Sierra Prime: Off Trail in California’s High Country

Tom, I don't know this for a fact, but it is possible that the ranger knew the offender from some past incident. It's possible that the ranger gave him a break on the first pass the day before and remembered him. I don't know.

It's always kind of interesting to watch some offender start to argue loudly with a ranger. Then the ranger quietly puts his hand on the butt of the pistol, still holstered. Real quickly, the tone changes.

–B.G.–

"but it is possible that the ranger knew the offender from some past incident."

Hard to say, Bob. Maybe so. Still…

"It's always kind of interesting to watch some offender start to argue loudly with a ranger. Then the ranger quietly puts his hand on the butt of the pistol, still holstered. Real quickly, the tone changes."

Yeah, I'm sure it does. I guess that's the part that disturbs me, Bob. Has it come to that in our beloved SEKI?
Where a ranger's immediate response to a loudmouth is to put his hand on his gun? I mean, was the guy armed or behaving in a physically threatening way? Or was he just being an obnoxious jerk? Using a gun, or implying readiness to use a gun, is serious business and should, IMO, be a last resort, when a situation is starting to get out of control.
Speaking as one who has found himself staring into the barrel of a gun on two occasions, I can tell you it's a terrifying, pants wetting experience, and I would like to think that someone would have to do a little bit more than be a verbally obnoxious moron to experience it, or even the threat of it, especially in the backcountry.

I wonder how it impacted the wilderness experiences of the onlookers?

All in all, this incident just reinforces my long standing policy of spending as little time as possible on well travelled trails.

A friend of mine is a Yosemite park ranger. He had worked a shift at Tuolumne and was driving his car toward the Valley. He stopped off at the Lukens Lake TH and decided to walk in for a fast look, since he was off-duty. He still had his uniform on. At Lukens Lake, there is no camping allowed, yet he saw a large tent there, about 15 feet from the lake shore. As he approached, two big dogs came running out of the woods to him, and then two guys. First, he engaged them. "How is it going?" "How cold did it get here last night?" (He was establishing that they had actually camped there.) "Are these your dogs?" etc. Once those were answered, he asked to see their wilderness permit, of which they didn't have one. So, he began to inform them that they were in violations of X, Y, and Z. There was no camping at all allowed there. There certainly wasn't any camping that close to the shore. They weren't allowed to have off-leash dogs there. They had been camping without a permit.
The two guys were big, and one grabbed the ranger by the shirt lapels and began to pick him up, saying, "Don't mess with us and we won't mess you up." Of course, the ranger backed off and left. He got out to the road to his car, drove to a telephone, called his ranger buddies with the squad cars, and they staked out the trailhead. Three hours later, the two offenders came walking out with their packs and dogs. As they unlocked their car, the squad cars converged there with lights flashing. "Up against the car and spread 'em!" They were also getting dinged for interfering with a ranger, which is a felony. They were handcuffed and hauled into the jail, and their car was impounded and towed off. The next day, a federal justice had a session in their honor, and they were found guilty on all counts. The fine was a large amount of money.
My point is… never ever talk back to a park ranger. Not even if you think he is wrong. Never put "hands on" a ranger.
–B.G.–

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+1

Great trip report, photos, & video. Nice to see Alan back on BPL.

Nice to be back as well. Thanks!

Hi, Thanks for your response. To clarify why I wrote what I did: you did not say you were in a heavy use area in those exact words but you did say this:

Day 1: Alan left Washington, D.C. at 7:00 a.m., and before dark the same day we were camped at 11,000 feet below Kearsarge Pass.

I took that to mean you were camping at 11,000' and anywhere along Kearsarge Pass IS heavily used. So, I guess you didn't mean that literally if you were below 10K.

As for the tarp issue, it was hard to tell exactly where you were so I assumed from the text it was near the JMT. I agree that way off trail is 'better' if you absolutely have no other place, and no one sees you there for a night… BUT.. that said, I think it is imperative to uphold the 200' from water distance as one of the most sacred of LNT tenants. (I really fret when I see ads for tents and things right on a body of water!)

If I may go off on a wee tangent… I do pride myself on leaving no trace… of campsite, artfully disguised cat hole on the ground's surface (thanks to my Helix potty trowel) , and underground (always carry every bit of TP out) and pick up what light litter I can carry towards the end of trips. I also dismantle illegal fire rings when time allows…(holdover from Sierra Club clean up trip days) It is very discouraging to still see them everywhere at high altitudes. One selfish person makes a fire ring once, or cuts a branch off and its there forever! I'm not looking for a halo here, just doing what needs to be done to keep it as pristine as possible :)

Hi Don,
Thanks for your thoughtful commentary too. I explained after the first post from Alan how I came to think what I did, and ask what I did, so I won't repeat it here, just say I'm glad you're glad it came up! If we all do our part and really hold the wilderness as the sacred ground that it is…. it will remain clean and as pristine as possible in this world that needs it more than ever!

Oh, I thought these would go right under the original post. Still learning…

I live in one of the largest national forests — Tongass — and am amused by the concept of leave no trace given the destruction authorized by the forest service through logging and mining. While I tread as lightly as possible, I refuse to camp 200 feet from a stream when loggers can cut closer than that to salmon habitat. The same holds for finding a place to put a tarp or where to start a fire — though most of ours are below sea level. This is a great conversation to have with the rangers. I know the world is different Outside, but I expect there are similar contradictions in the national parks — aren't those the places that have sold out to the corporate "hospitality" industry for lodges? I would imagine that the impact the authors of the Sierra Prime article had on the wilderness pales in comparison to that found at the nearest concession stand.

Joseph,

The big difference I see is that the logging you are talking about is occurring in a rain forest, not in fragile alpine terrain.

Not excusing what you refer to in the Tongass, but it seems to me that the situation is quite different from a place like the High Sierra.

— Bob

Bob,

The temperate forest never really recovers, take a look at the destruction of British Columbia. Alpine terrain is a lot lower the farther north you go.

There are clear cuts in sight of Glacier Bay National Park.

Let's not blur the line here in the U.S.

The National Park Service is part of the Department of the Interior, and its mission is to preserve and protect. The National Forests are under the Department of Agriculture, and there is a completely different mission, one about the land and multiple uses. Contrast "preserve" and "uses."

It's two completely different concepts, so there are completely different rules and regs.
–B.G.–

I could see from my window Admiralty Island if it were light. Admiralty is a national monument with one working mine and scars from logging as recently as 2004. It also has the largest brown bear concentration in the world.

I flew over Glacier Bay this morning returning from a few days of work in western Alaska near the site of the proposed Pebble Mine. On the approach to Juneau, just past Glacier Bay, there are the remnants of clear cuts and the stakes of newly approved logging areas. What is the difference of a mile?

My point on the leave not trace issue is to highlight the hypocrisy of that differentiation.

"Let's not blur the line here in the U.S."

I'm afraid the line has already been blurred here in the U.S. by the NPS's rolling over to horse packers. They have caused enormous damage to both Sequoia and Kings Canyon NP's with nary a peep from the authorities. I've tried on many occasions to report specific cases of egregious damage to backcountry rangers, and also front country types. The backcountry rangers are at least honest. They tell me to save my breath because they can't touch them. The front country types just smile and say they'll "check into it". I can't remember the exact limit on stock off the top of my head, but it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 head. "Preserve and protect"???

"the landsat images are critical in determining vegetation and in updating the USGS maps if the landscape has changed since the maps were made (often the case in AK,where some of the USGS maps haven't been updated since they were first published in the 50's and 60's, and where glaciers have been receding, flood plains have changed course, and beaches have eroded)."

Most if not all of the Landsat imagery on Google is circa 2000, which sometime means late 1990s so it can be over 10 years old. Unless you are lookng at more recent aerial photos, SPOT or Quickbird imagery I would not put to much trust in the Landsat imagery especially in places where the landscape is dynamic.

Great report, guys. I really enjoyed it.

Alan or Don –
"We produced a set of beautiful 11×17-inch, double-sided maps from NG TOPO!, each marked with a tantalizing thin red line that highlighted our route, and had them printed at a local Kinkos"

What kind of paper was used? Double-sided waterproof, or regular rag?

If I do this sort of thing at my local Kinko's what kind of paper should I tell them to use?

Thanks.

Greg,
Maps are double-sided. They are printed on a non-waterproof paper. It's slightly smoother (but i wouldn't say glossy) and slightly heavier than normal weight xerox printing paper.

While the paper is not waterproof the printing on the paper is. Don did a water-drop test with no ink bleeding our smudging.

The image quality and resolution of the final maps is excellent. Better than anything I have printed at home on even my photo quality printer.

-Alan

Alan,
Thanks for the info. I had forgotten that commercial printers typically use a "bonded" pigment, versus the waterbased approach of many home inkjet printers.

Good information. Now, if I can just retain it ….

Lots of commercial printers use a color laser to print maps. Of course, there are thousands of paper types out there. One in particular is for lasers, and it has a plastic-based finish (HP Laserjet Tough Paper).

I print out my own custom maps at 13×19 inches on matte photo paper with inkjet ink, and then I just stick them in clear plastic bags to carry.
–B.G.–

Yes, but that Epson paper is single-sided, stiff, and heavy!
Not to mention expensive, especially if using OEM ink.

It is not clear what Epson paper you refer to.

The paper that I use is one-sided, but I have been known to laser print the reverse side. Mine isn't stiff or heavy. There are thousands of paper types out there.

–B.G.–

There is also NG Adventure Paper which is waterproof. And it makes even non-WP ink jet inks fairly waterproof as well. Inks seem to penetrate and bond into the paper's surface. There is only the slightest bleeding when it gets wet and the map remains quite readable.

The only problem with the NG Adventure Paper is that I have trouble feeding it into my printer. My $500 Epson photo printer refuses to feed the paper no matter what I do (lots of time with Epson techs with no solution). And then there is the hassle and expense of keeping fresh ink in the printer (almost $100 for a new set) and clogging nossles if I don't use it often, which I don't.

After a while, walking five blocks to Kinkos with a PDF file to print maps from seems like a fantastic solution. Just put the maps into a ZipLoc freezer baggie. YMMV

I'm with you Alan.

Commercial printer. Standard paper. 'Bonded' toners. And a Ziplock.