On Sun, 18 Jun 2006 11:43:25 -0500, "Edward Dolan"
wrote:


"Mike Vandeman" wrote in message
.. .

[newsgroups trimmed]

On Sun, 18 Jun 2006 00:10:24 -0500, "Edward Dolan"
wrote:
[...]
My main point which I like to make over and over is that bikers and hikers
do not get along at all well on hiking trails. It does not have so much to
do with impacts on the trail itself or even on wildlife, but rather on the
kind of attitudes we bring to nature and to wilderness.

True, but without wildlife (living things), there would be nowhere
worth hiking. That is the long view.

Yes, you are quite right about that. I have been on many a long hike in the
wilderness where I never saw any wild creatures at all. I am more into plant
life than I am animal life, but to never see any wild animals is on outrage
and we should be ashamed of ourselves for having eliminated so much of their
habitat.
[...]

Yes. I have 3, no, 4 criteria for a successful hike: (1) see and try
an edible plant, (2) see a wild animal (common ones like insects and
birds don't count, UNLESS, SADLY, THERE IS NOTHING ELSE), (3) go to
some high place and get a wide view to see the lay of the land, (4)
don't see any bikes (I just added this one, which I used to be able to
take for granted ...).

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

===
I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to
humans ("pure habitat"). Want to help? (I spent the previous 8
years fighting auto dependence and road construction.)

http://home.pacbell.net/mjvande