Monday, March 16, 2015

State of Wilderness and the Impact of Thru-hiking

I left Los Angeles, many years ago, because I saw the severe encroachment of the urban sprawl envelope the once beautiful surrounding hillsides. There became no place to truly roam free. You had to go elsewhere. Although I have since found beauty within that bulging metropolis, especially during my LA urban thru-hike, I left to develop a wilderness ethic. I believe that my ethic is stronger because I grew up in that urban environment. As I saw suburban housing tracts takeover natural grasslands, oak woodlands, desert expanses, and lush waterways I coined the term 'free dirt' as in rid the land of the concrete that binds, as in connect with the wild without human obstruction. As I am venturing on a route this year exploring public lands seldom visited I think of our overuse on popular trails and ponder the 'voiceless' wilderness and other wild places no one wants to go to visit and explore. Some places are even non-existent in public memory save for a few hardy individuals who choose their own path and keep wilderness alive and valid.

I feel we have a responsibility to walk, to explore. As I say that statement, we have a duty to not neglect our farthest to reach places. Our 'home' should spread wider than our walk to our vehicle or our jobs or around town. Our 'home' should also extend to the least popular places. Even as the Big 3 gains in popularity, which explores vast public spaces, many parts of the wilds remain neglected and overgrown, absent from public memory. This holds even more true out in the wide West. While the corridor of the PCT and CDT receive more boot prints, other wild places seemingly become farther away and the vestiges of trail vanish.

 

As thru-hikers we need to be the voice for wilderness. I get a sense there is a 'me' attitude in the community when in essence why we experience the wilderness is for ourselves and in the spirit of wilderness. Rick Potts, former Chief of the Wilderness Stewardship and Recreation Management Division for the National Park Service, wrote in an article:

The danger to wilderness is no longer from recreationists who are coming to wilderness, but rather from the vast majority of Americans who are not visiting wilderness.

I feel it is my duty as an American, as an adventurer, and just a plain human being to go into these faraway places and wild areas. In a way, I feel I am keeping the 'no-name' wild spirit alive, that I am validating the existence of wilderness in our world, because it is the freedom of our world. Within my career of thru-hiking I feel to be an explorer and a steward of trails and routes first. Public attention for what I'm doing serves no purpose, only my actions and my respect out in the wild. As I see hikers looking for that public attention or trying to be the cool kid, as I witness public arguments between reputed hiker figures, as I see things getting 'easier' for hikers with not-so-random trail magic, I think of the places faraway and the respect these wild places deserve. To explore means going where the herd is not, to explore means branching away. I think love can 'overkill' and 'over-populate' an area, while apathy and irrelevance can diminish the memory and love we have for a wilderness; wild places fade into the 'no-name.' If we do not use wilderness we will lose it.

 
Why has a lapse in wilderness ethic shifted to a more social experience? I have a theory. When the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) passed it put a lot of young people to work. A lot of those young adults served in AmeriCorps, in particular the Conservation Corps around the states that put those same young adults at work in our public lands. They were working in places faraway from local society. They worked and lived in the woods with a crew, a family if you will. Our job economy was pretty feeble at that time, yet ARRA employed thousands of young adults everywhere. During their service tenure, transformational experiences of great magnitude shifted the lives of adults that otherwise may have been left with a bleak future. I was one of them. I say to this day, a season in a Conservation Corps is very similar to a thru hike. So, fast forward about 6 years later and ARRA ended and Congress decided to cut back on AmeriCorps. Around that time, our job climate was in the shits even worse than before. Also, long distance hiking was gaining some popular momentum with books being published, bigger social media presence, the blogosphere, and speed record attempts. I correlate this popularity of long distance hiking with the U.S. experiencing a 'European shift,' in which young Americans forsook the tradition of graduating college, starting a career and a family, working until retirement, and finally traveling and exploring in the 'golden years.' With this shift, young Americans have been seeking some sort of transformational experience. Couple that with a jobless economy in which highly educated people cannot find work, then traveling seems like a plausible endeavor. Whether riding a bicycle cross-country, volunteering overseas, thru-hiking, etc. the common thread among the adventurists is the transformative experience one obtains.

My theory is not to naysay a transformative experience or to not hike a popular trail. In fact, I encourage folks to follow their dreams and live a life off instinctual impulses. My theory, if anything, is a call to action to spread the love. I may sound like a curmudgeon but these transformative experiences can happen anywhere and not solely on the Big 3. I have to say it: The land comes first. Wilderness comes first. The one thing I can say I have learned the most from long distance hiking is balance. Another valuable lesson that I cannot leave out is that wilderness has taught me that my actions have direct consequences. If we overload the popular corridors then more money gets filtered to those areas. Hiker and trail associations get bigger, hiker impact on trail becomes more crucial and noticeable; a veritable highway is developed. I see an eerie parallel to overcrowding our main corridors as urban development encroaching on wild lands. In contrary to overfunding, little used areas receive hardly any funding and become less accessible and overgrown. Only the seldom trail crew or a backcountry horseman clears the paths. Small trail associations go defunct or scrape by on the passion of the folks protecting the trail. But the job is too immense. We end up losing what we love. What stings even more to me is, nowadays, the access to receive thru-hiking tutelage and ethics is ever the more accessible, yet 'how to act' is not held accountable by other experienced hikers. A lesson or the awareness of the climate of the trail becomes a hiker rant. I am not looking to settle the field and condone actions, I am looking to hold thru-hiking in a special light. I am striving to protect our wilderness by being in wilderness. I think of all the ones before us that have enhanced our experience by simply following their heart into unknown territory. The trailblazers who had the vision and bushwhacked a route before it was a path; the researchers of places, maps, and local lore; the authors of guidebooks who painstakingly tabulate valuable information; the naturalists who investigate and scrutinize the world around them microscopically; the mapmakers who constantly read the land and translate what the world is communicating to us on paper; the wilderness fighters who protect what we love; the no-namers, the wildland firefighters, trail builders and trail grunts; all the work and workers going into a route is beyond comprehension. Yet we often choose the most popular path. The gist behind this is that people are seeking that transformational experience at the wilderness expense.



We take for granted the land and the wild by protecting it with closed arms and hugging it close to us thinking if we do not tell anyone then it will always be ours, when in fact, if we do not speak out loud and stand as stewards of the trail and the wild then it will vanish and be used up by big industry. I think, as thru-hikers, we need to be the assertive voice. We have an opportunity to answer the call of wilderness as it sits on our shoulders beckoning us with signs to recover it and to bring its true meaning and value to light before the greedy hands take over. That transformational experience will always be there. Wilderness and those faraway places, on the other hand, may not be. Understanding that our actions affect the land first and not our social constructs will help us make conscientious choices that balance out our land use and land neglect. 

I often think that in order to hike one of the Big 3 you must give back to the trail in the form of service. Maybe in order to get a long distance hiking permit 8 hours of trail work must be performed by the hiker on that particular trail with a certain timeframe. Understanding is gained through education, especially through experiential learning. Maybe then we can truly respect the wild places. Maybe then we can understand how much effort goes into the trails we love. Maybe then we will develop a wilderness ethic. Maybe then our furthest faraway places will be preserved through love rather than neglect and apathy.








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24 comments:

  1. Excellent and thoughtful essay. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Well written post, DM. There are an abundance of incredible wilderness areas around the world. If you spend enough time exploring these remote corners, you can't help but feel a "duty of care" with Mother Nature. However, as you allude to in your article, the guts of the issue is action. Sentiments must be translated into deeds in order to make a difference for the positive. There are so many ways to give back. Personally speaking, I'll never be able to give as much as I've received from the natural world over the past few decades............but that doesn't mean I won't give it a blood good try!

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    1. I agree Swami. Action is key. We can't just say we are going to do something and not do it. Most importantly, we cannot just sit back and let wilderness dwindle away, especially if our actions are non-existent. Good words, Swami! And thanks!

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  3. Beautifully and eloquently written! I whole heartedly agree with your stance and believe it my/our duty to protect the land. Wonderful worthwhile words!

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  4. Wilderness and the lack of use isn't relegated to the west...it's pretty rampant in the south and southeast. I lived in Florida for 8 years where my husband and I backpacked/hiked/explored on and off trail to remote areas that most people never went. Sure, a lot of it was swamp, but the swamp is friggin' cool. The sad part is that the vast majority of tourists and those who live in Florida never see these ares and have no idea they exist only 30 minutes to an hour away.

    After our AT thru hike in 2010 we went back to FL and thru-hiked the FT where maybe 10-20 people thru-hike a year---the number is slowly growing. Often we were alone on the trail, save maybe a hunter or fisherman but rarely did we see another hiker unless were in a more popular area like Ocala NF. It's a very, very quiet trail and the Florida Trail Association and its smaller chapter are struggling with funding and maintenance. Areas have been closed and re-routed because bog boards and bridges have become dilapidated and no one can fix them/there's no funding to fix them.

    Here in Texas there are plenty of wild places in east Texas that don't get visited. Short dayhike length trails that we've been on that if you got past a half a mile in they become overgrown and difficult to follow. We trudge along, but it is evident no one goes out there. Hunters, maybe....maybe. The general public? No way. I'm always lamenting the crappy private to public land ratio here in Texas but then again we have a public that doesn't even use the lands they even have.

    Thankfully at least it seems that my local 100-mile trail (Lone Star Trail) get some use, but other areas in the state aren't nearly as lucky.

    I've been trying to read your VL write-up after hearing about it on the Trail Show.

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    1. Though I realize I wrote this piece with the vast spaces of the West in mind, I am glad that others across the country are aware of the issue I tried to present. I am also pleased to see wilderness fighters elsewhere. But we need more. The TTS was a blast to do! Thanks for the comments.

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  5. Nice one, Ryan. A lot of very good ideas and plenty for folks to think about. Enjoy your hike!

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    1. Thanks Stephan. Let's hope our paths cross this summer!

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  6. Thanks Dirtmonger.
    As we speak, BLM and FS lands are threatened by growing oil and gas development, OHV, and other development. I hope everyone becomes more active in wilderness protection and preservation of those remaining public lands.
    Speed

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    1. Industry using up our resources because of our own lack of neglect in wilderness areas may be a sign of things to come. We are in a different age with a different king of users. Maybe new teaching methods are in order, etc. Thanks for the comments. Let's not lose what we love.

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  7. This is an interesting and provocative write up that can apply to the Appalachians as well as the Rockies - I often think about how hikers in my home state of Virginia flock to a handful of trails that then suffer from overuse while other trails (sometimes less than a mile away) become overgrown because few people want to hike them.
    I am not sure, however, why you are limiting your audience to thru-hikers. I believe there are those of us who can love the trails just as much as thru-hikers but have never had a chunk of time to complete such a journey. In fact, I think many day hikers in my area appreciate the public lands more than the A.T. thru-hikers that journey near my house. We can all show the way by giving back and volunteering - setting the proper example so others will follow our lead.

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    1. I agree with you words, Jeff. I know there are others who love the trail as much as thru-hikers. No denying that. I wrote from a perspective of a thru-hiker because I am a thru-hiker who spends 4-5 months out on trail seeing different lands and different managing domains within those realms. I think day hikers can have a bigger impact because there are more of them. In a perfect world, there should be mass communication between the hiking classes, without any elitism of course, which seems to come out. I think if we all see that 'Wilderness' is what we are all fighting for and our overall common theme then we could come together and set that 'proper example' of which you speak. Thank you for your sentiments.

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    2. Good discussion right here! I would love to hear more articles from serious hikers and even the parks dealing with the lack of communication between hiking groups (or classes as you rightly called them).

      As a 'local hiker' in a the White Mountains of NH I have to say that there is nothing like being given a 'holier-than-thou' attitude by an AT thru hiker on a section of trail you've walked a dozen times :-) Even my two kids pick up on it at times. We have an expression "don't feed the wild beasts, or thru-hikers".

      Of course, we have met our fair share of wonderful thru-hikers also...I just have seen an increase in the lack of trail etiquette among them as their popularity has increased.

      Great discussion and food for thought.

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  8. I agree with Jeff. My concern when I read some thru hikers accounts of their trips is that it is all about the trail angels, the towns, the people, what about the beauty of what you are hiking through! The lakes, rivers, and mountains etc. that should be why one is out there!

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    1. Your words hit home. I won't bash one group over another as I think every user group has valid reasons and passions for why they are out there. However, I have noticed a trend in the long distance hiking community in which people are simply following the trend of what is popular or 'cool'. This can be an opportunity for stewards of the trail in leading the way in wilderness ethics. The trail angels, the towns, the caches, etc. A trail can still be hiked without those conveniences. We are out there because of the spirit of the wild and not to treat it like a hang-out place like a mall. Thank you for the good words!

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  9. You can always ask for the Department of Defense to loosen up access as well. UXO makes those wilderness areas truly a WILD experience.......

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  10. Well-written and thought-provoking. Over in Arizona the state legislature is currently passing symbolic legislation demanding that federal lands be turned over to the state in the name of good governance and tidy return-on-investment. In reality one of the biggest threats to our freedom - that word they like to bandy about so casually these days - is the vocal minority who would reduce wild places to an economic, utilitarian calculus based on some phony emotional logic of their subconscious invention. It's very easy for bad actors to take center stage when the audience isn't paying attention, is ignorant of the storyline, or lacks any point of reference. In essence, 90% of so-called governance is the equivalent of a dubious hidden rider included at the 11th hour on page 1230 of a must-pass spending bill. We didn't vote for that, but that's what we got anyway. What do we stand to lose? In the case of man vs wild, that's our job to tally and report far and wide. What else can we do but, first and foremost, attempt to be a voice in defense of the voiceless?

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  11. It would be nice to know that certain public lands will remain indefinitely Wild. Instead, holding wilderness from resource development will always be a constant battle. Your essay however, doesn't resonate with me. Respecting a trail and fighting to keep wilderness Wild are two very different things. I can appreciate a popular trail because 10 of us can all walk on the same path rather than breaking 9 more to achieve similar views. As you mention, I am just as fascinated knowing I am in a place where those 9 others will never visit! To make my point: just because I have not been there does not make the place any less magical and deserving of my efforts to protect and conserve. I do not mean to sound argumentative but there is an interesting dichotomy in your article. I am probably just as passionate about conservation management as you. Cheers!

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  12. Your post is wise and sincere. Though we share many of the same sentiments, you are so articulate when sharing your thoughts it fascinates me. This post reiterates the reasons why I started hiking and adopted the lightweight philosophy. Thanks for guiding the way!

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  13. Thanks for all the comments everybody

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  14. I am so glad that there is someone else out there that feels the same way I do about long distance hiking. After my wife and I finished the "Big 3" we started creating long hikes of our own by connecting together wildernesses. Sometimes with great success and sometimes not so successfully but we did it nonetheless and we call it "crapshooting". There are so many avenues of travel and so many vast unexplored terrains it boggles me how year after year so many hikers continue to march their way down the same pathways. These phone apps now are hurting the willingness of hikers to stray from the paths and do alternates and side trips. Grab a map and make your way across it! We need more Hayduke Trails and Vagabond loops etc… I know that there is a certain amount of skill and confidence required to do these things but we live the age of information and we need to translate these crapshoot routes to others. Save the wilderness (and perhaps create more) by using them. I love it! Some folks look down upon those that stray from the "white blazes". We need to encourage this activity. The ATC and PCTA should be mapping blue blazes out and getting people on them. We need more crapshooting.

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