Largest Cities

The most populated incorporated area on the Buckeye Trail is the City of Cincinnati, Ohio.  On the North Country Trail, it is Dayton, Ohio.  And on the American Discovery Trail, it is City and County of San Francisco in California.

Money, Sticky Topic

 Money.  We can equate it to our own money.  But in non and not for profit organizations, it's not just our money... its everyone's money.  A board of directors in an organization gets to be prudent.  An organization is in constant evolution and that progresses every year that it operates.  It grows what I'd coin as an "internal operating environment" that get passed down from one era to the next.  It's an establishment.

 At the writing of this blog, it's been about 52 years since the anti-establishment.  As good as some think that was, it's had an negative effect on non and not for profits.  Sure they're buildings are all over the United States, but that doesn't show what's actually going on.

As a student in high school and college, I was a member of several organizations.  But their skills and prowess were probably depleted by the anti-establishment long before I came around?  I think that because of our youth that they were the hardest hit?  They weren't good.  And they're a poor example to use in comparison.

In non and not for profits, their boards deal in things like risks, liabilities, insurances and sometimes investments.  Even under the most tranquil environments, money issues can become sticky?  So when somebody wants to come in and do something revolutionary that could POSSIBLY have big gains, they sometimes don't have a contingency plan for what if their idea doesn't work.

For this, I have some suggestions.  1) take the collective treasury out of the equation and self fund experimental programming.  And 2) proceed slower, or smaller? Break your idea apart, experiment and produce a track record.  With events, I can tell you that when formulating a proper plan describing the who, what, when, where, why, how, cost, attire and who's affected, there's different individual elements that emerge.  And just because an event failed does not mean that every element did.  Therefore, we can perform an "after action review" and determine these.  And perhaps we'd find that one particular element was out of adjustment, which caused the event to fail?  As for everything else, perhaps they were spot on.

Future Prospects

 When it comes to the Miami & Erie Canal Towpath, I have conveyed the idea that it should be opened up to trailside dispersed camping.  When I was planning a 8,000 mile transcontinental hike, I did business with about 14 different distance trail agencies.  And one thing in particular that I noticed on the Pacific Crest Trail was in Olympic National Park.  Apparently, there was either impressionable areas, or inhospitable terrain (I can't remember).  But I do think that I remember them stating that instead of traditional dispersed camping, that they offered "trailside."  

The Miami & Erie and Wabash & Erie Canal Tow and Heel Paths can be rather wooded.  But it's a canal.  The parcels that it sits on is like a narrow corridor.  Dispersed as it's commonly known wouldn't be possible.  But trailside could be?

Word around from years ago is that ODNR actually conducted the studies needed to install hiking shelters along the Miami & Erie Canal.  Apparently, the passed the process and may just be standing by for somebody to build one?  If this is true, then they could be standing by for Eagle Scout projects.  That process would entail a youth Eagle Scout going from an idea to a plan, getting it passed through the adult leadership, gathering supplies and money and then literately leading the effort on the ground, coordinating people and supplies?  But in the meantime, could it be consistent with the finding of those studies to open those areas up as suitable tent sites while they're waiting for a shelter to be built?

Future prospects can be good.  But you still have to grapple with the present.

Pragmatism

 I was looking up the definition for the word "pragmatic."  That word might define part of my leadership style?  Although, I am somewhat hybrid.  In some things, I am certain.  My brand of certainty has this calm feeling to me that has a certain meditative quality to it.