Re: [Paddlewise] BC MARINE TRAILS NETWORK - Assistance Required

It's no secret that I'm an old guy. I was hiking and climbing in the
Cascades when the Milepost made its appearance. Up until then those who
worked at jobs that only gave us 1 or 2 weeks of vacation a year (or, in my
case, two months of "home leave" every two years) would only find out about
a good trail by stumbling across it or by hearing about it from friends. The
Milepost, arguably the first hiking guidebook to the Cascades in Washington
State, gave us more information about those trails but it also promoted
trail repair and careful stewardship of the wilderness. Or at least,
whatever wilderness was left after the loggers had finished clear-cutting a
few thousand acres at a time.

In the 1960s only those of us who hiked, or who flew small planes, into the
wilderness knew just how many logging roads there were and how much of the
land was stripped bare. By the 1980s the logging had spread so far that
drivers on I-90 across Snoqualmie Pass could see the result. Only then did
things really change.

So, unlike Matt and Dave, I don't remember the guidebooks as being all that
harmful. In fact, I firmly believe that it was only by promoting hiking and
camping in the mountains did we eventually preserve it for those who want to
go there today. Sure, it's encumbered by a bureaucracy and you have to have
permits and reservations for some places. But it's there and my
grandchildren can hike in areas that were only scarred slash in 1970. In
fact, I have to explain to them what the mountainsides looked like when I
started climbing.

I like that.

So while I understand Matt's point of view and sympathize with it, I firmly
believed that guidebooks saved the Cascades for the hikers of today. If
those areas had only been known by a few dedicated hikers and climbers and
not loved and visited by hundreds of regular working folks from Seattle (who
voted) I don't believe we'd have the hiking we have now.

I don't know enough about the wilderness of BC to comment on the effects of
organized campsites there. I do know that BC  has done some amazing things
with the Johnstone Strait area. The creation of hundreds of campsites - some
of which are dedicated to commercial operations;  most of which are
dedicated to vagabond paddlers - has allowed people to view that area from
all over the world. The more eyes on a wilderness the more effective the
campaign to keep it from being decimated. Sure, it's not the same wilderness
it was but it's also not condos and fancy restaurants. Or millions of acres
of slash. (BC loggers have been known to clearcut an area 500 miles on a
side!!!)

The wilderness areas of BC actually have a lower density of human population
than it had in the 1920s and 1930s. People have moved away from those areas
and so there is no longer a permanent human residence to speak for it. The
logging and mining corporations have been more than happy to step into that
breach.

I don't like that so much.

Matt and Dave and I can remember when it was true wilderness. When you could
camp anywhere in the Broken Group and not see another person for a week. And
there is still a wilderness out there; you just have to work harder to get
to it. It's not the same as it was in 1960. But then, what is?

The pressures of land use and control of the resources in those areas have
become so intense that I believe only by introducing a large number of
people (who vote) to it can preserve it in anything like it's former state.
I think that worked in the Cascades and Olympics.

It's only my opinion, but it's worth every penny you paid for it.

Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
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