| Sometimes We Forget Article |
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| Page Type: Article Activities: Hiking, Mountaineering, Trad Climbing, Sport Climbing, Toprope, Bouldering, Ice Climbing, Aid Climbing, Big Wall, Mixed, Scrambling, Via Ferrata, Canyoneering, Skiing | Page By: thephotohiker Created/Edited: Mar 7, 2008 / Sep 2, 2008 Object ID: 386332 Hits: 4087 Loading... Page Score: 90.82% - 47 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
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Chief Joseph, a statesmen-like leader of the Nez Perce
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Prospector Jerry Johnson searched
for precious metals during
the 1880s and 1890s
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Sometimes we forget
The past
Mountains, wilderness, experience
Hiking, climbing, feeling alive
Believing, we are owed.
Andrew Erickson was a fur trapper who survived living alone during the harsh winters
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Skookam Woodman lived his life as part of
(and not apart from) the Bitterroot Mountains
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Time
Movement
Fire
Ice
Building mountains
Time
Heat
Chemistry
Creating life
Changing mountains
Time
Bacteria
Plants
Single cells
Changing mountains
Time
Worms
Reptiles
Mammals
Changing mountains
Time
Aboriginals
Indians
Whites
Changing mountains
Time
Trappers
Miners
Woodsmen
Changing mountains
Time
Climbers
Hemp
Hobnails
Changing mountains
Time
Nylon
Steel
Gear
Changing mountains
Johnny Decker
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George Ring
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Bill Bell
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Sometimes we forget
The past
Changing mountains
Believing, we,
Are owed ?
Looking west at of a few of the Bitterroot Mountains (from Hamilton, MT to Victor, MT) - best viewed in original size
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Winter in the Bitterroot Mountains
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Admit it. Each of us who thoroughly enjoys "the wilderness" has felt – probably more than once – that we’re owed such experiences. We convince ourselves that, if for no other reason, wild places should be preserved so we can continue to indulge our desire for solitude. In this, I am as guilty as anyone. But...
A moment’s reflection brings the realization that I’m not the first person who visited any particular wild area of the mountains. Indians, trappers, prospectors, hunters, and farmers walked the mountains, each bushwhacking through deadfall, following animal trails, scratching a living from the land.
Mario Locatelli - a modern-day mountaineer
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Forced to earn a subsistence existence, those were the first to visit and exploit the wilderness. Their efforts to survive, improved pathways into the wild and gave us fairly easy approaches to the mountains we visit in the back-country today. They were "real" woodsmen and mountaineers, wearing hobnail boots and using hemp rope with no specialized equipment to help conquer the rock.
Mountain Heather
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So, now we sit comfortably at our desks, living far above a subsistence level with the income and free time to allow for recreation, visiting SummitPost and philosophizing about the future, often thinking someone owes us the preservation of the wilderness mountains.
There is an old saying, the source of which I’ve long since forgotten, which goes something like, "There are no philosophers with empty stomachs." I try to remember that when I find myself thinking someone else owes "me" the preservation of wilderness and recall that most of those who preceded us were only trying to make a living – to survive.
I will not blame them for making choices which now seem to have been damaging and incorrect. Rather, I thank them for making it possible for allowing me to "stand on their shoulders" and do my best at emulating what were the "true" woodsmen and mountaineers.
Bud Moore's book, The Lochsa Story, Land Ethics in the Bitterroot Mountains, from which several of the above images were extracted is a good read - both entertaining and informative.
Two things I found especially interesting - his stories about the men and women who helped shape the way the Bitterroots were and are viewed by most people and our government, plus Bud's belief of how the Bitterroot area should be managed, how he came to those conclusions, and how his views of "management" changed through the years.
Images
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