Portage, campsite and other signs (of civilization)

[Odyssey]

In November, what started as an inquisitive peek down a rabbit hole turned into a weeks long meander thru a warren of interconnected themes. Reaching back into distant memory, which for me is anything beyond last week, I vaguely remember on another canoe forum, members taking issue with a real LNT keener who had removed a trailside memorial to a drowned paddler. I saw both sides of the debate, so I stashed this conundrum for future rumination. Likewise, I think I remember reading somewhere that Ojibwe hunters used to leave offerings hanging in trees to give thanks for a successful hunt. These were bones or a skull, often bear. Out of respect for first peoples, these and other signs and offerings should be left untouched. Bones in trees, tobacco ties, ribbon trees, and so on...

Tobacco Offering Protocol - Indigenous Gathering Site

Why and When to Offer Tobacco Offering tobacco in the form of a tobacco tie is a custom that is shared by many Indigenous peoples. Tobacco is offered for

carleton.ca

Ribbon Trees - A traditional Indigenous practice - Fitz Hugh

Ribbon trees are much more than just pieces of fabric tied to trees. The ribbons and cloths are actually offerings back to the earth. Ribbon trees are appearing more frequently in Jasper National Park, placed by Indigenous communities that have historic ties to this landscape. Swatches of...

www.fitzhugh.ca

Trail trees - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Modern trail markers can be informative of the past.

Indigenous Trail Markers Across Ontario | Indigenous Experiences in Ontario

Indigenous Trail Markers Across Ontario Indigenous Trail Markers dotted across Ontario assist in honoring and bring testament and respect to Ontario's Indigenous peoples. These trail markers help visitors acknowledge the traditional territory of First Nation and Métis peoples. Markers...

www.indigenousexperienceontario.ca

Back in my burrow I followed discussions concerning modern day misinterpretations regarding offerings of healing left hanging in trees next to holy wells in the Scottish Highlands.

Clouties and “Cloutie pollution” - Europe, News, Paganism, U.K., U.S., World

Witchcraft & Pagan News - TWH looks at how the practice of using clouties made from non-biodegradable material negatively impacts the environment. | Europe, News, Paganism, U.K., U.S., World

wildhunt.org

Pre-contact/colonial, and pre-Christian pagan belief systems from around the globe have many aspects of life and afterlife rituals in common. It can be more than a pragmatic way-finding tradition, marking a trail, it can also be a spiritual way of life tradition.
Quite frankly I blame HOOP for the genesis of this LNT pondering. In an excellent trip report he made years ago, he reflected on a pattern of stones in a stream. They were almost too perfectly aligned he reasoned, to be erratically natural, as they provided a channel through which he could float his loaded canoe past a shallow stony section. He questioned if these were ancient, from migrating first peoples, or perhaps a relic from the fur trade era, or maybe much more recent? And then the ethics of altering the landscape for modern convenience arose, for me in any case. He concluded that some marks on the land are humanly natural and acceptable, like cleared portages and stone fire rings. Although it's hard to draw a line somewhere in this sign vs scar, respect vs reckless, wild vs tame, sliding scale of virtue signaling, I for one decided less is more when I'm canoe tripping. A small fire ring of stones. A brushed trail with blazes or discreet signs. Even the luxury of a faint trail to a thunderbox. But any offerings I leave behind will soon fade, as sure as my footprints, in hopes that I and others can live on with that.

 

[ppine]

Thanks Odyssey.
For people that live outdoors, and feel connections to the Creator, these sorts of artifacts are common place on several continents.
I have a campsite in my back yard and sometimes hang black, white, red and yellow ribbons from pine tree branches. I have old buffalo skulls around. Sometimes I tie bunches of horse hair to the trees. We see it over and over again by Native Peoples.

Tomorrow we are having our Solstice Party which was delayed due to my crummy health. On the table with the pine cones, and deer antlers, I have an abalone shell with pottery shards, trade beads and animal claws in it. Over the years I have come to believe that Nature is God. The Native ways make more and more sense to me every year.

 

[Woodpuppy]

Ah, litter or artifact? I run into this in my professional world. it’s… aggravating. Clashing world views of different professional groups. I’m being generous and won’t get further into that hot mess.

the ethics of altering the landscape for modern convenience

This sort of defines all human activity doesn’t it? We bend the surroundings to our will because we can, whether or not we should.

 

[deerfly]

Al, the weather forecast can have a lot to do with how crowded ENP may be on any given week as well as proximity to major holidays, etc. Either way its going to be the "locals" that overload the "circuits" so to speak vs those travelling from afar. If you experienced light crowds any time during peak season, I'd say you were probably lucky.

Don't want to paint the wrong picture either, ENP is far from ruined and well worth a visit, esp for those that have never been. Just know its getting harder to get far enough away to achieve the sense you're actually far away from anything, signage or not, regardless of whether you're paddling or in a power boat. Obviously, due to potentially arduous paddling conditions the farther you get from either N/S entry point the less paddlers you'll encounter, which would be limited to the intrepid through paddlers headed 75+ miles to Flamingo or vice versa to Chokoloskee/Everglades City. However, you will see plenty of power boaters and possibly lots of them depending on the game fish being pursued at the time.

Think of it this way, ENP is a major saltwater fishing destination all year long. The main targets are trout, redfish, snook and tarpon, by all methods too, bait, artificial and fly. This is big business now, so there are a lot of professional guides working from both ends of the park all year long. On the north they'll trailer down from Naples and points north, a hand full will even travel from Miami or Ft Lauderdale and launch in Everglades City or Chokoloskee. On the south the majority of guides will trailer into Flamingo from Miami and a few from Ft Lauderdale. There are also a lot of guides coming up from the Fl Keys as well. During tarpon season quite a few will run as far north as Lostmans River. Regardless of where they launch though, with fuel efficient 4 stroke engines combined with lighter and faster skiffs (40+mph) its nothing for these guides to travel 50 miles or more each way per day to find fish as well as trying to get away from other guides and anglers targeting the same species. If that isn't enough, realize more than a few are towing or stowing canoes these days too.

To understand how this affects paddlers, during the winter months (most popular paddling times) some of the best fishing will be on the inside. Most of which will be east of the WW, which is the primary safe N/S route for the boaters, but is also a prime route for paddlers. During the warmer months the most sought after game fish tend to be closer to the gulf after migrating from the interior to the outside passes to spawn. When the fishing is good on the outside and the weather is good, most of the boats will be running the outside and of little consequence to paddlers. However when the weather is rough on the outside the boats will run the WW.

Unfortunately, it doesn't take too many high speed, long range boaters using the same WW alongside the majority of paddlers to dampen the illusion of a remote experience. On a brighter note, 99% of the boat traffic is day use only. So they are not competing with paddlers for camp sites, except during the winter where a higher percentage of recreational power boaters will be camping too, but mostly on the weekends. Hence my attempt at Wednesday high noon humor...

 

[Alan Gage]

Interesting post, Odyssey. I've spent time thinking along similar lines and it's hard to draw a hard line as to what's ok and what isn't.

It's wrong to carve your name in a rock face just to say "I was here".

It's kind of cool to see someone's name on a rock face from 150 years ago stating, "I was here"

It's really cool to see something carved by a native in a rock face from 300 years ago that might be saying, "I was here"

Someone left their junk at a camp last week. That's bad. It's good to clean it up.

Someone from a trapping camp in northern Canada left a bunch of junk laying around 100 years ago. Should this be cleaned up or left as-is?

Inuit left a bunch of junk (rock chippings and broken kayaks) laying around 200 years ago. Is it ok to take or move these?

What about rocks used in old tent rings? What makes them so special? They're just rocks and they were used as basic tools. No spiritual significance. Does that mean if I need rocks to secure my tent I'm not allowed to use these same rocks that have been here for millions of years? Did an Innuit from 200 years ago revere tent rings from 500 years ago? Did they search elsewhere for rocks rather than disturb the old rings that were already there?

Not always easy questions to answer. I think much of it comes down to what you're doing while you're out there. 99.99% of us are just out there playing. It helps our role playing when we don't see other signs of human presence. Or, if there are signs of humans, we like it to be from a long time ago. We have no need or logical reason to wantonly disturb, destroy, or alter the environment we're playing in. But we're still humans and we're really good at justifying our reasons for why we want to do this or that.

Alan

 

[Benson Gray]

The difficult questions of what to take or modify when in the wild reminded me of a comment written by Joseph Treat in his 1820 journal describing "Pimolos Rock-This is a large Rock of granite in form of a small hay stack-and on the South side near the top is a circular hole in form of a pot 2 feet deep-the Indians say it has been their custom to place in this cavity when the water is low, presents for Pimola, of Tobacco, Pipes, Jacknives &c., and if they are not taken out, they have a bad season for hunting and fishing the next year-and if taken out they have great good luck in every thing." More details about the trip to find this rock are available at http://www.wcha.org/forums/index.php?threads/14159/ if you are curious. The hole is much smaller now. We found it empty and left a quarter. I haven't been back to see if it is still there. My usual policy is to leave things as undisturbed as reasonably possible.

Benson