1:10 p.m. on June 19, 2008 (EDT)
nogods, what I said was that NPS people tend to regard people with local addresses who are experienced backpackers (as well as climbers, backcountry skiers, etc) as "experienced locals". It is, as I noted, an overly generous assumption in some cases, given some people I know personally who live in some small Alaskan villages. But that is the assumption the NPS people tend to make.
To illustrate this, to get a permit to climb Denali, you are required to go through a briefing. The rangers ask questions about experience, plans, and gear. They do not do a gear inspection. You have to watch a Powerpoint presentation that shows dead bodies and horrendous frostbite (an attempt to get the naive to wake up to the risks). If they suspect you are insufficiently experienced or have inadequate gear, they try to dissuade you. If you are going up solo, they try very hard to dissuade you. If, after the briefing you are still eager to go, you pay your $200 (may be $250 now), sign your name, and head for the plane (the fee is NOT rescue insurance). They make it very clear you are on your own. But they do NOT prevent you from going on the mountain. The air taxi people may also try to dissuade you, but again, they will not prevent you from going. The climbing rangers and other climbers on the mountain will try to dissuade inexperienced people, but again they do not prevent you or bodily carry you back if you insist on continuing. If you screw up and need rescue (or call for evacuation when you could just as well hike down to the airstrip), you may be subject to a fine and may have to pay rescue expenses. In that case, having proven your incompetence, they sometimes do resort to forcible detention.
Point is, they take you at your word. If you say you are experienced, then you are considered experienced until you prove otherwise. For the backpacking, they ask your experience, offer a bear briefing, collect the fee, and hand you the permit. If you say "experienced", they take you at your word. If you turn down the bear briefing, well, you were offered the chance. If you give a local address, you are a "local". All until proven otherwise by your screwing up.
trouthunter, you are right, up to a point. If you have accepted responsibility for family, then that carries with it the responsibility to make provisions in case something happens to prevent carrying out the responsibility. But that depends on what your understanding is with family and friends. If they know and accept that you are doing risky things, the situation is different from when they do not accept it but you go ahead anyway, and it is different if you are the main or only source of support (you don't walk away and abandon young kids, for example). As for rescue workers, I have mixed feelings on this. I think, on the one hand, that if I accept the risks and consequences, then the rescue workers have no obligation (whether moral or as part of their job) to put their lives at risk to rescue me (other than to clean up the unsightly mess). On the other hand, having spent a few years doing S&R, I personally feel some moral obligation to help my fellow climbers and backcountry skiers.