Monthly Archives: January 2013

Environmentalism or Conservationism

The Mountain Bike Debate

There is a somewhat lengthy thread over at Backpackinglight.com debating whether mountain bikes should be allowed on back country trails. This is a complicated issue. For the few folks who have hiked with me, they know my preferred routes are cross-country, ancient Native American Trails, and unmaintained trails. These areas get very little traffic, and there is almost nil human impact from hiking. I avoid trails that see a lot of use.

Instead of posting this rather long essay on BPL, I decided to gather my thoughts here. In my opinion, folks should review their philosophy about public lands to make sure it aligns with their opinion on mountain bikes. That is; are you an environmentalist, a conservationist, or something else?

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Green Greed

“At this point they came in sight of thirty forty windmills that there are on plain, and as soon as Don Quixote saw them he said to his squire, “Fortune is arranging matters for us better than we could have shaped our desires ourselves, for look there, friend Sancho Panza, where thirty or more monstrous giants present themselves, all of whom I mean to engage in battle and slay, and with whose spoils we shall begin to make our fortunes; for this is righteous warfare, and it is God’s good service to sweep so evil a breed from off the face of the earth.”

The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, by Miguel de Cervantes

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Stagnation of Backpackinglight.com

“In reviewing, in the past 12 months, what has come out of (what used to be) the most exciting part of the ultralight backpacking niche – the cottage industry – all I can do is yawn.”

– Ryan Jordan, Backpackinglight.com (BPL)

This time last year I returned from a backpacking trip. Having been gone for a couple of weeks I was surprised to see an article on BPL titled, “Stagnation of the Cottage Industry and Recent Gems,” penned by Ryan Jordan, the owner of BPL. I was not surprised by the negative response from the readers and the cottage manufacturers of lightweight backpacking gear.

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