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Tip o' the Day

Back a week or two ago, my "Tip o' the Day" was to point out how important water, wood, and a bug -free location was to proper campsite selection. At that time, I also mentioned that, if one were traveling with horses, a fourth requirement should be added: feed for the ponies. Today I'd like to visit that requirement in more detail:

We'll assume you're traveling in wilderness or backcountry where grazing is permitted. (If you must pack all your own horsefeed, then we must discuss a different set of circumstances.) But let's consider that we're riding, say, into a meadow that appears to have abundant grass for grazing. There's a creek tumbling down from nearby hills which, translated, means there's plenty of water. It's late afternoon; a campsite beckons from each end of the meadow. Which do you choose?

Take the first one you come to. Why? Because you want to have your camp between where your ponies are grazing and their backtrail. You see, when a horse fills its belly it looks around for home. If, in fact, he actually heads for home, you want to be able to intercept him. Camp on the far end of your meadow and you might figure on going for a long hike after homeward-bound horses.

You can, of course, handle the occasion differently. You can use hobbles, stake them out, or toggle 'em to a drag log. I use hobbles. And to insure their presence, I'll only turn half of the ponies out at one time, breaking up the buddies -- one tied, one loose.

Even than my trust is short. If more than one of the loose horses raises his head to look back the way he came, I know their bellies are full and they're looking for mischief -- like leaving for distant places. Understand, I don't mind walking to distant places, but I want the decision to be mine alone. When a horse raises its head to stare at the skyline is when it's time to bring him to the hitchline.

About two hours on good grass will fill ponies for the short haul. Bring 'em in, tie 'em up, then turn 'em out again in three or four hours.

Yeah, it's a hassle. But take my word for it, it's not nearly as much of a hassle a traipsing 20 miles to find your ponies standing at the barn switching flies.

 

Ethan Lester, the 13-year-old Camarillo, California lad who exchanges e-mails not only says his younger brother is hooked on my Valediction For Revenge Western series, but now he says:

"My dad and my grandma just started reading your books and they love them. Whenever my grandma is over that's all she talks about Jethro and Susan."

The Valediction For Revenge series that Ethan's brother, dad and grandma is reading begins with Echoes of Vengeance

 

DESTRUCTION OF TREASURES AS GOVT. POLICY

Despite all the wanabee Captain Kirks and Lieutenant Nemoys claiming command, the longer I wander this starship earth, more and more I see less and less enterprise. Examples can sometimes be found in the indifference a few government administrators take toward public properties under their charge. I'll cite a few examples in a moment, but first let's recognize that it's much easier to destroy than to construct.

An artist might spend a year on a magnificent sculpture that vandals can wreck in minutes. An irresponsible journalist can, in a paragraph, distort and destroy programs designed to benefit multitudes. In the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee, malicious gossip can impugn a reputation developed throughout a lifetime of conscious good works. The sweat and labor of hundreds can take months to construct twin skyscrapers that a mere handful of terrorists can destroy in moments.

At least, with the above examples, there's no pretense of doing their destructive work for public good. But there's another type of destroyer who tears down under the guise of doing the public good. The ones with which I'm familiar are public land managers, but I'm guessing they're present in most phases of government, from social programs to the military. The image the ones I know seek to portray is of dutiful servants, but they really project incompetence born of probable laziness and lack of ingenuity. Let me cite an example:

During bygone eras, many fire control watchtowers called "lookouts" were scattered throughout western mountain regions. Occupied during summer's incendiary dry periods, the lookouts were instrumental in early spotting of wildfires and proved essential for their early control. Gradually, though, as technology advanced, fire detection via lookouts was replaced by other means: spotter planes, satellite imagery, more accurate weather forecasting. As a result, many of the old towers were abandoned and eventually removed. But a few remained. One remaining lookout in viable condition was the tower on a shoulder of Baptiste Mountain, in the Hungry Horse Ranger District of the Flathead National Forest. In fact, Baptiste Lookout was in sufficiently good repair that someone within the U.S. Forest Service proposed including the lookout in their "Cabin Rental Program." (The Forest Service offers several structures that are no longer needed for administrative purposes to the public under their Rental Program.)

There are many precedents for offering old unused lookouts under the program, including one or two in the Flathead National Forest. A problem with including Batiste Lookout in the Program was that its only access was by trail, and that trail had been poorly maintained for years. The challenge, then, was how to find the resources to bring the trail up to standard, as well as doing a modicum of cabin maintenance. That's when a couple of groups stepped in to offer their services, gratis. One was the "Montana Conservation Corps" who offered a crew to do the trailwork; the other was "Back Country Horsemen" who volunteered to pack tools and supplies for the trail crew and to transport cabin maintenance material.

I'm proud to report that the volunteers performed their tasks, but sorry to say the U.S. Forest Service failed in theirs: you see, apparently some administrative type referred to earlier in this weblog arbitrarily decreed that it was easier to cut the steps from the bottom of the 50-foot tower's stairway than it was to do the needed maintenance to bring the facility to Cabin Rental standard. I don't know why the destructive urge won out over the constructive, but I do wonder if the person responsible can meet his or her own eye in any bathroom mirror? I imagine the banner of "public safety" was flown as an excuse for destroying those steps. Certainly "lack of funding" was another excuse. But the real culprit was lack of commitment, not to mention lack of ingenuity, creativity, and desire. More to the point, it was disdain, pure and simple, for the public resources entrusted to their care.

If "public safety" was the issue with accessing a 50-foot tower, why did the Forest Service destroy Bungalow Lookout, a perfectly good cabin perched squarely at ground level, on a mountaintop deep inside the Bob Marshall Wilderness. It's conceivable the Bungalow cabin could've saved a life in an emergency. Funding? Well, yeah, I guess it might be considered cheaper (and easier) to destroy than maintain.

Some years ago, the U.S. Forest Service embarked on a plan to destroy most (or all) structures within the Bob Marshall -- until public outrage torpedoed the plan. Their intent was not only to burn cabins and lookouts, but to remove bridges. The loss of those bridges would've curtailed public access and would've required many dangerous stream crossings for visitors. "No money," so the argument went. But when public outrage hit at least 8.3 on the Richter Scale, sufficient funds for bridge repairs mysteriously surfaced, and planned cabin destructions went into abatement. It was during this period that the lookout cabin on Bungalow Mountain was destroyed.

I talked to the young administrative assistant who actually fired the building. He said he hadn't wanted to burn Bungalow Lookout and had dragged his feet for some time before finally being directly ordered to do so. Pure stupidity! Not on his part, but his supervisor's.

At the height of the bridge destruction and cabin burning controversy, a letter arrived at Forest Headquarters from a former Forest Ranger who begged those responsible to consider the effort and sacrifices made by past administrators who, decades before, during the depths of the Great Depression, found the talent, manpower, ingenuity, and dedication to erect those structures. The letter went on to say that it might be easy for today's managers to condemn their predecessors' accomplishments, but more difficult to carefully consider the merits of what they did in the first place.

I believe that letter had an enormous impact on the raging debate, perhaps providing the final coup de grace to incapsulate rising public anger. But I believe there was more to the letter than may have met the eye. It spoke of commitment and dedication to building instead of destroying. It spoke of accomplishments during economic times that were certainly harder than today; during budgeting shortfalls that surely made todays squeezes seem picayune in comparison.

What's needed from many of today's public land managers is less whining and sniveling, and more commitment and accomplishment. What's NOT needed are clogged trails, burned buildings, deteriorating bridges, and cutting away the bottom ten feet of stairway steps to a perfectly good lookout tower in order to deny public access.

 

 

Roland Cheek wrote a syndicated outdoors column (Wild Trails and Tall Tales) for 21 years. The column was carried in 17 daily and weekly newspapers in two states. In addition, he scripted and broadcast a daily radio show (Trails to Outdoor Adventure) that aired on 75 stations from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean. He's also written upwards of 200 magazine articles and 12 fiction and nonfiction books. For more on Roland, visit:

www.rolandcheek.com

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Book four in the Valediction For Revenge series, Gunnar's Mine, is set in Colorado mining country, as is the sixth and final book in the series, The Silver Yoke