A supersized hiking group landed the organiser in Federal court after he refused to abandon the Grand Canyon plans. Photo / AP
A supersized hiking group landed the organiser in Federal court after he refused to abandon the Grand Canyon plans. Photo / AP
A Washington state man who acknowledged organising a rim-to-rim hike at Grand Canyon National Park for 139 people when the size of such groups is limited pleaded guilty Friday to a misdemeanour charge connected to the October 2020 trip.
Joseph Don Mount admitted violating the park's rule limiting group size and was sentenced to two years of probation. Mount, of Chehalis, Washington, is also prohibited from entering all national parks in northern Arizona during those two years.
Five years ago the park limited the number of visitors in hiking groups to 11 people to prevent trail overcrowding and the restriction remained in place throughout the pandemic.
Mount was warned about the size limitation and a prohibition on splitting large groups into smaller groups in a bid to get around the rule.
Joe Mount decided to go ahead with the hike in spite of contact from the NPS. Photo / Supplied; Facebook
But investigators have said Mount kept organizing the one-day trip, recruiting prospective hikers, posting an itinerary and a list of those who signed up for the trip, and making other preparations.
The National Park Service claimed that Mount had been running the trip for profit, charging $95 per person. They learned of the hike screenshots from a tipoff submitting screenshots from a Facebook group, including a post from Mount, writing "112 COMMITTED HIKERS COMING FROM 12 DIFFERENT STATES!!!!"
Local television K5 reported Mount was defiant when reproached for his plans, writing "park official telling me I can't hike the R2R with more than 11 people isn't going to prevent me from doing one of the greatest hikes on the planet."
At the time Mount told the Daily Beast that the hike was being arranged at expense, and to raise the spirits of members of the outdoor community.
Mount organised transport and took $95pp from hikers. Photo / Supplied; Facebook
The Park Service said they were made aware that the hike was going ahead in spite of warnings, after receiving a large number of complaints from the trail.
"A big thing that we noticed is that day that they were here, we received an awful lot of visitor complaints about the size of the group, and the ways that they were impacting the trail and the experience of those visitors who were here."
Other independent hikers said that their own walks were adversely affected by the group and trail congestion, adding an extra 2 hours onto trail times.
His attorney, Ryan Stevens, said his client had good intentions in trying to draw together people — many of them single — of the same religious faith for an outing aimed as being a break from the isolation brought on by the pandemic.
A photo from Facebook reportedly showing part of the group heading to the hike. Photo / Supplied; Facebook
Stevens said many people had committed to the trip by the time his client was confronted by park employees about group size for his upcoming trip.
Others trail users complained that Mount's group wasn't practicing social distancing or wearing masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, and that they clogged the path, delaying itineraries.
Investigators have said Mount collected thousands of dollars in registration fees from hikers to cover guide services, transportation and other costs.
Mount projected at one time that after covering those costs, he would make a net profit of about $65, according to court records.
