Please, no! We live in the Four Corners; we enjoy southern Utah. We enjoy the quiet, the beauty, the untrampled lands. But these videos simply add to the exploitation of these lands. This is not exemplary behavior on your part. You're mimicking exploitation not unlike the "Drill, baby, drill!" crowd; or those who want to privatize ALL public lands; or those who are seeking to profit from "the Commons" in any unscrupulous manner. You're proud of the fact you didn't have to hike?! Wow. I expected more from you. I'm a new subscriber questioning my commitment to your cause.
Hi Tony. I was trying to be light-hearted during a time that feels dark to many good people. You may have noticed that I did not mention either the name of the airstrip nor even the area in the vastness of southern Utah where we were. Southern Utah is a pretty huge place that everybody on the planet is aware of. My video didn't lead anybody anywhere at all.
I spent my career as a backcountry ranger for both the National Park Service - including in the Island In The Sky district of Canyonlands National Park inn Southern Utah, and then the BLM in McInnis Canyons NCA in western CO. I always, 100% of the time, approached the public from the stand point of the "authority of the resource" as opposed to the "authority of the agency". In other words, I'd explain the many rules and regulations from the standpoint of what the resources needs and what is harmful to the resource rather then what agency law requires this and disallows that. I'd like to think - and who knows if it's true - but I'd like to think I made better stewards of the land of thousands of people. And as an aside, I would often ask Asian and European visitors how they'd come to know of red rock canyon country. The answer was often, "Marlboro man commercials".
I'm 75 and still hike and backpack southern Utah. For sure not like when I was 50, but I still use my feet and sometimes my mountain bike (my e-bike where it is allowed, which as adaptive equipment for a disabled vet, is pretty much everywhere biking is allowed) to continue to enjoy the beauty and solitude of southern Utah.
I cringe like heck when I see - as I often do - a pickup truck hauling a trailer loaded with two rock crawlers. Or even the ATV crowd - although through rangering I did find many ATV'ers to be way more respectful of the land than so-called "quiet users" such as climbers and mountain bikers. They would often stop and pick up someone else's trash leaving the area "better than they found it."
So I was trying to joke and poke fun at myself for flying in to the backcountry. That particular airstrip was grandfathered in to a wilderness area because of its historic nature. Of course a person could walk to it. I'd heard of it for years but never walked in assuming it was just some flat, ugly place. The term "airstrip" does not evoke beauty in my mind. But as it turns out, the area was as beautiful as almost any I've seen in southern Utah.
In all the years and miles I've put in exploring southern Utah, I have occasionally been bothered by ATV's, horses, or just an excess of people. The one thing that I have never ever been bothered by or seen or heard or even thought about is a plane flying into a backcountry strip. Personally I found it kind of regenerative and uplifting to see a bunch of mostly old men, some of whom did walk in, moving literally tons of dirt by hand to restore a historic place that they loved. Judging by nothing more than looks and place of residence, I'd say that a group of political polar opposites got along pretty great and to was nice to experience.
And I gotta say, flying through the canyons in a helicopter...wild. I hope that you get to experience that likely once-in-a-lifetime thrill at some point. You'd have as big a smile on your face as I had on mine.
Please, no! We live in the Four Corners; we enjoy southern Utah. We enjoy the quiet, the beauty, the untrampled lands. But these videos simply add to the exploitation of these lands. This is not exemplary behavior on your part. You're mimicking exploitation not unlike the "Drill, baby, drill!" crowd; or those who want to privatize ALL public lands; or those who are seeking to profit from "the Commons" in any unscrupulous manner. You're proud of the fact you didn't have to hike?! Wow. I expected more from you. I'm a new subscriber questioning my commitment to your cause.
Hi Tony. I was trying to be light-hearted during a time that feels dark to many good people. You may have noticed that I did not mention either the name of the airstrip nor even the area in the vastness of southern Utah where we were. Southern Utah is a pretty huge place that everybody on the planet is aware of. My video didn't lead anybody anywhere at all.
I spent my career as a backcountry ranger for both the National Park Service - including in the Island In The Sky district of Canyonlands National Park inn Southern Utah, and then the BLM in McInnis Canyons NCA in western CO. I always, 100% of the time, approached the public from the stand point of the "authority of the resource" as opposed to the "authority of the agency". In other words, I'd explain the many rules and regulations from the standpoint of what the resources needs and what is harmful to the resource rather then what agency law requires this and disallows that. I'd like to think - and who knows if it's true - but I'd like to think I made better stewards of the land of thousands of people. And as an aside, I would often ask Asian and European visitors how they'd come to know of red rock canyon country. The answer was often, "Marlboro man commercials".
I'm 75 and still hike and backpack southern Utah. For sure not like when I was 50, but I still use my feet and sometimes my mountain bike (my e-bike where it is allowed, which as adaptive equipment for a disabled vet, is pretty much everywhere biking is allowed) to continue to enjoy the beauty and solitude of southern Utah.
I cringe like heck when I see - as I often do - a pickup truck hauling a trailer loaded with two rock crawlers. Or even the ATV crowd - although through rangering I did find many ATV'ers to be way more respectful of the land than so-called "quiet users" such as climbers and mountain bikers. They would often stop and pick up someone else's trash leaving the area "better than they found it."
So I was trying to joke and poke fun at myself for flying in to the backcountry. That particular airstrip was grandfathered in to a wilderness area because of its historic nature. Of course a person could walk to it. I'd heard of it for years but never walked in assuming it was just some flat, ugly place. The term "airstrip" does not evoke beauty in my mind. But as it turns out, the area was as beautiful as almost any I've seen in southern Utah.
In all the years and miles I've put in exploring southern Utah, I have occasionally been bothered by ATV's, horses, or just an excess of people. The one thing that I have never ever been bothered by or seen or heard or even thought about is a plane flying into a backcountry strip. Personally I found it kind of regenerative and uplifting to see a bunch of mostly old men, some of whom did walk in, moving literally tons of dirt by hand to restore a historic place that they loved. Judging by nothing more than looks and place of residence, I'd say that a group of political polar opposites got along pretty great and to was nice to experience.
And I gotta say, flying through the canyons in a helicopter...wild. I hope that you get to experience that likely once-in-a-lifetime thrill at some point. You'd have as big a smile on your face as I had on mine.