Idiot Off Trail

Serious about not fucking nature up, but the rest, well......sometimes, never, always....maybe but probably not.

 

While I don't like your means, I admire your dedication.

 

What's really good about all this is the reinforcement from those that care. The camping thread, the hunting this and that thread, the "we took a trip" through the mountains and saw some shit you wouldn't believe... And we took it all out when we were done and left it for the next one. Some times this site seems to support destruction. Nice to see the backbone is as one would hope. Don't ever be shy about that.

 

these threads drive me nuts. The new virtue signaling and witch hunts. Maybe we can get him fined, lose his job, lose his family, end up in jail....blah...blah...blah. Likely wont even see it next summer. The real problem is once that first person has made tracks then someone else follows it because there's tracks there and then next thing you know ...a new road or a new path in the road. Sometimes the roads need to be rerouted as the old path is a constant mudhole etc. Of course that isnt the problem here.

A quick education about backcountry travel and stay the trail is sufficient and move on.

I do find it interesting a couple pages back that the signage indicates that mountain bikes can go off trail. Thats a bit surprising as enough MTN bikes going off trail and you have a new single track. Also on some of the more popular places, it can be problematic to have hundreds of hikers creating a bunch of new hiking paths. Guess they will worry about the mountain bike issue if it becomes a problem.

Last thing that I will point out for all you guys/gals getting incensed about this. How many of you have avatars from the overlook on Imogene Pass, or American Flag Mountain or Top of the World in Moab (or a thousand other places)...where essentially you drove off trail so you can get that cool pic of your vehicle at the top of a promontory so the whole world can see just what a super cool backcountry dude you are! You might start thinking about that too and simply park your vehicle on the dirt and walk over to the nice view and snap some photos to keep the environmental impact minimized (note i said minimized - not not existent).

last time I was on top of American Flag Mountain in Taylor Park there was a f*ckin traffic jam at the promontory of jackasses in their Jeeps and SXS, etc wanting to get that pic. Someone even asked me an the other pedestrians to move so they could get a picture. Yeah....that didnt fly.

 

Troublemaker..............

 

Bastard. When will you learn?

 

windowlicker.....

 

Reserved for future advertising.

 

Why do I feel like this is exactly what the real guy would say. Is that you Oneshort?

 

You have feelings?

 

Thank you for asking, yes I do! First time on the internet anyone asked about my feelings.

 

The one light, single pass set of tracks, maybe you won't see that next summer. Or maybe you will. The described but not shown muddy ruts? Those will be there. I agree that the bigger or continuing issue is when others see tracks and keep using them.

There's a lot of expression of sentiment in this thread, and elsewhere, and if taken at face value then yes, people are going way too far in either extreme (vandalizing the vehicle/driver or that this is 'no big deal'). I do believe that a ticket or fine (or at the very least some sort of warning/education from an official) if the person can be identified and located is perfectly appropriate for this situation, and I'll come back to that in a second. I can be reasonable - it's not as bad as the woman who acrylic painted up a bunch of rocks, or the guys toppling rock formations. But it's also not as simple as pulled off the trail or passed someone off trail either (the tracks only might have slid with education, but the drainage crossing was over the line). And social media is one of the better ways to catch offenders now. How about the jackass(es) who drove out on/camped on the mudflats whose tracks will likely be visible for decades?

I also found the mountain bike signage odd/interesting, particularly given the alpine area. I suppose the thought is similar to hikers and horseback, that if you spread out enough and aren't repeating the same path the impact is minimal. But as you say, it wouldn't take much repetition to get a new single track going (and it looks like there is one of some kind in the background of the posted photos). The primary distinction made is motorized and non-motorized (and I've never understood motorized winter use where all other motorized travel is prohibited year-round, at least in cases where there is a road/trail there).

I'm going to have to disagree with you about Imogene and Top of the World (have not visited American), particularly as compared to this incident. Apples and oranges. Top of the World is basically bare rock, with no boulders, markers or anything else to say 'parking area ends here'. Bare rock can be tracked up, obviously, but as many people take that pic I didn't notice any blacking as one sees on designated slickrock routes. Imogene, again, there's nothing indicating that overlook is closed to vehicles and there's a pretty clear road/path out there (in fact, it's access for a cabin lower down to a degree). Parking up on the rock in the middle? Eh, I could buy that, more so if it were rocked off or something but without it's that gray area of 'the damage is done and not in progress, and further use won't do more damage' so is it really off route or not. I remember the first time I was up on Imogene we got yelled at (not an extreme yelling, but not a polite hey did you know you're off trail either) because we weren't on the right track and at the time there were three running parallel, and they were all in about the same condition. It's since been cleaned up/blocked off/signed, but at the time it wasn't clear.

And that's why I think this guy deserves a ticket, because there's no question here. This was willful off-trail travel on 'pristine' tundra. There's no way you can claim you didn't know you were off trail. If for whatever reason he did need to go that way and get to the other side of that drainage, there were easier/flatter places to do it like right there in the foreground. It even looks like he was driving alongside it looking for a good flex spot, but I wasn't there and won't make that particular assumption. I will say you'd have a really hard time convincing me there was any possible justification for that action, whatever his motivation was. There are plenty of bare rock abandoned mine areas and tailings piles in that area you could do some kind of flex on and most wouldn't bat an eye, off trail or no.