AllTrails, No Skills

Having taught college for over twenty years, I got exposed to a lot of ivory tower thinking and its thinkers, some of whom lived perpetually disconnected from the realities of everyday life. In spite of this, every once in a while I felt the urge to climb the ivory tower and pursue a Doctoral degree…but I always sat down until the urge passed.

That didn’t mean I didn’t come across some fascinating Master’s Degree Theses and Doctoral Dissertations. Sure, some were so abstract as to numb the brain, such as, “The Administrative Efficacy of Standardized Signage Typography on Pedestrian Trailhead Decision-Making Processes.” But, on the other hand some were extremely enlightening.

My favorite is, “Characteristics of Large Groups and Leaders of Large Groups using the High Peaks Wilderness Area”. It is a study conducted by Carol DiGregoria in 1982 for her Master’s Degree at SUNY Cortland to learn about large groups (10 or more) in the High Peaks Wilderness. She wanted to learn things like age, skill level, group size, purpose, and sponsorships. In addition, she hoped to learn about leaders’ training, experience and continuing education.

The results were both revealing and depressing.

What did it reveal? Over half of the groups were part of summer camps, scouting programs, or college groups. Unfortunately all these groups are exempt from licensed guide regulations designed to insure trips are conducted safely and environmentally sound.

Only half the leaders were certified in first aid and only about 12% of them had any formal outdoor leadership training. Most leaders' outdoor skills were self-taught, or learned through friends. Group leaders did little reading about wilderness recreation; in fact, nearly 60% couldn’t even come up with a book to recommend on the topic, and nearly 50% of the leaders had not read any magazines about the outdoors. A sizable portion of leaders were not practicing state of the art, minimal impact camping practices and nearly 70% of groups did not treat their drinking water. Fortunately most groups had cook stoves which are safer and environmentally friendly but despite having stoves, most had campfires every night. Stoves were used for all cooking by just half the groups.

It was a sad statement about the quality of group leadership in the backcountry…even for that time period.

If we replicated the study today I think the results would be different but not necessarily better.

What would be better, because of current regulations, is that all overnight groups in the Eastern High Peaks Wilderness are 8 or fewer people and no campfires are allowed.

I would also guess nearly everyone treats their water today which makes sense even though evidence suggests that most wilderness illnesses likely come from poor hygiene rather than water contamination.

I think there’s an increased awareness of Leave No Trace. Schools like NOLS had pioneered minimum impact camping techniques in the 1970s and they were well established by the mid-1980s. The Leave No Trace program as we know it today was established 1994.

The biggest difference between then and now would be where people get their information…sort of.

Sadly outdoor leaders weren’t getting information from books and magazines in the eighties...and they still aren’t!

Instead, we have crowd-sourced apps such as Facebook, AllTrails, Strava, Hiking Project, or Wikiloc. My beef with these apps is that they encourage people to spend way too much time researching WHERE to go, and woefully too little time learning HOW TO do it.

My recommendations regarding the crowd-sourced apps? First verify anything you find there. Anyone can write anything on these platforms. The primary danger is that too many contributors are woefully uneducated resulting in outdated or inaccurate information. In addition, difficulty ratings are inherently subjective – what’s easy for a veteran may be overwhelming for a novice. Beyond that, anyone can upload a GPS track sometimes leading to posted routes traversing private property, or leading along dangerous cliff edges. Additionally routes with five-star reviews can create a false sense of security. Finally, if you’re depending on anything that requires a signal and a battery, DON’T!

And you definitely don’t want to trust AI lest you end up like Bryce Gowryluk of Vancouver, British Columbia. He used his AI friend Claude, to help him chart a course for the top of nearby Crown Mountain. Instead it pointed Gowryluk towards the Widowmaker Arete, a steep exposed rock on the face of Crown Mountain from which he had to be rescued. And he was lucky! He’s one of too many trusting AI, and unfortunately it doesn’t look like AI is going away anytime soon.

It all comes down to making sure you have the ten essentials: things like map & compass, headlamp/flashlight, first Aid kit, knife/multi-tool, fire starter, food, water, and extra clothing.

I’ve carried them in my day pack for sixty years. And when I head out hunting this weekend you can be sure they’ll still be there…just in case.