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Wilderness Tip #5 - What to Take on a Day Trip

9/25/2011

Safety Tip - What to take on a Day Trip

Paul Petzoldt founder of the National Outdoor Leadership School, one of the founders of the Wilderness Education Association, and my mentor said, "Clothing must enable a person to survive one night's bivouac in case of emergency." Does your day pack have what's necessary to do that?

Paul Petzoldt 1970

To See Tip #4 click here
To See Tip #6 click here

Adapted from The Camper’s Guide to Outdoor Pursuits by Jack Drury and Eric Holmlund published in 2006 by Sagamore Publishing

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Railroad line or Recreation trail? We deserve both!

9/22/2011

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In my backyard of the Adirondack Park there has been quite a debate regarding whether we should rip up the rails and use the salvage sales to fund a recreation trail or whether we should continue to use state subsidies to maintain a rail line that many consider a relic of the past. I think we deserve both. Some argue we can’t afford both and others argue that it is environmentally impossible or impractical at least.

My populist rationale may sound a bit whacky but hear me out. We have an economy where sixteen-and-a-half million Americans representing a little over 8% of U.S. households control almost two-thirds of the country's wealth. They get whatever they want. If they want a $40,000 surround sound video system they get it. If they want a $60,000 boxing ring in their New York City apartment they get it. If they want to buy $35,000 purses twice a year they buy them. A $200,000 watch? No problem, just buy it. If these people can waste their money on such absurdities while the federal government is subsidizing their businesses I think the lowly middle class ought to be able to get both a rail line AND a recreation trail. Don’t tell me it costs too much. It is a matter of priorities. I learned a long time ago that if a business, government, or even many a non-profit wants something bad enough they make it a priority and they get it. We have to make BOTH a priority.

There is an argument that the environmental challenges are just too great. Not so, they are just problems to solve. An example was given of the rail line across Lake Colby in Saranac Lake that is narrow and couldn’t possibly be crossed. There are numerous options. We just need to put on our creative thinking hats.

Here are a few suggestions:

Route the trail to the north of the lake - there is already a snowmobile trail that goes around the backside of Camp Colby.
Route the trail to the south of the lake - there is already a trail going to St. Bernard's Cemetery.
If all else fails widen the trail. It can be done.

The same creativity can be used for every obstacle between here and Remson. If a wealthy business tycoon can spend five million dollars on one custom made car why can’t we have a parallel trail. It will only take a little creative thinking and a lot of money. This country has both, we just have to access it.

All the middle class has to do is rise up! You have nothing to lose but your chains!

Source:
http://www.forbes.com/2008/02/16/style-luxury-rich-forbeslife-cx_nr_0218style.html?feed=rss_forbeslife

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Wilderness Camper Tip #4 - Canoe/Kayak Courtesy

9/18/2011

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Quality Camper Tip - Canoe/Kayak Courtesy
Self-powered water-based sports are one of the fastest growing areas of recreation in the country. That is no surprise in my neck of the woods, the Adirondack Park. Whether it is tandem canoeing, solo canoeing, kayaking, and now stand-up paddling, self-powered boats outnumber motor boats on the lake I live on many days of the summer. The Adirondack Park, like most areas where canoe and kayaking is popular, has lots of canoe carries. In this part of the world they’re called canoe carries where in many others they’re called portages. Whatever you call them you need to follow some basic rules of courtesy to make it easier for those who come to the carry after you or who finish the carry from the opposite direction.

Good canoe carry etiquette is really quite simple and mostly common sense. It means taking up as little space as possible and keeping all your gear close together. Why? Because the put in and take out points of most canoe carries are limited in space. It also prevents gear possibly getting mixed in with some other party’s and ultimately lost. In the picture here you see a canoe blocking the carry itself and the group’s gear spread across the entire carry. I have also seen five canoes all crowded around the take out with no room for anyone else.

photo credit: Doug Fitzgerald

If I am leading a group I try to get all the canoes out of the water and up the trail out of the way as quickly as possible. It frequently means getting at least four people and perhaps six, if the canoes are really heavily loaded, distributed on both sides of the canoe and lifting (not dragging) the canoe up and out of the water. Once they are up the trail and out of the way campers can take their time unloading them and preparing for getting all their gear to the other end of the carry. It’s that simple. Repeat at the other end.

The canoe/kayak season is winding down in our part of the world but we just had a great paddle over the weekend. Don’t forget to wear your PFD this time of year. The water is cold!

To See Tip #3 click here
To See Tip #5 click here
Adapted from The Camper’s Guide to Outdoor Pursuits by Jack Drury and Eric Holmlund published in 2006 by Sagamore Publishing

Canoeing this weekend. (Photo by Nancy LaBombard)

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California Sycamore Academy Teachers Work on S.P.E.C. Classroom

9/16/2011

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Sycamore Academy

August 16th through 18th, Leading E.D.G.E. facilitators Bruce Bonney and Cyndi LaPierre led a three day session SPEC workshop for the Sycamore Academy for Science and the Cultural Arts in Lake Elsinore, California. The charter school is currently holding classes in a shopping plaza aptly named the Renaissance Plaza. They worked with a group of energetic and committed teachers of grades K through 6 and their administrators. They also had an opportunity to get together with long-time colleagues and supporters of constructivist teaching, Gary and Thenell Hangii.

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Just What is Good Feedback Anyway?

9/15/2011

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Grant Wiggins does an excellent job talking about what makes good feedback which ultimately tells us what good coaching is in this blog entry. This is what I was trying to do in training good outdoor leaders and what I try to do in training good teachers. Good stuff!

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Wilderness Camper Tip #3 - Outdoor Ethics

9/11/2011

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Philosophy Tip - Outdoor Ethics
Ethics are the attitudes and behaviors you choose because they are the right things to do, even when no one is watching. Leave No Trace skills are the application of an outdoor ethic that values the integrity of existing wilderness life processes. Developing your personal outdoor ethic is a dynamic process; you may change certain attitudes and practice different actions after talking with people or observing the good and bad practices of other campers.

Virtually everything we learn about has a knowledge, skill and disposition (or attitudinal) component. Ethics is a reflection of the disposition component. Leave No Trace camping is a good example. We must have the knowledge of leave no trace camping and we must have the skills to be good Leave No Trace campers. If however we aren't willing to put the skills into practice at the end of a long day when we're tired or in the pouring rain when all we want to do is get a hot drink then we don't have the "disposition" and we don't have a Leave No Trace ethic.

To see Tip #2 click here
To see Tip #4 click here
Adapted from The Camper’s Guide to Outdoor Pursuits by Jack Drury and Eric Holmlund published in 2006 by Sagamore Publishing

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Do Hurricane Irene’s Passing Clouds Have a Silver Lining?

9/5/2011

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The devastation caused by Hurricane Irene August 28th was nothing short of catastrophic for the inhabitants of the Adirondack communities in its path. It was also catastrophic for the New York State Wilderness Areas in its path. Backcountry dams were breached, trail bridges washed away, and untold miles of trails were destroyed. It will take weeks if not months to inventory the damage and probably years to repair it. Given the condition of New York State government, how much help can we realistically expect? Should repairs to our backcountry be the priority given all the frontcountry infrastructure repair needs?

I think opportunity awaits.

Perhaps we can use this disaster to provide the impetus to explore two questions: Can we find alternative forms of funding that would provide more stability and security to the financing of Forest Preserve management, particularly the backcountry? How might we create a different, perhaps more wilderness like, High Peaks Wilderness Area?

Alternative Funding
I hope there is consensus that the state doesn’t have the financial resources to properly manage the Forest Preserve, especially in this economy and given the natural disasters of this spring and summer. Don’t get me wrong, I think the DEC does a magnificent job considering their resources, but there just aren’t enough people or dollars to get the job done even in good financial times. How the heck are they going to get the job done in times like these?

I think it is the perfect time to explore alternative funding. Two means immediately come to mind: user fees; and, sales/excise taxes.

User Fees
User fees exist for many forms of recreation, but for some reason backcountry users have ducked their responsibility for decades. Sure, there are a number of wonderful organizations like the Adirondack Mountain Club whose members (of which I am one) support backcountry management any number of ways, but that still doesn’t do the job. For example, the Adirondack Mountain Club has approximately 35,000 members but we have hundreds of thousands of people using our backcountry each year. Why aren’t all users contributing directly to the cost of managing our backcountry? Hunters and fisherman have been paying their own way for about a century. I think a dedicated user fee for those using the backcountry for all activities other than fishing, hunting, and trapping should be seriously considered.

Excise Tax

The Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act, funded through an excise tax on sporting arms and ammunition, is an excellent example of what could be done on the state level for certain camping equipment. Backpacking tents (those 10 pounds or under), backpacking stoves (single-burner stoves under 2.5 pounds), and backpacks over 1200 cubic inches in size might be the items the state would tax. By the way, I hope you like the criteria I based the tax on; I spent less than two minutes coming up with it. My point is that we could come up with some acceptable criteria by which we would tax items.
Imagine the number of trail crews and the size of the backcountry rehabilitation program we could support if we had the financial resources.

A Different Type of Wilderness

I’ve been using the Adirondack backcountry since I first climbed Ampersand Mountain in 1962. I’ve traveled in most of the Adirondack Park’s Wilderness and Primitive Areas and many of our Wild Forests. There is a spectrum of wildness which sometimes, ironically, has the Wild Forests wilder than our Wilderness areas. Principle #1 of the 13 widely recognized Principles of Wilderness Management (Hendee et al) states, “Manage Wilderness as the Most Pristine Extreme on the Environmental Modification Spectrum.” The High Peaks Wilderness Area has never been managed in that manner. There are numerous reasons why with some being more valid than others.

Does the impact of Hurricane Irene provide an opportunity to re-examine how many dams and bridges we need in the High Peaks Wilderness Area? Might our resources be better spent building durable fording sites rather than bridges? Might we be better off using our limited resources to relocate poorly located trails? I think perhaps that is the case.

Would it be inconvenient for both users and our backcountry personnel? Certainly, but wilderness doesn’t exist for convenience.

What do you think?

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Wilderness Camper Tip #2 - Heat Loss & Gain

9/4/2011

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Bottom-Line Tip: Heat Loss and Gain
An understanding of heat loss and heat gain equips the camper with the ability to keep optimally warm in all situations. If I'm at all uncomfortable temperature wise, particularly if I'm cold, I try to analyze how I'm losing or not losing heat. Am I losing heat by radiation, conduction, convection, evaporation or respiration? Learn about the means of heat loss to help stay healthy and comfortable. If you understand HOW you are too cold or too hot you can figure out HOW to regulate your body temperature to be more comfortable.

To see Tip #1 click here
To See Tip #3 click here
Adapted from The Camper’s Guide to Outdoor Pursuits by Jack Drury and Eric Holmlund published in 2006 by Sagamore Publishing

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Two Back to School Resources

9/1/2011

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Here are a couple of websites to help you think about how you are going to incorporate technology into your classroom. It is not good enough to convert your age old notes to PowerPoint. You have to get the kids using the technology!

131 Tips for New Teachers - Advice from the readers of Free Technology for Teachers

45+ Ideas For Class Blog Posts - If you aren't blogging or getting your kids blogging you are missing a great learning opportunities.

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Jack Drury's Leading E.D.G.E. Blog

Sharing Observations on Education, Wilderness, and
New York State's Adirondack Park

Jack with his wife Phyliss and Yellow Lab Cedar on the shore of Lower Saranac Lake.

About the Author

This blog was created and is maintained by Jack Drury with contributions from Bruce Bonney. Jack and Bruce have been working together since 1984 providing professional development in four areas:
* Education
* Meeting Design & Facilitation
* Teambuilding & Problem Solving
* Wilderness Adventure

Wilderness Tip #5 - What to Take on a Day Trip

Railroad line or Recreation trail? We deserve both!

Wilderness Camper Tip #4 - Canoe/Kayak Courtesy

California Sycamore Academy Teachers Work on S.P.E.C. Classroom

Just What is Good Feedback Anyway?

Wilderness Camper Tip #3 - Outdoor Ethics

Do Hurricane Irene’s Passing Clouds Have a Silver Lining?

Wilderness Camper Tip #2 - Heat Loss & Gain

Two Back to School Resources

Jack Drury's Leading E.D.G.E. Blog

About the Author

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