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Off-Highway,
Off-Road, Off Your Rocker:
On TREAD Lightly! and How to Deal with Those that Don't
by Bill Burke
 I
have a Green Streak on my back! Most of you reading this
probably have one also. Yes, I use my rig to
Travel only on designated 4-wheel drive
roads and get ticked off when others tend to abuse that
issue. I Respect the rights of others while
they recreate in the woods, even the Southern Utah
Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) and Sierra Club members. I
certainly Educate myself and others about
regulations and compliance to barriers, oh, and I use maps
and proper Leave No Trace ethics. I Avoid
wet meadows, stream banks, chasing wildlife and livestock
and tromping on Cryptobiotic soil at all costs. And, I
Drive responsibly to protect my right to
operate my motorized vehicle on roads in WILD lands and to
help conserve those lands anyway I can.
That's what
TREAD Lightly! means to
me. Here is how I interpret it when I am on a designated 4WD
route in wild lands. The road leads down a hill on which I
have done my best to keep the rig straight and keep it from
hitting the closely grown Lodgepole pines. I don't want to
damage the trees and certainly do not want to damage my
D-90!
Of course, I'm looking at
all the cable rings on the trees from idiots winching
without tree protector straps and wondering why I should
care, the tree will probably die in a year or so. WRONG. My
GREEN streak glows as I take some mud to fill the cuts and
try to cover the broken cambium so it has a chance to heal
before beetle disease sets in. This is Treading Lightly!
On down the hill I go. I
get to the bottom and a beautiful meadow area. I come to a
creek crossing. The main road alignment goes straight across
the creek at a pretty deep crossing that looks like I might
have to use my lockers and still maybe have to winch out. I
take my chances and luckily the lockers and 33's get me
through with some throttle and a little steering wheel
movement. My friend behind me is not so lucky. I use the
strap and yank him out. We stop to stow the gear and spy
some BRAIDING--alternate routes that bypass the deep hole.
About four different scars show where some jerk(s) didn't
want to STAY ON THE ROAD because the creek crossing was too
challenging, or they wanted to really throw some mud around,
or whatever.
The point is, they tore up
the meadow because they didn't care about "THE LAND!"
Treading Lightly is DEALING with the obstacle ON the road.
Sure it's muddy; sure it's deep; sure it's easier to go
around. That's not Treading Lightly--that's
causing road closure! My friend and I TREAD
Lightly by dealing with the challenge staying on the road.
If I had to winch or use the Hi-Lift jack and got all muddy
doing it, so be it! That's part of the game.
I move on. The main
alignment through the meadow is very challenging. I see lots
of tracks where people have tried to find the easy way
out--there isn't any. I have helped clubs build log fences
to help errant drivers figure out the main route; it seems
all to naught. The fences are pulled down. The signs that
state, "Winch Recommended" are shot and run over. I see quad
(ATV) tracks going all over the place, through the trees, up
the hills, all to avoid staying on the road. Shame on
them!
My green streak flares up
again. My friend and I gather large, dead fall and cover the
errant tracks, trying to keep the mess hidden by folding
tall grass and piling leaves on the scars. Maybe the next
passersby will get the point and stay on the road. I
certainly do not want the Forest Service to see this mess.
They might need to MAINTAIN it, then run a blade over it or
fill it in and make it an RV road, or even close it! This
road already has lost seven miles to logging, and I don't
want to lose even another foot of it!
I was teaching a class in
conjunction with ARB near Seattle, Washington this
September, and it was brought up about respecting the rights
of other users. Reason being, there was a motocross event
taking place and we were going to be using a small part of
the same road. I talked about moving out of the faster
vehicles' way, how to signal to others how many were in the
party behind, and radioing the message back. The motocross
people really liked that we were willing to share the road,
and even help them get by. We even helped one poor guy get
his bike up and started and gave him some water.
Then we encountered some
radical buffoons who happened to be on mountain bicycles.
(This was an isolated incident and I do not want to
disparage my fellow mountain bikers out there.) It seemed
that they did not want us to pass them and kept cranking up
the long, loose hill. It was deemed from one of the riders
that the F***ing "Jeeps" (there was only one Jeep in the
class) would just have to kiss their butts all the way up
the hill. This was a good time for me to stop my class and
go into my discussion about trail use, etiquette, how to
read maps and compass, and what maintenance procedures are
needed once back home after a day of 'wheeling; in other
words, give the bicyclists a chance to get far enough ahead
of us to avoid another confrontation.
After that discussion, I
figured the bikes should be far enough ahead that we could
mosey up the road to the lunch spot. Well, they did get to
the same lunch spot as my class was headed, and as the first
vehicle started to pull into the large area, we encountered
several bikes across the road blocking access to the
pull-out for the lunch spot. Hmmmm!
Being the naive,
inexperienced trail leader you all know about <g>, I
started to pick up one of the bikes to move it out of HARM'S
way. The owner took great umbrage at that. Gee, I just want
to share the football size area with you and enjoy the view
of Mount Rainier. There should be plenty of room for all of
us--our 8 rigs and your 6 or 7 bikes! To paraphrase one of
the bicyclists, No, you jeeps are just tearing up the place
and we were here first and we are not moving our bikes and
you better not touch them or it's fisticuffs!
A voice from behind me
said, why not just run the bikes over like an obstacle
instead of going around; wouldn't that be Treading
Lightly?
I walked up to the bike
group and went into the story about shared responsibility
and conservation of efforts for continued land use; how the
road was actually a designated 4WD route; that there were
designated bike routes; that wouldn't it be horrible if the
Sierra Club could see us mechanized vehicle users at each
others' throats; isn't it a really nice sunny day here in
the usually rainy Pacific Northwest; do you have enough
water; I can call the Forest Service enforcement officer who
knows I have a permit to hold a class here; and, gee thanks
for moving your bikes and sharing the view with us. You
folks are so-o-o nice!! I'll tell all my buddies back home
how nice you really are!!
It was a great day anyway.
The north slope of Rainier was 10 miles away and there was
not a cloud in the sky.
Share the road, be nice,
offer water, assistance, build those karma points. Those
karma points come in handy when Murphy is around the corner
in organizations like the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
who, as you read this, is traveling across the United States
drumming up money and support to close all the Utah wild
lands right across the board!
Oh, and one more thing,
while you're building those karma points, don't forget to
speak out for your rights to drive in the back country! Call
your local 4-wheel drive association and ask how you can
help with land use issues. If you don't speak out now, who
will?
Proper etiquette is not
just using the right salad fork. When we venture forth into
the back country, whether we're hikers, dirt/mountain
bikers, 4-wheelers, snowmobilers, horse riders, or llama
packers, why do we sometimes leave our manners at
home?
Temperatures boil.
Personalities clash.
We forget that there are
very diverse types of recreational forest users. No matter
how much we disagree with somebody else's way, we all have
something in common. We're there to appreciate our country's
spectacular mountain passes and to savor our "day in the
woods."
©Bill Burke’s 4-Wheeling America LLC
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Bill
Burke's 4-Wheeling America LLC
