Backpacker – August 2019

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JULY/AUGUST 2019

34 BACKPACKER.COM

THE EXPERIENCE

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GEOPINION

IT’S A REAL choose-your-own-adventure in this Colorado

section of the Continenta l Divide Trail. Here, like much of the

long trail, dozens of threaded footpaths snake through the tundra

around 12,093-foot Independence Pass. But only one way is the way;

the others are erosion and damage caused by generations of hikers

stomping through the f lora and around the rock outcroppings. So

which is the right tra il? I ca n only g uess.

I’m not the only one to be confused. It only takes a few wandering

hikers to create a net work of paths across the fragile alpine terrain—

and even if we stop using the tracks today, it will take generations

before they disappear. Without clear signage or trail markers, the

place looks beset with cow paths.

This kind of trails-gone-wild maze happens all too frequently on

the CDT, which of ten lacks blazes or even ca irns. That ’s not the case

ever y where. In New York ’s Adirondacks, where I grew up, it ’s policy

that a hiker must a lways be able to see a tra i l ma rker. A s soon a s he or

she pa sses one, they must be able to spot the nex t.

As for the CDT, it’s like trail builders wanted to emphasize

routefinding and self-reliance. “For years, the culture of the CDT

was to get lost,” says Teresa Martinez, the executive director of

the Continental Divide Trail Coalition (CDTC). But that approach

may be its own undoing. Since its inception in 1978, the CDT

draws more and more thru-hikers each summer (30 to 50 percent

more in each of the last three years), but the lack of signage

remains unchanged. That means more braids, more offshoots, and

more erosion. In short, the tactics to manage a true wilderness

experience a re leading to the opposite.

The CDTC has noticed. Last September, the organization

finished a two-year project

to improve signage in key

areas. The initiative wasn’t

full-Adirondack, but group

members did add signs and

blazes to some confusing

junctions and terrain. Of

course, many CDT alums

took offense. They think that

signing the CDT goes against

its spirit. I empathize, but

infrequent paint splatter

seems a much better solution than herd paths crisscrossing open

tundra. So, sorry, purists: I say go ahead and blaze up sensitive and

popular areas where hikers may wander, like I did on Independence

Pass. It might be the only way to protect the places we love.

And the rest of the West should take note: As more people hit

trails everywhere, more route markings should follow. Without

them, our favorite public lands risk being stomped to oblivion.

Difficulty of access isn’t enough to protect these places anymore,

and the occasional reminder that you’re on the right path is a small

price to pay to soften our expanding impact on wild spaces. I’d take

a single cairn over doubletrack every time. Only one of those takes

generations to undo.

GO AHEAD AND

BLAZE UP SENSITIVE

AND POPULAR AREAS

WHERE HIKERS MAY

WANDER.

J U LY 2

WORLD UFO DAY

In the summer of 1947, a rancher found

a mysterious pile of debris near Roswell,

New Mexico, prompting conspiracy

theories of a crashed alien spacecraf t

and a U.S. government cover-up.

Offi cially, the waste was just from

weather balloons, but you can’t keep

a good myth down. Just over half a

century later, World UFO Day was born.

Celebrate the holiday by making a trip

to any of the dark-sky hot spots on page

82, or head out to Cosmic Campground

International Dark Sk y Sanctuar y in Gila

National Forest, New Mexico, one of only

four such sanctuaries in the country.

19

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

18

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Some hikers grouse that blazing the CDT

will ruin it—but that’s exactly the problem

with doing nothing. By Ryan Wichelns

PHOTO BY ISTOCK.COM / ZARGONDESIGN. TEXT BY DAVID GLEISNER

JAMES YAMASAKI