Re: Yosemite Bear Development and Outdoor Citizenship
Mike Montoya (mmm@IMS.MARIPOSA.CA.US)
Sat, 31 Aug 1996 01:40:16 -0700
At 03:59 AM 8/29/96 -0700, Tim O'Leary wrote:
>.......Most Scout troops are not
>particularly good at it, and, while we have made a lot of progress in the
>last 30 years, the standard which is set by most troops is nowhere near
>that which would be seen in a typical group of campers drawn from, say,
>the Sierra Club. Among the issues are the use of wood fires, approach to
>
>3. Can we actually camp in groups of 30 or more in many backcountry
>sites, without too much trampling of the foliage?
Tim,
I don't know where you got your impression of Sierra Club backcountry
outings, but having been in the backcountry of Yosemite on numerous
occasions either just after a Sierra Club group has been in the area, or
while they were there, I have a few opinions of their impact to an area.
They are typically a party of around 15 to 20 older individuals, on
horseback, with guides, wranglers, cooks, and the additional stock to
transport this traveling circus. From my observations, a thousand Scouts
would not tear up the trails as badly as one of these parties does. And
there's nothing quite like hiking all day to a beautiful alpine lake, only
to spend your time gagging on the aroma of "trail apples" which you've spent
all day trying to keep from stepping in as you grind up the trail, twisting
your ankles on all the rocks in the trail that the horses and mules have
loosened.
I'm sure that The Sierra Club does many wonderful things to preserve the
wilderness, but I don't like their style on the trail.
We, here in Troop 94 practice low-impact camping religiously, due to a
dedicated Scoutmaster and his training programs, (He's also one of our
Council's High Adventure Trainers), and we try to do it right. I can only
hope that other units will take it on themselves to learn how to spend time
in the back-country using Scouting's Low-Impact Camping program before they
venture out into the wild. It ain't Disneyland out there, folks!
I truly don't mean to sound like I'm preaching, but it really ticks me off
to find out our unit, and others like ours, is going to have to jump through
more hoops to be able to camp in our own back yard because of a few "bad
apples" that come to the wilderness with little or no preparation and/or
knowledge.
Hang on a second while I climb dowm from this soapbox....
On another note, I would like to welcome a fellow ASM from my troop, Dave
Conway, to the list. He just signed in and will probably be introducing
himself soon. Welcome, Dave.
Mike
-----------------------------------------------------
Mike Montoya, ASM, Troop 94 mmm@yosemite.net
http://www.yosemite.net/mariposa/clubs/t94/
http://home.yosemite.net/~mmm/
"I used to be ...Faster, Lighter, & Less Gray!"
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
