Callan: Adventure Is Being Planned Out Of Existence

[SouthernKevlar]

Yes, travel is becoming more difficult and regimented with "wilderness travel" even more so. What else is to be expected when the population of the USA increases by 65.1 million people (nearly 19%) in the 25 years from 2000 to 2025? What percentage have our wilderness and backcountry areas in that time?

As media, including Canoetripping.net, increases the knowledge of specific areas, those areas will become more attractive to travelers. I had never heard of the Sylvania Wilderness until a few years ago, now it is on my go-to list. It was on this site that I first read about it. Like many others, I hope that I make it there before it becomes too crowded.

There was a T-shirt sold by Aerostich, a motorcycle touring and commuting garment company, that read: YOU ARE NOT STUCK IN TRAFFIC, YOU ARE TRAFFIC. We are all now traffic.

 

[Black_Fly]

The idea of “industrial tourism” displacing conservation and preservation of wilderness is real, and irretractable. Abbey, Litton, Cousteau and just about every notable naturalist in the last 50 years agreed that recreational opportunities, exploitation and human occupancy will displace species and wild lands. And birth rates and immigration are only two factors in the population equation, and they are all subject to fluctuations. The argument that any country will see a long term net reduction in population (enough to re-wild the landscape) while the planet becomes overrun is absurd. Economic growth is the cornerstone of all wealth here and abroad. We’re beyond instituting sustainability as an alternative. Wild landscapes will forever become fewer and less wild, less diverse unless a rapid decline in the human population occurs and the current economic system collapses. Conservation and Preservation efforts simply forestall the inevitable trend. Wealth will always take precedence, there’s no stopping urban sprawl and natural resource exploitation regardless of intermittent trends in any factors contributing to population growth in one or more countries.

It isn’t a reassuring idea but I prefer to avoid the rose colored blindfold, look the truth right in its dark, unblinking eyeballs. We still have opportunities, but those are changing and diminishing in both number and quality, and will continue to do so into perpetuity. Next summer, we’re hoping to tour the Galapagos. As wild and remote as those islands once were, they are now part of the economic system, visited by throngs of “adventurers” on tour boats, with facilities expanding every year. Blue haired overweight people with disposable income descend on many recently wild places. We’re debating whether to take the Amazon extension or not. Teddy Roosevelt is flipping in his grave, no doubt.

 

[jdeerfoot]

Seconding what Marten has said. I am still surprised at the folks who are interested in Canada trips, some of which are pretty straightforward, such as the Turtle Rv east of Atikokan. One guy wanted gps tracks and the location of ports and campsites on what is not a large river where finding these is very easy. Hopefully, this guy’s confidence will have improved after that trip so that he is willing go out without exact location info and realize he will be okay. It’s part of the adventure.