ku # 181 ~ a matter of life and death
Monday, January 29, 2007 at 08:36AM 
Cascading snow • click on photo to embiggen it an addendum to ku # 276 - It is estimated that over 10,000,000 people visit the Adirondacks annually. In the tourism industry the Adirondacks is considered a "rubber-tire" destination, meaning that most visitors come by car. Most also come from places that are less than a day's drive away, which is to say, most come from the densely populated NE (US and Canada) megapolis.
The first Adirondack tourism boom in 1869 was instigated by William H. H. "Adirondack" Murray, a Connecticut preacher. His book, Camp Life in the Adirondacks or Adventures in the Wilderness, published that year, started a rush of "Murray's fools" to the Adirondacks that has never really abated. The lure of the Adirondacks today is the same as that articulated by Murray in 1869 - the mental, spiritual and physical restorative powers of a "trip of a few weeks to these woods."
The book became one of the most influential books of the conservation movement of the 1800s. I treasure my signed (tipped-in) first-edition copy of this book.
I also treasure the modern-day Adirondacks. It is a place that is still very much as it was during Murray's day. In fact, with the protections afforded by the NYS Constitution and the APA (see ku # 276 below), the Adirondacks is arguably a better place than it was in 1869. The retched excesses of early industry (lumber and mining) and unrestrained "sportsmen", which plundered the natural wealth of the wilderness and extirpated numerous species from the region, are a thing of the past.
With its small-scale economy, tiny villages and hamlets scattered throughout the wilderness, and a life-style (for those who live here, and for those visitors who experience a bite-size chunk of it) dominated by the rhythms, cycles physical characteristics of the geology of the natural world, the Adirondacks truly feels like, and, in fact, is a land that time forgot.
I, for one, want to keep it that way. IMO, cell towers dotting the landscape are not part of the program. IMO, enough is enough - humankind has desecrated and destroyed the natural world in the name of convience and desire for long enough. IMO, death by car accident - always an individual human tragedy - is not a reason for infringing upon/destroying wilderness.
IMO, preserving and conserving the wilderness is a matter of life and death for both the planet and the human species as a whole. Arguably, it is the most important issue of our times.
Featured Comment: Joel Truckenbrod wrote (in Part): "...when I enter a wilderness area, my desire is to become taken by the beyondness of things. True wildness requires a disconnect from the "always connected" mentality of our age. For me, its allure is in the realization of the primal, not in an adventurous family-vacation or in picturesque sight-seeing. The grace of wildness is that we are given (sometimes gently, sometimes forcefully) perspective on our humanity and the social/cultural constructions that ordinarily surround us. How can one not gain humility and insight when the realization of wildness comes upon them?"
Reader Comments (4)
This tragic death and ordeal occurred along a major highway.
I believe highways should have services including rest stops, emergency phones installed by the road side, emergency services to call with the road side phones and today cell phone services. Why? To keep people safe and alive when they use the highway.
Question: is wilderness still wild when there is a highway running through it? I guess you can argue, as one comment suggested, that wilderness lies 'off road' -- just exit the highway and drive west until you hit another highway. Maybe wilderness lies between highways -- yep, sometimes it does.
In the Northeastern US we have pockets of wilderness, even small pockets in highly populous areas can be pretty wild, but to put a highway up and decide not to provide all the services people expect on a highway in the name of preserving wilderness is delusional -- imo.
While it may seem somewhat contradictory, for me, one of the greatest gifts of true wilderness is the necessity to accept personal risk and responsibility for oneself. As frail human beings, we love the comfort of the many "safety nets" that surround our daily lives. Generally this isn't a bad thing. I travel a great deal for my photography, and keep a cell phone in the car in case of a problem. However, when I enter a wilderness area, my desire is to become taken by the beyondness of things. True wildness requires a disconnect from the "always connected" mentality of our age. For me, its allure is in the realization of the primal, not in an adventurous family-vacation or in picturesque sight-seeing. The grace of wildness is that we are given (sometimes gently, sometimes forcefully) perspective on our humanity and the social/cultural constructions that ordinarily surround us. How can one not gain humility and insight when the realization of wildness comes upon them? While it's undoubtedly tragic when people get hurt or die in such places. But, I personally would find it even more tragic if wilderness could no longer remain truly wild. In my perspective, the solution seems to be in educating those entering a wilderness area, not in conquering the land itself. Regardless, I don't see any signs of the communication age slowing down or coming to a close, so the value of wilderness seems greater than ever. Let's do everything we can to preserve this grace of the wild for future generations.
Very well said, Joel.
IMO, preserving and conserving the wilderness is a matter of life and death for both the planet and the human species as a whole. Arguably, it is the most important issue of our times.
I couldn't agree more.
Cell phones don't belong in the wilderness; there's a tainted symbolism associated with introducing a wireless communications link to the "civilized world." I'm reminded of a time I was on the top of Mt. Dana in Yosemite, drinking in the silence. I watched as a loud group of (Silicon) Valley geeks approached and summited, and almost immediately one of the guys whips out his cell, fires it up and starts into a typically high-volume conversation: "guess where I am?" Like Joel, I spend a lot of time in the backcountry and refuse to carry the cell, simply because of what it represents to me.
But ultimately, this discussion is just a corollary of the larger issue Mark mentioned. And it always starts with a road. Witness the Amazon basin.
Some of you might remember this:
A long time ago came a man on a track
Walking thirty miles with a pack on his back
And he put down his load where he thought it was the best
Made a home in the wilderness...
(Dire Straits - Telegraph Road)
Finally:
"Chris Jordan - Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption"