I know that this has been discussed dozens of times, especially on a certain Grand Canyon topic. I thought I would post this here, however. It is a NYT article talking about how we all need to be responsible for ourselves in the outdoors, and not rely on rangers/NPS/USFS to make our experience safer.
One quote:
NYT wrote:the more rangers try to bring the nanny state to public lands, the more careless, and dependent, people become. There will always be steep cliffs, deep water, and ornery and unpredictable animals in that messy part of the national habitat not crossed by climate-controlled malls and processed-food emporiums. If people expect a grizzly bear to be benign, or think a glacier is just another variant of a theme park slide, it’s not the fault of the government when something goes fatally wrong.
"The only thing we did was wrong was staying in the wilderness to long...the only thing we did was right was the day we started to fight..."
-Old Spiritual
My book, The Marauders on Lulu and Amazon
Bleah, Democrats or Republicans. Neither have done much to prevent this kind of lawsuit. With the way our deficits and debt are going it may not matter soon anyway. The government can put them at the end of the list of creditors.
I can't control others but if I'm killed by a wild beast in the wilderness and any survivors file a wrongful death lawsuit, I'll come back and haunt them!
"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it."
~ Mark Twain
Must be election season when D vs. R comes into play so soon. Those of you who are my friends on Facebook know how I feel about Ron Paul(-), but that's neither here nor there. The point in the paper is more germane to prior HAZ discussions on how backcountry trails should be managed. I remember a particular topic about Horseshoe Mesa and backpacker magazine. Couldn't find the thread to bring that old topic back from the dead.
"The only thing we did was wrong was staying in the wilderness to long...the only thing we did was right was the day we started to fight..."
-Old Spiritual
My book, The Marauders on Lulu and Amazon
Backcountry 101--Look at maps, several sources, look online, read up whatever resources you can find; old articles, books are best--historical, then more recent guidebooks, talk to old ranchers, locals, miners, other hikers, etc, then---
prepare for all of that to be wrong, changed, washed out, impassable, illegal, longer, harder than you thought. Then you'll be ok ;)
Route Editor
Route Scout
