Footprints
21/04/14 05:19
Recently I was at a table where the conversation was about the various trails in the Black Hills and what kinds of vehicles can travel in various places. I have no knowledge of the criteria used, but it seems that the Forest Service has trails that can be used by all terrain vehicles. There are other trails that can be used only by human-powered vehicles, such as bicycles. Other trails can be traveled only by horses and people walking. It wasn’t clear to me whether or not there are human-only trails where horses are not allowed, but it seems like that might be the case. Various modes of transportation cause different amounts of erosion and trail destruction. I have noticed the scars that ATV’;s leave in the earth, a condition made worse when the ground is soft and muddy. The group whose conversation I was witnessing was arguing the comparative damage caused by bicycles vs horses. The general consensus around the table was that horses cause erosion and that bicycles have a lower impact ont he trails than do horses. Of course most of the people at the table were avid bicyclists who love to go out on the trails and who want access to as much of the forest as possible.
I don’t know which mode of travel has the largest impact. I’m not sure that anyone has studied the topic in depth. I do own a bicycle, but I’m pretty much stick to paved or gravel surfaces. I’m not that good a cyclist to keep things under control on narrow paths. I tend to just walk when I go out into the hills. In my journeys, I haven’t encountered problems with either horses or bicycles. It seems like there is enough room to share the forest with both.
Management of public lands is a challenge and we humans do have an impact. I suspect our logging roads and other modes of access might pose bigger problems for the forest than a few folks on bicycles or horses.
Many years ago my father and a friend drove a Jeep up the main Boulder Road in Montana to the ghost mining area of Independence. From there they drove to the top of the Slew Creek divide and down along Slew creek to the end of the road and into Yellowstone Park. They were trying to demonstrate to their friends that another possible entrance to Yellowstone Park could go through our home town. I don’t know all of the details of their adventure, but I think that in order to complete the trip they had to drive in the creek part of the way and that they may have cut down a couple of trees to allow their passage. At any rate, years later when I walked to the top of the divide, there was no evidence I could find of their passage. A single trip with an old jeep didn’t leave much of a a mark.
I’m drawn to modes of travel that don’t leave any sign of passage. I think there are plenty of places that don’t need roads. I’m grateful that they never built that road down our valley into Yellowstone Park and that to do so today would mean crossing the Beartooth-Absaroka Wilderness, something that is unlikely to occur. Some places are fine for access by simply walking.
Even better, for me, are the trips I take in my canoes or kayaks. Paddling on mountain streams or lakes leaves not footprint at all. Once I have passed there is no sign that I was ever there. The pristine nature of the area is preserved for the next traveler, who, if he or she is careful, can also pass without leaving any marks behind.
I do seem to leave footprints in other areas, however. I think that my carbon footprint is rather large. Although I try to be careful about my use of energy, there are times when I drive a pickup that gets terrible gas mileage. We haul some big loads, but still, I’m hardly carbon neutral. The primary heat source in my home is electricity that comes from a coal-fired generator. Sure there are people who make a bigger mark on the planet than I, but there are also a lot who consume less and live closer to the land.
I seem to be leaving a somewhat larger than usual digital footprint as well. Although I don’t post many pictures on facebook and I rarely tweet on twitter, my daily blots continue to consume bytes of digital storage and if you Google Rev. Ted Huffman you’ll come up with quite a few web pages, images and related other digital material. It isn’t hard for someone with a bit of technological knowledge to follow my digital footprints through the cloud.
The problem with digital footprints is a bit like the problem with traipsing through the forest. There was a time when people weren’t careful with their garbage. They left behind fire rings and tin cans and other items that they had carried into the forest. Much of what they left behind was unsightly and just plain messy. We’ve learned to travel in the woods with less impact. I’ve always practiced “pack it in - pack it out” when I have camped in the forest, but I see the litter that others leave behind. I try to pick up after others when I can and it isn’t uncommon for me to have a small collection of items left by others in my pack or canoe when I return from a trip. I think that I may not be anywhere near as careful in my digital adventures. I suspect that I am leaving a significant amount of digital garbage behind as I travel around the Internet. And there are various ways of dealing with garbage. Sometimes it is just all thrown out without much attention paid to what is being discarded. Other times it is sorted for the things of value that are mixed in with the garbage. I like to think that someone will one day sort through my digital footprints and keep the few gems that are worth saving. But so far that task of sorting is one that I haven’t attempted and I suspect that there might not be much interest for others to sift and sort.
For now, my digital footprints are a bit too large and I’m easy to find as I wander around the Internet.
I don’t know which mode of travel has the largest impact. I’m not sure that anyone has studied the topic in depth. I do own a bicycle, but I’m pretty much stick to paved or gravel surfaces. I’m not that good a cyclist to keep things under control on narrow paths. I tend to just walk when I go out into the hills. In my journeys, I haven’t encountered problems with either horses or bicycles. It seems like there is enough room to share the forest with both.
Management of public lands is a challenge and we humans do have an impact. I suspect our logging roads and other modes of access might pose bigger problems for the forest than a few folks on bicycles or horses.
Many years ago my father and a friend drove a Jeep up the main Boulder Road in Montana to the ghost mining area of Independence. From there they drove to the top of the Slew Creek divide and down along Slew creek to the end of the road and into Yellowstone Park. They were trying to demonstrate to their friends that another possible entrance to Yellowstone Park could go through our home town. I don’t know all of the details of their adventure, but I think that in order to complete the trip they had to drive in the creek part of the way and that they may have cut down a couple of trees to allow their passage. At any rate, years later when I walked to the top of the divide, there was no evidence I could find of their passage. A single trip with an old jeep didn’t leave much of a a mark.
I’m drawn to modes of travel that don’t leave any sign of passage. I think there are plenty of places that don’t need roads. I’m grateful that they never built that road down our valley into Yellowstone Park and that to do so today would mean crossing the Beartooth-Absaroka Wilderness, something that is unlikely to occur. Some places are fine for access by simply walking.
Even better, for me, are the trips I take in my canoes or kayaks. Paddling on mountain streams or lakes leaves not footprint at all. Once I have passed there is no sign that I was ever there. The pristine nature of the area is preserved for the next traveler, who, if he or she is careful, can also pass without leaving any marks behind.
I do seem to leave footprints in other areas, however. I think that my carbon footprint is rather large. Although I try to be careful about my use of energy, there are times when I drive a pickup that gets terrible gas mileage. We haul some big loads, but still, I’m hardly carbon neutral. The primary heat source in my home is electricity that comes from a coal-fired generator. Sure there are people who make a bigger mark on the planet than I, but there are also a lot who consume less and live closer to the land.
I seem to be leaving a somewhat larger than usual digital footprint as well. Although I don’t post many pictures on facebook and I rarely tweet on twitter, my daily blots continue to consume bytes of digital storage and if you Google Rev. Ted Huffman you’ll come up with quite a few web pages, images and related other digital material. It isn’t hard for someone with a bit of technological knowledge to follow my digital footprints through the cloud.
The problem with digital footprints is a bit like the problem with traipsing through the forest. There was a time when people weren’t careful with their garbage. They left behind fire rings and tin cans and other items that they had carried into the forest. Much of what they left behind was unsightly and just plain messy. We’ve learned to travel in the woods with less impact. I’ve always practiced “pack it in - pack it out” when I have camped in the forest, but I see the litter that others leave behind. I try to pick up after others when I can and it isn’t uncommon for me to have a small collection of items left by others in my pack or canoe when I return from a trip. I think that I may not be anywhere near as careful in my digital adventures. I suspect that I am leaving a significant amount of digital garbage behind as I travel around the Internet. And there are various ways of dealing with garbage. Sometimes it is just all thrown out without much attention paid to what is being discarded. Other times it is sorted for the things of value that are mixed in with the garbage. I like to think that someone will one day sort through my digital footprints and keep the few gems that are worth saving. But so far that task of sorting is one that I haven’t attempted and I suspect that there might not be much interest for others to sift and sort.
For now, my digital footprints are a bit too large and I’m easy to find as I wander around the Internet.