Special Places

I grew up in northern New Jersey surrounded by farms and woods and watched them transform into suburbs and shopping malls. As I got into my teens and expanded my horizons with bicycle and thumb sail, exploring state lands and where the Federal govt. was buying up land became a passion. On one such venture a glen was discovered, where the hemlocks hadn't been cut off in over a century and the rhododendron and laurel filled in some of the understory, but not all. A lovely stream made its way down a ridge in perfect round, granite potholes. Best of all, following the ridge led to the top of a tall waterfall . Tolkienesque. A few years passed and several pullouts appeared on the dirt road nearest the glen. Then it happened. A hiking buddy brought me a copy of the New York Times Leisure and Travel section with some writer's "discovery" of this gem not far off the asphalt path of millions. Within a year , a parking lot and rest rooms were installed and the garbage and destruction began. The whole ridge is now on a side trail off the AT, but it will forever remain a magical bushwhack in my memory. My last time there, a state wildlife officer came upon a friend and I dismantling a large fire ring and the remnants of green hemlock and rhododendron branches. We had bagged up several cases of cans and bottles, and had swept up as much broken glass as we could. He attempted to blame us and give us a ticket. He couldn't fathom why we would clean up someone else's mess.
There's places that I've been to that have been visited by others, but I still will not mention, still hope others will stay on the main trails or the pavement and leave them as is. I'd be interested to hear other people speak to their magical places and whether they have lost some to media exposure. Names may be changed or omitted to protect the innocent.

Nice story! It seems like I have had a lot of favorite places of mine overtromped, but maybe the most discouraging was a beautiful bit of bayou my house backed up on when I lived in Baton Rouge during my 4th grade year. A magical place for me and my friends, we had a fort back in there and waded around in a stream occupied by cottonmouths and crawdads and snapping turtles. I don't really know what it truly looked like, but in my memory it has always been a deep wild swamp, and utterly fantastic. A few years back I looked on Google Earth to see it and found that they literally built an expressway right down it
Still, I have a beautiful ridgetop I go to right now, dear to my heart, and surrounded by a metropolis of several million of whom not more than a couple ever seem to go there in a given day (time was when nobody went there, though). I can work up a sweat busting out a 1000' x-country climb, and sit and drink a beer with the simultaneous views of rare and endangered plants and butterflies in the foreground and highrises being built in the background. Miraculous, beloved survivor.

Different but kind of the same...as a kid the Catskills of NYS definitely felt wild. You would bump into people from time to time but the woods were clean and solitude was possible. Even into my adulthood and working with a college outdoor program, the Catskills gave my students a feeling of "wild" on our hikes.

Unfortunately a few years ago a group started a program called "Lark in the Park." While I truly feel it was a well intended attempt to get people to become familiar with the Catskills, I feel the results have been disastrous. The large groups (up to 50 in some cases), litter and overall destruction are hard to miss. Cars overflow parking areas and area roadways have been inundated with traffic and litter. At this point, other than the deep winter months, it doesn't matter where you go in the region; the trails are full of people who really don't know much about the woods (and they don't seem to be inclined to learn based on our experiences).

For years I would take the student leaders of our outdoor program to Alder Lake for an overnight training session. In the last two years we've arrived at the parking lot to find as many as 50 cars (we used to see one or two at most) with plates and license plate holders all indicating they've come up from NYC, NJ or CT. I'm not one to try and keep people out but the sheer increase in volume of usage has definitely created problems for the resource; and, my guess, DEC.

Anyway, long story short...if you have a "secret" place, do yourself a favor. Keep it that way.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

Thanks for sharing that,snapper. My wife and I went up Slide one snowy day this past winter and was surprised by the number of people and the way they acted. One fellow in a group of NYC peak baggers asked me quite snidely why I was carrying a pack. I told him if he fell on the trail and was injured, or became hypothermic he'd find out.

Bluefish - Unfortunately that attitude is becoming more and more common. During the warmer months you'll see a lot of people in flip flops and, if you're lucky, they'll be carrying a small bottle of water they purchased somewhere. Even my students comment on it when they see people beginning a hike that we're coming out of around 3 PM. They know what they just carried for the day (10 Essentials, etc.) and they can't figure out how these folks are going to do the same trip in less time with no safety gear. At least I know my kids are "getting" it; which is a good sign for the future.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper