re: Would you live in Seattle suburbs?

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Which federally or state-owned lands were being exploited by industry?

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Almost the entirety of the Columbia Valley.

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The state trails pass is very cheap and I don't think every member of the party needs to have it, so if you go hiking with a group, it becomes barely worth mentioning. At no point in time did I ever think that having a permit for state parks was a problem. The only issue that occurred was figuring out if a trail was managed by the state or by the federal government, the latter requiring a different permit, which was also extremely cheap. Given the quality of the trails, how much fun they were to hike, and the memories I have with friends, it was worth far more than the price of the permit. I'd never thought about getting the permit itself as somehow a hindrance. And given how superb America's national park system is, I would pay far more for it. It is a fantastic system in my experience.

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I get it. User fees are the fairest form of taxation there is. The fees are one thing. The bigger issue was and still is access. The state and federal regulatory agencies close access for all manner of reasons, some no doubt legit, they restrict access by actually restricting the number of people allowed access but more likely by severely limiting parking...a favorite ploy...and simply bugging the shite out of people with the proper passes and a place to park. The fact that it is so readily acceptable by the vast majority of people who participate is the issue...it is so normal most have concluded it is the only way. It ain't.

National Parks are great. I'd willing pay 10X the admission fees...but again, they are FAR to restrictive as far as access is concerned considering they belong to the people of the United States, not the national park service. If you live in the area there are far better options hard up against the parks that provide the same experience with far less of the BS. I spend a couple of 5 day weekends a tear in Idaho adjacent to Teton with a buddy and we almost never see another person, catch the shite out of trout, build a fire and drink brown water...all on public land that they haven't thought to restrict access to. This man has lived in the area for 84 years now, knows more about those mountains than any federal employee and I will promise anyone who will listen he holds them in higher regard...they are almost like an appendage to him. If they ever try to restrict his access he will either go to prison or die, he ain't having none of that shite.