When Government Doesn't Care

Columbus Day was a glorious California day just made for hiking in the San Bernardino National Forest.

The weather was chilly. The sky was blue. The roads were clear.  And the aspen trees near Onyx Summit on Highway 38 were starting to turn gold.

The hitch?

The federal workers responsible for selling the required Adventure Passes were taking the day off.

I had been planning on taking my son, Marshall, on a Columbus Day hike since serving in Afghanistan last summer. It was our first day together free of school, appointments and errands.

I swore after parking at the Mill Creek Ranger Station when I walked up to the door and saw a sign that it was closed. The people who parked nearby were also ticked when they walked up to the door.

In my family, I have to pay my son a quarter for each curse word. It’s a way for me, as a parent, to watch my language. But dang it, that Mill Creek stop cost me 75 cents!

Our goal was the Aspen Grove trail, about one hour’s drive from Redlands. The rough road accessing the remote trailhead requires an all-wheel drive vehicle.

Our trip up Highway 38 became a civics lesson in good government. I explained to Marshall that we should receive a service when we pay taxes. He’s an unusually smart kid for a 7-year-old, but I didn’t explain that Adventure Passes are double taxation because we already pay taxes for federal services.

“Dad, do you mean you’re paying money and not getting the service?”

That's my boy!

We stopped at the Barton Flats center, but didn’t get past the gate because it was also closed.

I was ticked by this time. I wasn't going to let red tape stop us from hiking on such a God-like day. My son was wondering why I was muttering under my breath. I didn’t want him hearing my swearing.

I can understand ranger stations being closed on Mondays, but on a holiday? The federal government should suspend hiking fees on days its stations are closed. Ironically, my goal that day was to buy the annual Adventure Pass so I wouldn’t have to stop at the ranger stations each time I wanted to hike.

This episode is another example of federal workers not caring about Americans. Somewhere up high in red-tape land, somebody had to look at the calendar and approve ranger stations being closed on a holiday like Columbus Day.

Federal workers already make twice that of private workers. I don’t buy for a second that a lack of funds would justify the closing of a ranger station on an obvious prime hiking day.

Regardless, I drove to the Aspen Grove trailhead and we went hiking. I stuck a note under my windshield wiper that I was unable to buy the required pass in hopes a ranger would read the note and not ticket me.

We had a great hike. And I didn’t get a ticket.

Had I been ticketed, I’m sure the quarters I pay my son for each swear word would have exceeded the cost of the ticket.