Publishing Trail Locations

[Seth]

I make every effort to make new friends and go with groups and clubs to find new trails. Seems like the camaraderie of meeting new people should be part in parcel with running the trails. You get the history of the area and a place to crash next time you are around. Maybe its just me but I respect a given trail a little more when I know the people that frequent the area.

 

[scoutabout]

As long as the people who use the trails don't CARE, it will not matter how much you try to teach them, it will not take.
...
The "if enough people do it then it's OK" mentality took over.

No worries. The snakes trails will be closed by next summer because of all the damage and the apathy of 99% of the people who use them.

I think if you keep quiet about the trails, then less usage, less damage, less chance for "them" to close it down if they don't know it exists. It is still a loose/loose.

The flip side is that no one can protect trails that they don't know exist. Yeah, a lose-lose for sure. A sticky situation all around.

 

[Herzog]

it's a case of people caring more about their paint job and not putting dents in their daily driver, then about whether trees get pulled out or plants destroyed.

Isn't that the truth! Same thing problem in Moab with all the bypasses...

 

[ZUKEYPR]

It's a double edged sword; On one hand doing the same trails over and over again gets real boring, real fast, so it has a tendancy to make you solicit info for different trails whether it be a BBS or a guide book. That in turn unforetunately makes the trails so publicized that they get over crowded. Someone already mentioned it but when I started wheeling in Moab (1993) you could go down on a weekend and go on an all day trail and not see anyone. Try that now. I try avoiding the weekends as much as possible. American Fork Canyon used to be the place to get away from everyone, now it's by far the worst canyon along the Wasatch Front with all the Rednecks, Billy Bad Ass attitudes, and just down right inconsiderate people. Hell my first passion would be backpacking. It's the same story, in 1993 I could go hiking all day long in Big, Little, or Af and rarely see anyone. Now if you don't get to the trailhead before first light you might not get a parking place. I was up in Big today and I'll bet there was at a minimum of 1,000 cars throughout the canyon. The other edge to that sword, as someone of the 18 folks stealing my solitude on Dromedory Peak was that with all the folks into the sport and the canyon there is no way that it would go unprotected. Personally for me I'm going back to my old ways, my favorite trails stay with me only in my head, and if I want to find new ones I'll pull out a topo and start exploring because for me unlike many, many folks, it's not about the challenge, but instead the adventure, but then again I'm a traditionalist, driving the daily driver, modestly modified.

 

[kkemp]

It's a double edged sword; On one hand doing the same trails over and over again gets real boring, real fast, so it has a tendancy to make you solicit info for different trails whether it be a BBS or a guide book. That in turn unforetunately makes the trails so publicized that they get over crowded. Someone already mentioned it but when I started wheeling in Moab (1993) you could go down on a weekend and go on an all day trail and not see anyone. Try that now. I try avoiding the weekends as much as possible. American Fork Canyon used to be the place to get away from everyone, now it's by far the worst canyon along the Wasatch Front with all the Rednecks, Billy Bad Ass attitudes, and just down right inconsiderate people. Hell my first passion would be backpacking. It's the same story, in 1993 I could go hiking all day long in Big, Little, or Af and rarely see anyone. Now if you don't get to the trailhead before first light you might not get a parking place. I was up in Big today and I'll bet there was at a minimum of 1,000 cars throughout the canyon. The other edge to that sword, as someone of the 18 folks stealing my solitude on Dromedory Peak was that with all the folks into the sport and the canyon there is no way that it would go unprotected. Personally for me I'm going back to my old ways, my favorite trails stay with me only in my head, and if I want to find new ones I'll pull out a topo and start exploring because for me unlike many, many folks, it's not about the challenge, but instead the adventure, but then again I'm a traditionalist, driving the daily driver, modestly modified.

I can completely relate to this. I think however, even if you don't publicize trails, or any other cool place for that matter, it still eventually gets to be well known. Someone shares a place with a friend that shares it with another friend and before you know it, everyone knows about it. Publicizing though does accelerate this process dramatically.

I really think that a lot of it has to do with population and the trends. The canyons you mention have been no secret for years. Yet, the number of people using them has increased enormously over the years. There are just a lot more people now wanting to use the canyons. The same is happening with four wheeling. It's experiencing a boom.

I'm completely with you on getting out and exploring new places. That's my whole reason for having a Jeep. Places like A.F. Canyon or Rattlesnake are more or less places to practice driving skills and testing equipment so that I am better prepared to go exploring. I also happen to enjoy exploring new places with a group. That's where I learn about trails that are not publicized and they are really exciting because they are less known. There is just something fun about going someplace that is not written up in a bunch of guide books.