Day Hiking, Musings on Wilderness and OHV’s
View from PCT in SoCal
While out on the Pacific Crest Trail for a weekend day hike with my dad, I was reminded of a press release I saw on Backpackinglight.com. The press release announced how Backpacking Light (BPL) and OHV/ORV groups were working together to preserve wilderness.
It seemed counterintuitive at first glance. Howard Zahniser, in the Wilderness Act of 1964, defines wilderness as “A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” I know when I enter a Wilderness Area, as declared by an act of government, I am not allowed to have mechanized or motorized vehicles. So why on earth would an OHV/ORV group work to preserve wilderness?
What I learned is that the groups involved are looking for win-win solutions for OHV users and hikers/backpackers alike. One example of such a win-win solution is aiming for zero emission OHV’s that are noiseless.
Incase you are wondering what sparked these thoughts out on the trail, well it was a Saturday and people were out enjoying their weekend…I was looking for a quiet trail, which I got for most of the day, they were looking for tread for their non-noiseless OHV’s.
