[pct-l] Fiery glop

[charliethorpe@att.net (Charlie Thorpe)]

on 12/4/01 6:38 AM, CMountainDave@aol.com at CMountainDave@aol.com wrote:

> I'm in the mood for a bit of a rant so here goes: While hiking the
> Wonderland trail around Mt. Rainier last Summer, we came to a camp when it
> was raining and we were getting pretty soaked. We couldn't have a campfire
> because all campfires were banned in RNP several years ago. I asked a ranger
> why and he said, straight faced in the pouring rain, that the fire danger was
> too high and secondly, wood was too precious to burn. This explanation was
> given in one of the wettest places in the USA and one of the most dense
> woodlands in the world. Then he retired to his backcountry cabin where (and
> I'm not making this up) several cords of wood were stacked up for him to use
> to keep comfy warm and dry. Contrast this with a trip to Bowron Lakes in
> Canada where the backcountry rangers gathered and chopped up firewood for us
> to use.

Hello CmountainDave -

Another good observation...you bring up good LNT questions!

I am guessing that the Wonderland trail is NPS turf.  I have to admit that I
have found the Parkies to be the most consistent of all the public managing
agencies when following the letter of their law.

I don't have any idea why "desertification" would be considered an issue
along the Wonderland trail.  Usually this problem crops up in heavily-used
camping areas where campers have burned virtually all local organic
materials that would usually decompose and replenish the local organic soil.
An area that looses its annual replenishment of organics eventually becomes
much like a desert (sometimes just a little, sometimes really REALLY bad).

This problem is pronounced in some areas (try some of the shelters on the
AT!) and often is very localized when terrain features make wide-area
firewood gathering difficult.  The usual ultimate solution is to ban the use
of local firewood (must bring in your firewood from outside the local
ecosystem) or to ban the use of campfires entirely.

In an effort to slow down or even stop the process of desertification, LNT
teaches to try to avoid campfires in the very fragile areas and to use
special wood-gathering techniques whenever a fire is made.

Roaming widely in big loops way out from the camp site to gather wood and
then getting only a little here and a little there spreads out the impact,
we hope, to the point that the ecosystem can self-repair.  Selecting
"seasonally replaceable" wood (dropped branches) instead of the larger stuff
at least allows the ecosystem to start replenishing in the next off-season
instead of taking 30-40 years to replace what is burned.

I would be interested to find out if the Ranger's wood pile was local wood.
I would be willing to bet my favorite cathole trowel that we (taxpayers)
paid some pretty big $ to have a NPS contractor bring that firewood in from
outside <VBG>.

>... And the rain washes away that
> toothpaste spit in a jiffy. I try to make it unobtrusive but in reality even
> if it's visible it's no more noticeable than a spot of raven doo doo
>   What it boils down to is: no rules just decisions OR no decisions just
> rules. I prefer the first because it allows for a live and let live, hike
> your own hike attitude while the latter is for conformist control freaks. If
> anyone prefers the latter that's fine with me....

It's not fine with me...it has been proven over and over that controls
imposed from "on high" quit working when the threat of enforcement is
removed.  The goal is to have folks care about the environment when nobody
else is looking...and that takes ethical guts!

You might be surprised to discover that I agree completely with your
statement "What it boils down to is: no rules just decisions OR no decisions
just rules."  The only caveat that I would add is that the decisions need to
be informed decisions.  Wishful thinking and "that's the way it always was"
often isn't enough when the stakes are as high as they are getting in many
over-used backcountry locations.

Case in point:  toothpaste glop!

As you very correctly point out, the problem is NOT your spit-spot in that
nice campsite in the rain.

The problem, however, IS your glop AND my glop AND Sly's glop AND Brick's
glop AND Margo's glop AND Steve's glop AND Ron's glop AND Karen's glop
AND...AND...AND...   I don't think that I have to throw in all the rest of
the PCT-L'ers glop to make the point that it is the cumulative effect of
many campers over and over and over that creates a long-term problem at any
given location.

For me, the best way to appreciate LNT is to go find a popular spit-spot
that has turned into a sour stinking mess over the course of a heavy-use
season.  Stand there and fully appreciate that specific mess (wave plenty of
that aroma over under your nose) and try to figure out a way to keep it from
happening again.  

Rules in themselves might be one way to do this for those spitters who like
having well-defined legal boundaries.  Making rules and then enforcing them
might be another (Glop Police behind every tree!).

Somehow I have to believe that anyone bright enough to take the care to
brush when momma ain't watching is also bright enough to take responsibility
for their personal impacts on the beautiful backcountry they are out there
to enjoy.  For me, the best solution with the kinds of sharp folks that tend
to visit the backcountry is always simply education.  The vast majority of
us are more than willing to "do right" - we just need to know that "doing
right" is.

LNT is just an effort to get us thinking about "doing right".

Trace No Leaves,

- Charlie