A Canyon Care Taking (or not) Perspective

From an invitation from Iceaxe to bump this thread:

http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/canyons/message/60465

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3]Boasting a fully packed canyoneering agenda this Spring, I come away from this last trip with a sour taste in my mouth. I

Interesting write up. :nod:

Nice write up Jenny. Unfortunately Pandora's box has been opened, never to be closed in our lifetimes. The movie 127, just multiplied the evil(if you will) coming out of the box.
Education is the only answer, but it will ultimately fall on deaf ears, people don't want to be educated to get themselves safely through a canyon, yet alone get through with some kind of taught ethic.
There is a "small" minority who put forth the time and often money to learn both an ethic as well as the technical nuances of canyoneering but again, they are few.

Personally, I'm far from an environmental zealot or activist but I consider myself a good steward of the land. I hate seeing simple disregard, such as granola wrappers, tp, beer cans, broken bottles, etc.
This litter just adds to the scarring that is found in canyons.

The masses are here and here to stay. They will be multiplying exponentially. What can be done? I for one, don't know.

All we are left with is that which is in the bottom of Pandora's box/jar.

The box has been opened and cant be shut. The same issue exist for caves, secret camp spots, hang gliding paragliding spots, etc. There is a reason most of us share spots with others only when they come along and you can lead by example.

Same thing I do with my scouts when we go out. I am always soo worried that when we come across others in the middle of nowhere and another party sees myself and a small group of Scouts, that they will find we are doing something wrong. But I am doing my best and so are my assistants and we are trying to train young boys how to do it right so that when a bunch of their buddies do the same thing in the future, the boys will at least know how it should be done.

So to end my ramble, keep up the awesome canyoneering, and share you experiences w/o giving us GPS coords for the area! Someday I hope to do a canyon with those who know to do it right!!!

PS having never been in a "REAL" canyon, I am not qualified to discuss this matter.....

I have to say, I love the term "gang raping the canyon", what a perfect description. I've never understood this method of madness myself, although I have been guilty of it a time or two. I have always preferred to do canyons as a pair or a small group.

And while you look at the days of "gorging" in a romantic light the original pioneers spread their share of destruction... I have seen much of their work where canyons were engineered and hammered into submission with bolts, embedded rebar, chopped holds, fabricated hooks and ladders. Heck, even the original canyoneers, the Anasazi, chopped Moki steps into the canyon walls. These practices are now frowned upon and avoid by modern canyoneers.

Now days if someone hammered a canyon into submission the way Imlay, Heaps or the Squeeze were they would be e-tarred and e-feathered by the modern canyoneering community.

As for the graffiti..... You can't fix stupid.