Terror in the Trees… Or Not.
Public enemy number one for hikers is this hideous drought that dealt such utter damage this past summer, but all we can really do about that is a lot of rain-dancing. One wonders how that will play into the outdoor conditions this year.
Someone that was in the store recently seemed surprised that there is a ban on open fires in Shining Rock wilderness area. Fires are cool and all, but truthfully they do a lot more harm than good. In an emergency situation, they’re amazing, but they’re just unnecessary the other 99% of the time. It’s one thing to have a fire and roast some marshmallows when car camping at a public campsite with a myriad of water access, but are they really essential to the backpacking venture? They make the areas we camp in look like people have been there, they burn the earth beneath making it difficult for natural growth to continue, and it’s just plain wrong to do anything Smokey the Bear advises against. Also, they make lightweight backpacking stoves for a reason and they’re really all that a hiker could need. Linville Gorge burned a couple of times last year and it’s one of the jewels of our State. Natural conditions led to the fires both times, but common sense from people can go a long way toward protecting our environment.
I’ve even overheard some paranoid speculation that the wildlife will be out to savagely maul us feeble humans due to a lack of water. Maybe bears will want to eat us and steal our Nalgene bottles.
That’s clearly nothing to worry about, of course; the whole wildlife vs. human ordeal isn’t really a problem around here. Although while employed in a high adventure program, this dude boasted to me that he knew a guy who allegedly put some breed of vicious Russian boar into Middle Prong Wilderness for some idiotic reason. There was always a joke running amongst trail guides about not sleeping in hammocks in Middle Prong because our butts would be perfect tusk-level. Fortunately, myself nor anyone I know has had the displeasure of hiking across a wild, angry boar’s path. People are even starting to get worked up about an alleged presence of mountain lions in the area. One girl in a literature class I took last semester even swore to high heaven that she saw a road-kill cougar on the side of the interstate on the way to Asheville one morning. The truth is, the most dangerous animals in our woods, next to unwise humans with fire, are those little rodents that love to chew holes through stuff sacks and tents.
The days of Eric Rudolph’s wraith-like wandering through our Southeastern mountains are long gone, but unfortunately, there’s always a few bad seeds. This is kind of a harrowing issue. Two elderly hikers killed (one still missing) in our very own backyard and now this girl in Georgia? It’s messed up, but don’t let it be a deterrent for enjoying a day or two in the woods. Just make sure to be a bit safer about it.
Normally I’d recommend hiking with Chuck Norris, but he’s too busy campaigning with Mike Huckabee to be an effective means of protection for the average hiker. Here at the Dome, we sell bear mace. According to the packaging, it can shoot a stream of pain about thirty yards. Seriously- if someone is threatening out in the wilderness, shoot them with bear mace. (Also probably effective in bar-room brawls.)
(borrowed image from piratesvsninjas.org or some weird site)
A few bad things happen, sure, but it’s like any other facet of life in this country. The wilderness is, by far and large, still a lot safer than, say, Detroit. It would be very unfortunate if the fear that the people have let consume them politically in the past few years started rising in the outdoor enthusiast’s world. Just being smart about things is the best method. There’s no way to predict accidents in the outdoors; they happen and its part of the bargain that we all make when we decide to do something cool in the woods. Thinking goes a long way though.So far, in these 8 days of 2008, we’ve been lucky enough to get our fill of snow and rain. Maybe this trend will continue this spring and summer (hopefully not the snow part) and our state of drought will be eradicated. We live in a beautiful part of the world and as always, I would encourage people to get out, enjoy the mountain life, and not be overly worried.
