drive-thru wildernessThe Gospel Hump in Idaho also had a road going into it, though it doesn't go all they way through. It enters from the northwest and loops down almost to the center of the wilderness. There is also a road coming into the east portion of the wilderness, but the non-wilderness around it is actually a broad lobe due to the several private mining claims along it being excluded from designation.
Arthur Digbee - Oct 7, 2009 2:14 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Drive-thru wildernessInteresting. Did Congress draw the line up to the road (as in the Deam) or just put an exception in the authorizing legislation?
mrh - Oct 7, 2009 3:53 pm - Voted 10/10
Re: Drive-thru wildernessI believe the former is the case, but am not entirely certain.
nartreb - Oct 7, 2009 2:38 pm - Hasn't voted
Another: DenaliA big chunk of the National Park is a designated Wilderness. A (limited-use, dirt) road runs through it from east to west, bisecting the Wilderness: the road terminates at Wonder Lake which is in the middle of the Park but outside the west edge of the Wilderness. Along the road are carve-outs from the Wilderness where there are developed visitors' centers.
map
edit: Here's another map where you can see that the wilderness boundaries were drawn to exclude the road.
Interestingly, two of the largest carve-outs are at desolate river crossings, presumably to leave room to build a new bridge when needed.
Arthur Digbee - Oct 7, 2009 6:25 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Another: DenaliYeah, the Wonder Lake Road really pisses me off because we knew better at the time. The Ken Burns film tells the story of Adolph Murie fighting the road -- Burns classified it as a "success" because it's limited use and unpaved, but I'd call it a "failure" because it's a road.
nartreb - Oct 7, 2009 11:10 pm - Hasn't voted
Re: Another: DenaliBeing unpaved just means that for a few days each spring, the road is continuously used by dump-trucks bringing gravel to repair the road. We joked that the dump-trucks were actually bringing the incredible swarms of mosquitoes that hatched a couple of days later. But I'm glad the road was there - we cached half our food at the park entrance and hitched a ride back when our roundabout route reached Eilson. It would have been very difficult to carry all of our food for three weeks.