Separate But Equal?

The small band of hiker only militants who run the NCTA and some of its chapters pursue a singular goal, to exclude as many human beings as possible from the North Country Trail.

They'll sweet talk politicians and landowners to appropriate existing public multi-use trails to extend or complete the NCT (then work like hell to get all but themselves kicked off that trail).

They'll organize trail work days, but exclude anybody who rides a bike or doesn't own a pair of Vasque Sundowners.

Or, they'll reroute multi-use trail segments with the intent of opening a the reroute as "hiker only."

A Hiker only reroute is occurring right now in Michigan, where the elitists at the NCTA are rerouting an existing segment of the NCT (which was on public land) onto land owned by Consumers Energy. But the new reroute will, of course, be open only to hikers. The current segment is part of a 20 mile north-south stretch of the NCT in the Manistee National Forest which is open to bikes. Once the reroute opens, that stretch will shrink to less than 16 miles.

How can we call the NCT a public trail if all but a tiny minority of the public is banned from the trail?