The left’s complete capture of the outdoor industry has led to the desecration of our natural resources. It’s time for the right to ride in and reclaim its place at the table.
…like the idea that constant stimuli is necessary to maintain a state of lobotomized acceptance of absurdist alternate reality, and if the mind was allowed to truly reflect, it would wake up to a painful and frightening reality?
this does not have much to do with the environment specifically, but it is one of the best summaries of the general problem of postmodernism and the spiritual, psychological and social disintegration and dysfunction created by postmodern values and ideas.
I feel the same about 4-wheelers and jetskis, to be honest. The noise destroys the ambience, crowds the senses, blocks up the ears from being able to really engage, scares away the animals … worse, it does not only do so for the one making the noise, but for everyone within earshot.
That's why I have to be away from the traffic noise. I grew up in the Catskill Mtns, but live north of Detroit. I can't stand the noise of traffic. In my 30s I put up with it when I first moved here but nowadays it makes me crazy. It's like you can never leave the pavement and the metro thinking because unlike the Music Of The Spheres, you hear the traffic all the time.
That said I am always amazed by people who bring their boom box music on kayak trips. Party has to go with you everywhere? I see that with Metros and rednecks.
I've had city people complain that the countryside is too loud for them, particularly at night with the frogs and crickets. Left me speechless. Unlike traffic, sirens, and construction, it's white noise, and a particularly beautiful and musical form of white noise.
My daughter and I were discussing something similar the other day. I was complaining - a common thing actually - that while on our walk the streets were too loud. She’s used to the clamber being raised in the suburbs. If she weren’t lucky enough to have a good guy in her life she would move to a remote region. There are a couple areas that she’s picked out, will see.
My son is attracted to the energy of our area. It’s funny, he’s been working as a bar tender and “first mate” on a boat that cruises between Detroit and Windsor.
I’m the first to admit that when we were homeschooling being in the burbs of Detroit was advantageous because the community we formed was easily within reach. Early 00s in Michigan homeschooling was thriving, and the govt left us alone. I was shocked at the sheer number of families opting for that, and the fear of “how will your kids socialize” turned out to be a myth.
But as a place to be after kids are out on their own, it sux balls. COVID brought out the worst snoop “somebody’s view of socialism is just another’s way of being neighborly” culture. The burbs are awash in that, I sense it everywhere.
I also live North of Detroit, and it's the same with my rednecks. I don't understand how it's possible to actually enjoy the natural environment when we have to bring all our fucking electronic playthings us. I remember when I myself was a Scout and the started allowing electronics at summer camp. It felt like a complete betrayal of everything that makes the experience meaningful
I agree with JetSkis ridiculous things. I once had the unfortunate but at the same time hilarious experience of watching a knob jockey trying to load a JetSki on to its trailer at a beach boat ramp with his expensive tow vehicle being lapped by the salt water. Total faceplant
A friend and her husband used to go down to the boat ramp when the ice went off the reservoir. They would take a picnic lunch and watch people sink their boats and tow vehicles.
I think some people are so chronically online and plugged in, they are used to having constant background noise. Silence would probably drive them insane
Having been a teacher for more than twenty years I can confirm that:
A large and growing percentage of people born from ca 1990 onward are addicted to sensory stimuli, with all the attendant aspects such as becoming inured and numb, needing bigger and stronger hits.
Added to this is the psychological addiction to social media, exacerbating the problems of both.
I've seen people in their 30s show clear withdrawal-symptoms when deprived of all the usual artificial stimulus. A "funny" one was when I showed one of our lodgers at the time "2001 A Space Odyssey". It took her until the docking-at-the-Moon-sequence to stop fidgeting in her seat, and she herself brought it up later that she felt real anxiety from not having her phone in her hand.
The future human may well be an eusocial species, thanks to all the devices and stimulus overload.
Silence enables your mind to reflect and see yourself for who you are and that scares the hell out of people. It is easier to continue the delusion that everything is great and wonderful through drowning out the still, small voice.
This issue is very near and dear to me. This also applies to waterways and lakes. Endless boats. RV’s and fifth wheels and sprinter vans on land. It’s literally an infestation.
A long time ago I caretook a remote ranch in the northern Sierra Nevada, Plumas County. It was at the west end of an old wagon train road that started in Beckwourth, California and went though some high country that had lots of awesome hunting. When hunting season started, every weekend a bunch of drunk idiots would roar by the front of the cabin, which was on the main forest service/county road, up to hunting campsites in the high country.
I always stayed away from the hunting area, but knew people that reported seeing the drunk hunters semi-randomly blasting away at the woods from the back of moving pick trucks.
I personally grew up hunting and fishing, and knew responsible hunters, including bow hunters, in that area. Most of them were disgusted by the guys that mostly went hunting to get away from their wives/kids and to get drunk with their stupid buddies out in the boondocks.
This is a great message and endeavor. I lived and worked in the outdoors for much of my 20s. I taught trail-building to inner-city kids and introduced them to the outdoors and worked for the Fish and Wildlife Service doing education and habitat restoration projects. I can tell you that already in the mid-1990s the environmental non-profit, government, and extreme outdoor industry has been fully captured by the left and they wanted none of the unwashed masses to have access. Funnily though, the best restoration projects were always done by Duck’s Unlimited, which was considered a conservative organization. My only quibble is hoisting too much praise onto the Uber-Progressive Teddy Roosevelt (even when you agree with his aims) who helped to expand the power of the very government currently allayed against the majority of its population.
Thank you! Kudos to the outreach and conservation you did. I do imagine that the environmental capture had been going on long before I was kicking around to recognize it… that’s why I consider the 60s and 70s the first real slipping in the reins by the right.
As for Teddy, I try to give him a bit of grace for not predicting how crazy his successors would become. Interestingly enough, he and Buffalo Bill knew each other, and had disagreements about how the environment should’ve been protected. I’d characterize TR as anti corporation, and Bill as anti-government control. Ironically, both of those boots are presently on our throats.
Aug 27·edited Aug 27Liked by Cole Noble, John Carter
Nature is the best part of our individual nations in some ways, and they can at times offer the most joy out of all of them. In Quebec, France, Japan and Scotland the mountains, the forests and the wilderness are beautiful, grand and precious with Canada proper's own mountains such as the Rockies of incomparable beauty, just as her forests are. What is most beautiful are the northern woods just south of the Arctic territories, along with the forests in Newfoundland where the Ocean is.
The USA is similarly blessed and to lose her woodlands, her cliffs, her mountains to the bastards currently waging this Class War against us all would be the greatest loss of all. We lose our land, our heritage left to us by our ancestors would mean we're truly lost. While my travels mostly took me directly to Arizona, in the middle of the desert there was still a beauty there and a grandeur. To lose that would be a travesty, so that this essay really resonated. We really do need to all reconnect with the land, like the Japanese have done for example (trust me, they've stayed connected and passionate about the natural sites of their country).
Great article Cole Noble, you said it all, you said it all!
Thank you for reading. Yes it’s a shame to see our beautiful natural places squandered and co-opted, used as a tool by people who hate us. I pray we can come back from this
Things are a bit different over here when it comes to trekking and such. On the one hand, we have Allemansrätten, meaning you can trek most anywhere provided you follow the rules (no littering, not making fires except in prepared fireplaces, and not entering enclosures, gardens and such - oversimplified of course).
It worked great as long as only Swedes and other northerners had access. Celts, finns and teutons and no problems: civilised people with an inherent spiritual connection to Nature.
With the appearance of a) latte-moms (think entitled bratty Karens with kids and cucks) b) swarthy southerners from cultures where "god gave man stewardship of the land" is the cultural norm - i.e. where there's wastelands and deserts nowadays, and c) inner city-slickers going on retreats, conferences and such, and d) the EU [insert expletives as desired], it stopped working.
But there's an upside:
The lowborn are lazy and entitled andcof creaturelike disposition, spirit-wise. Make sure the hotel has a full bar, plenty of fat and sugary food and treats and lots of distractions (so it feels as if they're in the city), they tend to not move far from their lodgings.
We make money off of them, they trek maybe 10km out and then return. And those trails we have made easy-peasy to walk; on some you can take a stroller or a wheelchair. Plus Portapotties and garbage cans at the 10km mark. No big deal to take a four-wheeled motorcycle plus trailer out to empty the trash and such, as needed. The cans and all are marked with QR-codes so people can notify when they're full up with shit (the people and the cans both, in my opinion).
Why do we do things this way?
Because the rest of the wilderness is left for people like me. Real and true enthusiasts with respect for Nature bordering on the religious. And who knows what the F I'm doing, too.
But the US is very different I've come to understand, when it comes to trekking. Especially after chatting to two young Americans the wife probably saved from a cold death at worst or a very expensive rescue at best (if Rescue Rangers decide your call was frivolous - i.e. you're an ignorant idiot who got in trouble due to being an idiot - they charge you full price for the rescue; about $3 500 would be the bare minimum, sans helicopter).
In their defense, they had no idea how much our trail systems differ from the US, and they were completely unaware of how far North Sweden actually is, or how early the Sun sets in deep Winter, or how many areas there are with no cell phone coverage. But not having insulated hiking boots in Winter? Or snow-shoes? Planning to walk 20km through a dense forest where the terrain alternates between steep ridges and bogs in between the ridges, in the dark, with no flashlights, no physical map, and no knowledge of the area - despite it being -10 to -15 out, under the snow the streams haven't frozen over and if you don't where they are, well congratulations: you are now soaked and rapidly cooling off.
But they got a ride and a "mom talk" from the wife and arrived at their hostel safe and sound. Nice kids, hope they enjoyed the rest of their trek.
People who haven't been in actual wilderness have absolutely no conception of it. The idea that there might not be cell phone coverage is beyond them. Let alone appropriate clothing ... I say, when it's been about a decade since the last time I was properly trekking. That took a lot of prep, and that was in a heavily trafficked national park where we were never that far from other people, camped at prepared sites, etc.
There's really no substitute for skill. Your see the same thing in many venues. At the gym, not uncommon to see skinnyfat guys with fancy workout gear, no doubt taking a pharmacy of dubious supplements, lifting with embarrassingly poor form and spending most of their time on their phones.
I wrote a piece addressing this phenomenon a long time ago, wondering if we should basically create sacrificial lambs of the wild, turning a select few destinations into tourist traps. The pike’s peak cog railway & visitor center is an excellent example. Basically a fancy elevator up 5000 feet of mountainside, with a nice gift shop and museum at the top.
Gift shop is an understatement. That museum is a gem; I loved that you can look up whether Buffalo Bill did a show near your home town. He’s also buried there… which sparked a feud with Wyoming.
I had no idea Denver was planning on trying to force that museum to close too. Very suspiciously, the city forced this guy’s family to close another historic site they maintained, the Echo Mtn. Lodge.
Tremendous article! As an Eagle Scout from back when the Boy Scouts were still boys, it saddened me to see the DEI demise of the Scouts. While we occasionally climbed some peaks back in the day, it was much more about canyoning, fishing, and sharing a campfire in the great outdoors with our pals.
Thank you for reading, from one Eagle to another. It saddens me immensely that my future children will never be able to have the same experiences I did with the program. That’s why I want to fight so hard to create a counter-cultural alternative with Quandary Magazine.
I'll give Quandary a try. Years ago I subscribed to Outside and years before that Summit, Off Belay and the British climbing magazine. I read Mountain Gazette in the Colorado mtn town that I lived in. Now that same town, B.V. makes me want to throw up, as does Gunnison, Salida and Leadville. Aspen of course always did. And Denver is worse. I was an R.E.I. member and still remember my member number. 9 years ago we went back to Denver and made the trip to R.E.I. a shadow of itself, appalling and degraded. Same with North Face and Patagonia and I used to have all kinds of gear from them. On a flight to Juneau, AK to climb Mt Fairweather Lou Whittaker was on the plane. The globo homos are destroying everything that was good.
I challenge your criticism of "Peak Baggers". All my life I have heard of mountain climbers whose goal was to climb the tallest and most challenging mountains in the world. I doubt that Edmund Hillary climbed Mount Everest to take a selfie. Some people simply love challenges. My wife is one of a large number of hikers that made it a point to hike every trail in the Great Smoky Mountains. She is proud of her accomplishment (and does not participate in any social media nonsense). Of course, the park is so crowded now that it is impossible to get to a trailhead in the national park unless you arrive before sunup or are willing to hike a mile to get to the trail. I also question anyone who suggests that overpopulation is not a problem. Although we live in Sevier County, we never go to the Park anymore because all there is to see are tail lights of other cars.
Finally, a DEI badge to become an Eagle Scout?! In my opinion, this, along with the invitation for perverts and girls to join the Scouts has made the organization a diseased and dying institution. It has no place in the Obama Century.
I probably have a different definition of peak bagging culture than most. My criticism is leveled at the “pics or it didn’t happen” crowd that cares more about the social media clout than the experience of accomplishing the challenge.
I think both of you have a valid point. There are real explorers no doubt. In my circle I have noticed many people take up exciting sports just to post about it.
Excellent article. This brings to mind the annual fall visit we made to our favorite state park, in October of 2020. About half the people we saw were wearing masks. Outside. The God of heaven's fresh air might be dangerous!! I found a face mask littering the ground. I took a picture as a testimony of the stupidity of mind captured robots. I'm serious, these people have lost a bit of their humanity.
There is not a single reported case EVER of COVID being contracted outside. I remember when outdoor permission slips were being lorded over people during the vaccine push.
Mask litter has now become a huge problem, of course.
I legitimately feel for the people who were swept up by the fear mongering… similar to how corporate media scared parents into keeping their kids indoors in years past
I used to step lightly, and I explained to whoever would listen, all seven of them, that it was actually a spiritual and a respect point of view to place oneself within the world, not outside of it. A lot of behaviors become second nature then, good behaviors, like packing out one's trash, because it just becomes an extension of the person.
I never noticed a political divide to disrespect. Maybe I missed it. Seems to me its a cultural societal thing.
Now I will say that the left has only doubled down on driving people insane, and insane people do lots of insane things, but really it goes back to the old timers I knew and respected, what they said then is especially true today: People don't know any longer how to behave in the woods.
I see what you’re saying. I don’t think the primary goal here was political. Powerful people didn’t like people being taught outdoor ethics and skills, because those skills also tended to make them more difficult to control.
The knock-on effects were the destruction of our public spaces, and the polarization of the industry.
That has something to do with it, certainly. I always thought the powers that be were just obsessed with themselves and their power. It was like they lost the ability to enjoy what was, without trying to own and trample to death every living thing for fun and profit.
I used to wonder why some people went to the natural world, because they never left the modern one.
Desecration is a huge problem. The Forest Circus solved that out here by burning everything down and locking everyone out but Indians. According to them, this is the correct policy.
RV’s and generators are the absolute worst. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to ask people to turn them off when I’m enjoying a nice evening as the sun goes down.
These RV’s and 5th wheels need to made illegal in parks, period. That in and of itself would go a long way. Sprinter vans everywhere become the same issue.
We are fighting corporate juggernauts and lobbies though.
I want to buy an RV, but not to be one of those Fudgie types. I want it as a literal mobile home, and because housing is so damn unaffordable anyway these days I may as well keep my autonomy. I do think that they're very easy to abuse however, and most people who have them misuse them
Thanks for the column, Cole. Conservationism definitely needs to make a come back. When I took my kids camping, we'd always bring a few bags hiking to clean up trash. The Outdoor Code was and is my guide. May justice be done to those who murdered the BSA. My now-grown children have drank the kool-aid and natter on about climate change.
Thanks for the tip on Trail Life. My opportunity to be a Scoutmaster was taken from me. Being an Eagle Scout doesn't mean anything now.
Don’t despair. They can’t take the past from you. I’m sorry to hear your kids got swept up by that. This subversion was absolutely masterful, preying on the values that make us who we are as outdoorsmen. Understanding is an important first step. Next is the rebuilding phase.
…like the idea that constant stimuli is necessary to maintain a state of lobotomized acceptance of absurdist alternate reality, and if the mind was allowed to truly reflect, it would wake up to a painful and frightening reality?
yep, and there is a deeper problem with the postmodern denial that reality even exists in any traditional sense, religious or scientific.
postmodernists, who created "wokeism"/DEI, tend to "believe" that "reality is a social construct" (historian Christopher Lasch, 1990s.)
after that, any crazy schidt they make up can be justified under the banner of fake "social justice".
this does not have much to do with the environment specifically, but it is one of the best summaries of the general problem of postmodernism and the spiritual, psychological and social disintegration and dysfunction created by postmodern values and ideas.
https://gordonhahn.com/2021/04/29/the-new-american-communo-fascism-and-its-postmodernist-roots/
I can not understand why folks go into the wild and take loud speakers with them.
Being alone in the woods must be very painful to these kind of people.
Why not just stay at home?
I feel the same about 4-wheelers and jetskis, to be honest. The noise destroys the ambience, crowds the senses, blocks up the ears from being able to really engage, scares away the animals … worse, it does not only do so for the one making the noise, but for everyone within earshot.
That's why I have to be away from the traffic noise. I grew up in the Catskill Mtns, but live north of Detroit. I can't stand the noise of traffic. In my 30s I put up with it when I first moved here but nowadays it makes me crazy. It's like you can never leave the pavement and the metro thinking because unlike the Music Of The Spheres, you hear the traffic all the time.
That said I am always amazed by people who bring their boom box music on kayak trips. Party has to go with you everywhere? I see that with Metros and rednecks.
I've had city people complain that the countryside is too loud for them, particularly at night with the frogs and crickets. Left me speechless. Unlike traffic, sirens, and construction, it's white noise, and a particularly beautiful and musical form of white noise.
My daughter and I were discussing something similar the other day. I was complaining - a common thing actually - that while on our walk the streets were too loud. She’s used to the clamber being raised in the suburbs. If she weren’t lucky enough to have a good guy in her life she would move to a remote region. There are a couple areas that she’s picked out, will see.
My son is attracted to the energy of our area. It’s funny, he’s been working as a bar tender and “first mate” on a boat that cruises between Detroit and Windsor.
Personally, I enjoy both cities and countryside ... it's the suburbs that depress me.
I’m the first to admit that when we were homeschooling being in the burbs of Detroit was advantageous because the community we formed was easily within reach. Early 00s in Michigan homeschooling was thriving, and the govt left us alone. I was shocked at the sheer number of families opting for that, and the fear of “how will your kids socialize” turned out to be a myth.
But as a place to be after kids are out on their own, it sux balls. COVID brought out the worst snoop “somebody’s view of socialism is just another’s way of being neighborly” culture. The burbs are awash in that, I sense it everywhere.
Man, I haven’t been back to the Catskills in forever. I’ve lost count of how many adventures I had there…
We’ll have to trade stories - I broke my ankle skiing there 3 years ago.
I grew up there, went to Michigan State Uni, met my wife in Lansing. She was from Long Island. It’s funny how things wove together.
I also live North of Detroit, and it's the same with my rednecks. I don't understand how it's possible to actually enjoy the natural environment when we have to bring all our fucking electronic playthings us. I remember when I myself was a Scout and the started allowing electronics at summer camp. It felt like a complete betrayal of everything that makes the experience meaningful
I agree with JetSkis ridiculous things. I once had the unfortunate but at the same time hilarious experience of watching a knob jockey trying to load a JetSki on to its trailer at a beach boat ramp with his expensive tow vehicle being lapped by the salt water. Total faceplant
A friend and her husband used to go down to the boat ramp when the ice went off the reservoir. They would take a picnic lunch and watch people sink their boats and tow vehicles.
I think some people are so chronically online and plugged in, they are used to having constant background noise. Silence would probably drive them insane
Personally I find it a blessing...
But growing up, plenty of rednecks with 4-wheelers and stereos, and they definitely weren't online in those days.
Having been a teacher for more than twenty years I can confirm that:
A large and growing percentage of people born from ca 1990 onward are addicted to sensory stimuli, with all the attendant aspects such as becoming inured and numb, needing bigger and stronger hits.
Added to this is the psychological addiction to social media, exacerbating the problems of both.
I've seen people in their 30s show clear withdrawal-symptoms when deprived of all the usual artificial stimulus. A "funny" one was when I showed one of our lodgers at the time "2001 A Space Odyssey". It took her until the docking-at-the-Moon-sequence to stop fidgeting in her seat, and she herself brought it up later that she felt real anxiety from not having her phone in her hand.
The future human may well be an eusocial species, thanks to all the devices and stimulus overload.
The most horrifying video I’ve ever watched is a sleeping child, pantomiming scrolling on an iPad while unconscious.
Silence enables your mind to reflect and see yourself for who you are and that scares the hell out of people. It is easier to continue the delusion that everything is great and wonderful through drowning out the still, small voice.
This issue is very near and dear to me. This also applies to waterways and lakes. Endless boats. RV’s and fifth wheels and sprinter vans on land. It’s literally an infestation.
A long time ago I caretook a remote ranch in the northern Sierra Nevada, Plumas County. It was at the west end of an old wagon train road that started in Beckwourth, California and went though some high country that had lots of awesome hunting. When hunting season started, every weekend a bunch of drunk idiots would roar by the front of the cabin, which was on the main forest service/county road, up to hunting campsites in the high country.
I always stayed away from the hunting area, but knew people that reported seeing the drunk hunters semi-randomly blasting away at the woods from the back of moving pick trucks.
I personally grew up hunting and fishing, and knew responsible hunters, including bow hunters, in that area. Most of them were disgusted by the guys that mostly went hunting to get away from their wives/kids and to get drunk with their stupid buddies out in the boondocks.
sorry, correction: stage coach road.
Negrified culture
In a sense.
It is almost as if the people who are really into homosexuality have no respect for the natural order.
Kek
This is a great message and endeavor. I lived and worked in the outdoors for much of my 20s. I taught trail-building to inner-city kids and introduced them to the outdoors and worked for the Fish and Wildlife Service doing education and habitat restoration projects. I can tell you that already in the mid-1990s the environmental non-profit, government, and extreme outdoor industry has been fully captured by the left and they wanted none of the unwashed masses to have access. Funnily though, the best restoration projects were always done by Duck’s Unlimited, which was considered a conservative organization. My only quibble is hoisting too much praise onto the Uber-Progressive Teddy Roosevelt (even when you agree with his aims) who helped to expand the power of the very government currently allayed against the majority of its population.
Thank you! Kudos to the outreach and conservation you did. I do imagine that the environmental capture had been going on long before I was kicking around to recognize it… that’s why I consider the 60s and 70s the first real slipping in the reins by the right.
As for Teddy, I try to give him a bit of grace for not predicting how crazy his successors would become. Interestingly enough, he and Buffalo Bill knew each other, and had disagreements about how the environment should’ve been protected. I’d characterize TR as anti corporation, and Bill as anti-government control. Ironically, both of those boots are presently on our throats.
Nature is the best part of our individual nations in some ways, and they can at times offer the most joy out of all of them. In Quebec, France, Japan and Scotland the mountains, the forests and the wilderness are beautiful, grand and precious with Canada proper's own mountains such as the Rockies of incomparable beauty, just as her forests are. What is most beautiful are the northern woods just south of the Arctic territories, along with the forests in Newfoundland where the Ocean is.
The USA is similarly blessed and to lose her woodlands, her cliffs, her mountains to the bastards currently waging this Class War against us all would be the greatest loss of all. We lose our land, our heritage left to us by our ancestors would mean we're truly lost. While my travels mostly took me directly to Arizona, in the middle of the desert there was still a beauty there and a grandeur. To lose that would be a travesty, so that this essay really resonated. We really do need to all reconnect with the land, like the Japanese have done for example (trust me, they've stayed connected and passionate about the natural sites of their country).
Great article Cole Noble, you said it all, you said it all!
Thank you for reading. Yes it’s a shame to see our beautiful natural places squandered and co-opted, used as a tool by people who hate us. I pray we can come back from this
Agreed, seems like those people hate everyone and everything.
Well didn't this text push my Rant-buttons!
Things are a bit different over here when it comes to trekking and such. On the one hand, we have Allemansrätten, meaning you can trek most anywhere provided you follow the rules (no littering, not making fires except in prepared fireplaces, and not entering enclosures, gardens and such - oversimplified of course).
It worked great as long as only Swedes and other northerners had access. Celts, finns and teutons and no problems: civilised people with an inherent spiritual connection to Nature.
With the appearance of a) latte-moms (think entitled bratty Karens with kids and cucks) b) swarthy southerners from cultures where "god gave man stewardship of the land" is the cultural norm - i.e. where there's wastelands and deserts nowadays, and c) inner city-slickers going on retreats, conferences and such, and d) the EU [insert expletives as desired], it stopped working.
But there's an upside:
The lowborn are lazy and entitled andcof creaturelike disposition, spirit-wise. Make sure the hotel has a full bar, plenty of fat and sugary food and treats and lots of distractions (so it feels as if they're in the city), they tend to not move far from their lodgings.
We make money off of them, they trek maybe 10km out and then return. And those trails we have made easy-peasy to walk; on some you can take a stroller or a wheelchair. Plus Portapotties and garbage cans at the 10km mark. No big deal to take a four-wheeled motorcycle plus trailer out to empty the trash and such, as needed. The cans and all are marked with QR-codes so people can notify when they're full up with shit (the people and the cans both, in my opinion).
Why do we do things this way?
Because the rest of the wilderness is left for people like me. Real and true enthusiasts with respect for Nature bordering on the religious. And who knows what the F I'm doing, too.
But the US is very different I've come to understand, when it comes to trekking. Especially after chatting to two young Americans the wife probably saved from a cold death at worst or a very expensive rescue at best (if Rescue Rangers decide your call was frivolous - i.e. you're an ignorant idiot who got in trouble due to being an idiot - they charge you full price for the rescue; about $3 500 would be the bare minimum, sans helicopter).
In their defense, they had no idea how much our trail systems differ from the US, and they were completely unaware of how far North Sweden actually is, or how early the Sun sets in deep Winter, or how many areas there are with no cell phone coverage. But not having insulated hiking boots in Winter? Or snow-shoes? Planning to walk 20km through a dense forest where the terrain alternates between steep ridges and bogs in between the ridges, in the dark, with no flashlights, no physical map, and no knowledge of the area - despite it being -10 to -15 out, under the snow the streams haven't frozen over and if you don't where they are, well congratulations: you are now soaked and rapidly cooling off.
But they got a ride and a "mom talk" from the wife and arrived at their hostel safe and sound. Nice kids, hope they enjoyed the rest of their trek.
People who haven't been in actual wilderness have absolutely no conception of it. The idea that there might not be cell phone coverage is beyond them. Let alone appropriate clothing ... I say, when it's been about a decade since the last time I was properly trekking. That took a lot of prep, and that was in a heavily trafficked national park where we were never that far from other people, camped at prepared sites, etc.
Yeah, and there's the other aspect to it too:
If you don't know what to do with the gear, it doesn't matter how expensive or fancy it is.
I use one of these for cooking while hiking. ½dl of denatured alcohol is enough to cook a meal, in case one can't make a fire for some reason.
https://img.tradera.net/images/352/534523352_173077f5-cdd7-444b-83ab-3d208c9dfe0c.jpg
Swedish soldiers have been using similar cookpots since the 1600s.
There's really no substitute for skill. Your see the same thing in many venues. At the gym, not uncommon to see skinnyfat guys with fancy workout gear, no doubt taking a pharmacy of dubious supplements, lifting with embarrassingly poor form and spending most of their time on their phones.
yeah, if you know what you are doing all you really need is a knife and maybe a map. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvh6UTNMebM
I wrote a piece addressing this phenomenon a long time ago, wondering if we should basically create sacrificial lambs of the wild, turning a select few destinations into tourist traps. The pike’s peak cog railway & visitor center is an excellent example. Basically a fancy elevator up 5000 feet of mountainside, with a nice gift shop and museum at the top.
Pretty much every non-extreme peak in Switzerland has a restaurant on top.
Speaking of Buffalo Bill, Denver doesn't want to maintain the very popular gift shop and is having doubts about the "relevance" of the historical figure. You know what that really means. https://www.westword.com/news/denver-closing-shop-cafe-dedicated-to-buffalo-bill-21356608
Gift shop is an understatement. That museum is a gem; I loved that you can look up whether Buffalo Bill did a show near your home town. He’s also buried there… which sparked a feud with Wyoming.
I had no idea Denver was planning on trying to force that museum to close too. Very suspiciously, the city forced this guy’s family to close another historic site they maintained, the Echo Mtn. Lodge.
Btw. Love your handle, thanks for reading
Part of my kid's childhood. Sent them the article.
Tremendous article! As an Eagle Scout from back when the Boy Scouts were still boys, it saddened me to see the DEI demise of the Scouts. While we occasionally climbed some peaks back in the day, it was much more about canyoning, fishing, and sharing a campfire in the great outdoors with our pals.
Thank you for reading, from one Eagle to another. It saddens me immensely that my future children will never be able to have the same experiences I did with the program. That’s why I want to fight so hard to create a counter-cultural alternative with Quandary Magazine.
I'll give Quandary a try. Years ago I subscribed to Outside and years before that Summit, Off Belay and the British climbing magazine. I read Mountain Gazette in the Colorado mtn town that I lived in. Now that same town, B.V. makes me want to throw up, as does Gunnison, Salida and Leadville. Aspen of course always did. And Denver is worse. I was an R.E.I. member and still remember my member number. 9 years ago we went back to Denver and made the trip to R.E.I. a shadow of itself, appalling and degraded. Same with North Face and Patagonia and I used to have all kinds of gear from them. On a flight to Juneau, AK to climb Mt Fairweather Lou Whittaker was on the plane. The globo homos are destroying everything that was good.
I challenge your criticism of "Peak Baggers". All my life I have heard of mountain climbers whose goal was to climb the tallest and most challenging mountains in the world. I doubt that Edmund Hillary climbed Mount Everest to take a selfie. Some people simply love challenges. My wife is one of a large number of hikers that made it a point to hike every trail in the Great Smoky Mountains. She is proud of her accomplishment (and does not participate in any social media nonsense). Of course, the park is so crowded now that it is impossible to get to a trailhead in the national park unless you arrive before sunup or are willing to hike a mile to get to the trail. I also question anyone who suggests that overpopulation is not a problem. Although we live in Sevier County, we never go to the Park anymore because all there is to see are tail lights of other cars.
Finally, a DEI badge to become an Eagle Scout?! In my opinion, this, along with the invitation for perverts and girls to join the Scouts has made the organization a diseased and dying institution. It has no place in the Obama Century.
I probably have a different definition of peak bagging culture than most. My criticism is leveled at the “pics or it didn’t happen” crowd that cares more about the social media clout than the experience of accomplishing the challenge.
I know two people who have climbed all the 14ers and neither fit the stereotype. in fact they are both internet naïfs.
Only once or twice did I ever sign the registry of the Colorado 14'ers. It was for me and no one else.
I think both of you have a valid point. There are real explorers no doubt. In my circle I have noticed many people take up exciting sports just to post about it.
Excellent article. This brings to mind the annual fall visit we made to our favorite state park, in October of 2020. About half the people we saw were wearing masks. Outside. The God of heaven's fresh air might be dangerous!! I found a face mask littering the ground. I took a picture as a testimony of the stupidity of mind captured robots. I'm serious, these people have lost a bit of their humanity.
There is not a single reported case EVER of COVID being contracted outside. I remember when outdoor permission slips were being lorded over people during the vaccine push.
Mask litter has now become a huge problem, of course.
I legitimately feel for the people who were swept up by the fear mongering… similar to how corporate media scared parents into keeping their kids indoors in years past
They're just drones at this point who will do as told. Be thankful it was only half.
losing humanity was part of the plan.
Amen brother
Man, do I have horror stories concerning the natural world.
I wish I could say it was simply a right or left phenomenon, but stupid, greedy fuck you attitudes aren't defined by political stance.
This is true. I mostly call the perpetrators of this “anti-humanists.” For some reason the left keeps identifying with them… at least partially
I used to step lightly, and I explained to whoever would listen, all seven of them, that it was actually a spiritual and a respect point of view to place oneself within the world, not outside of it. A lot of behaviors become second nature then, good behaviors, like packing out one's trash, because it just becomes an extension of the person.
I never noticed a political divide to disrespect. Maybe I missed it. Seems to me its a cultural societal thing.
Now I will say that the left has only doubled down on driving people insane, and insane people do lots of insane things, but really it goes back to the old timers I knew and respected, what they said then is especially true today: People don't know any longer how to behave in the woods.
I see what you’re saying. I don’t think the primary goal here was political. Powerful people didn’t like people being taught outdoor ethics and skills, because those skills also tended to make them more difficult to control.
The knock-on effects were the destruction of our public spaces, and the polarization of the industry.
That has something to do with it, certainly. I always thought the powers that be were just obsessed with themselves and their power. It was like they lost the ability to enjoy what was, without trying to own and trample to death every living thing for fun and profit.
I used to wonder why some people went to the natural world, because they never left the modern one.
Desecration is a huge problem. The Forest Circus solved that out here by burning everything down and locking everyone out but Indians. According to them, this is the correct policy.
RV’s and generators are the absolute worst. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to ask people to turn them off when I’m enjoying a nice evening as the sun goes down.
These RV’s and 5th wheels need to made illegal in parks, period. That in and of itself would go a long way. Sprinter vans everywhere become the same issue.
We are fighting corporate juggernauts and lobbies though.
I want to buy an RV, but not to be one of those Fudgie types. I want it as a literal mobile home, and because housing is so damn unaffordable anyway these days I may as well keep my autonomy. I do think that they're very easy to abuse however, and most people who have them misuse them
Van life somehow gentrified “being so committed to an adventure pursuit that you cast everything aside and live out of your car.”
Pathetic parasites
What a fine piece, and much needed. The leftist capture of the “non-consumptive” outdoor pursuits caused a destructive split with hunters and anglers.
Exactly! The divide between these communities always struck me as weird, until I started really digging into this.
Thanks for the column, Cole. Conservationism definitely needs to make a come back. When I took my kids camping, we'd always bring a few bags hiking to clean up trash. The Outdoor Code was and is my guide. May justice be done to those who murdered the BSA. My now-grown children have drank the kool-aid and natter on about climate change.
Thanks for the tip on Trail Life. My opportunity to be a Scoutmaster was taken from me. Being an Eagle Scout doesn't mean anything now.
Don’t despair. They can’t take the past from you. I’m sorry to hear your kids got swept up by that. This subversion was absolutely masterful, preying on the values that make us who we are as outdoorsmen. Understanding is an important first step. Next is the rebuilding phase.