A rant about tourism..

**Johnnycakes** · 08-10-2007, 11:30 AM

I can understand your disappointment if you were expecting solitude in places where you used to find it regularly. Perhaps visiting these places on a different day or time might do the trick.

I'm not anti-tourist (and I'm not implying that you are either), but I still found this funny and thought you might appreciate it. I think I saw it on a bumper sticker first:

"If it's tourist season, why can't we just shoot them?"

**sky** · 08-10-2007, 11:41 AM

Hrm, I have to agree with you even though I could technically be called one of "those people".....come on, I <3 my trekking poles and mah boots.....make feet happy!

I used to be the same way growing up back in WNY.....I could leave my house at 8am, wander around all day and not see a single human or house, and as long as I was home for dinner nobody cared.

Now as I go home to visit (and I did this last year) I went to one of my favorite spots...........which to my horror had ground being broken for a house about 500ft away.

But, that's the problem. You find a great place, and so does somebody else....and the word spreads. Sooner than later, more people know about it, and more people begin to show up. Eventually, everyone has to see it, and they show up with all their crap in tow. Hopefully some part of this fantastic park will remain somewhat undisturbed....I'd really hate it if trampling people (or people who just don't care) start messing with the cycle......taking stuff out that should be left, leaving stuff that should be taken out (don't Jersey the ADK, mmmkay?), bothering the wildlife, etc...

</rant>

Maybe if we start sreading rumors of suburbanite-eating bears they'll all go away.

Or get one of those nifty bear fences (ridiculous gear what?)....

**Hobbitling** · 08-10-2007, 12:00 PM

Well speaking on behalf of all the "city folk"...

We also are looking for some peace and quiet. If you think you are the only person wishing there was nobody else out there, you're wrong. Everyone wants to be the only one out there. Even the "city folk" are sick of all the other "city folk". Thats why they're out there.

Also, if they weren't "city folk", then the population of the cities would be all spread out and the wilderness would turn into one big surburbia. Compact cities are usually better than endless sprawling acres of lawns and McMansions. So it could be worse, they could live there all the time, and build houses there, and never go away.

If you really want to find a secluded spot, you can. its a big park, with lots of trailless areas. you may have to explore new areas, you may have to step off a trail, but if you want to be alone, you can.

As for "rediculous gear". Hiking boots and sticks are not exactly newfangled high tech gizmos. Do you consider backpacks too modern, or should we just put our food and water in a potato sack and sling it over our shoulders?

hiking anywhere with just the clothes on your back is a good way to end up in big trouble. Ma Nature doesnt care where you grew up.

**Keithk** · 08-10-2007, 12:01 PM

responce:

Originally posted by rift0065

I don't post here much. In fact I'm not sure if I have ever posted at all. However I feel the need to rant a bit.

I have lived in the Adirondacks all my life and am still in love with it. When I was younger it was possible to go to a lot of nice places and not encounter very many people, if any. Now it is different. It seems like no matter where I go, there are people. They are usually tourists with their rediculous gear that they don't need. (Come on people, all you need to hike any mountain in the ADKs is a pair of sneakers and shorts. You don't need hiking sticks and big spiked boots and all that.) Anyways, it is frustrating to me to go to a place I remember being quiet and secluded, only to find it swarmed with city people who think they are "roughing it". It is becoming difficult to enjoy many of the places me and my dad used to visit when I was a kid, because they are now overrun with people.

To me this is very sad.

Obviously some aspects of the tourism industry can get very frustrating....there's nothing quite like driving down a road at 60mph, and suddenly there's someone driving 10 mph in the 55mph zone, gawking out their window at the fall leaves or some deer standing by the woods. Sure sure they could easily just pull to the side of the road, but why go to all that trouble when you can just as easily cause a 10 car pileup

BUT, we depend on tourism here. A huge portion of our local economy is driven by tourist $$. We can't exactly complain when those same tourists step out of their hotel rooms to experiance the very thing that they're paying to come here for. As a high school student I depended on the tourism industry to find a summer job, and many adults and families here depend on it year round.

As for overcrowding, obviously at some times, in some places, it's a major issue. So we all basically have a choice. A person decides to go for a hike in, say, early August. You really want to do Marcy or Algonquin or something. Well, there are going to be a million people there. Ya maybe it sucks, but they have just as much a right to be there as any of us do. So if you're looking for a bit more piece and quiet, just do Hurricane, or St. Regis or one of the lesser peaks instead.

Even is my example is poor, my point is that if peace and solitude is what you're looking for, it's easy to find it. In the past year alone I've had many hikes, kayak trips, x-country ski trips, etc, where I hardly saw another person.

And if my hypothetical hiker just "has" to bag Marcy in mid-summer, then they simply need to plan on fighting a crowd.

**Roland** · 08-10-2007, 12:17 PM

I dont know, you just cant expect things to stay the same, I am 50 so in my twenties there where how many people in the US 150 Mil? today its twice that. Looking at it the other way, after I lost my job this June I spend more time then ever in the Dacks, mostly between Schroon and Keene, before July 1st there is nobody around during the week! Just think what the Adirondacks would be without the bugs, blackflies etc believe me it would be a lot more crowded, the black flies keep urban people people away, tourism can be annoying but it does bring $$$'s in the not so striving economy. Just my 2 cents. ( long live the bugs!)

**eghaley** · 08-10-2007, 12:31 PM

Our ADKs

Yeah, I agree with you that there are more and more users of the Adirondacks in all colors and flavors, including yourself. That was the way the Park usage was intended. I, for one, am glad that we ALL have been handed the privilege and responsibility to accept the Adirondacks as a public place for enjoying the woods.

I imagine some oldtimer once commented 50 years ago that he was amazed by all the "whippersnappers" in the woods with sneakers on instead of hobnailed boots.

Times and people change. It's inevitable. And how the ADKs are used changes. As long as users accept the codes of conduct that will prevent their usage from destroying the ADKs and the intended visions of past and present caretakers, I see no reason to ridicule the newcomers. We're all touri on public lands whether we live nearby or afar.

**Roland** · 08-10-2007, 12:41 PM

French Louie complained about the same thing in the West Canada Wilderness in 1912.

**DuctTape** · 08-10-2007, 01:16 PM

Originally posted by hobbitling

As for "rediculous gear". Hiking boots and sticks are not exactly newfangled high tech gizmos. Do you consider backpacks too modern, or should we just put our food and water in a potato sack and sling it over our shoulders?

For all the gram-weenies out here could you post the specs of the "potato sack" please, and second can it serve double duty as a bivy sack?

**DSettahr** · 08-10-2007, 01:17 PM

Most of the income in the Adirondacks is from the prisons. Tourism is a close second. Of course, no one wants tourists to know just how many prisons there are in the park, so nobody realizes how vital they are to the economy.

**Gray Ghost** · 08-10-2007, 01:41 PM

Just sneakers and shorts for any mountain? How many mountains have you climbed?

**toothlessannie** · 08-10-2007, 01:47 PM

Originally posted by Gray Ghost

Just sneakers and shorts for any mountain? How many mountains have you climbed?

My sentiments exactly, it goes against all wise behavior.

**Little Rickie** · 08-10-2007, 01:53 PM

Originally posted by rift0065

I don't post here much. In fact I'm not sure if I have ever posted at all. However I feel the need to rant a bit.

I have lived in the Adirondacks all my life and am still in love with it. When I was younger it was possible to go to a lot of nice places and not encounter very many people, if any. Now it is different. It seems like no matter where I go, there are people. They are usually tourists with their rediculous gear that they don't need. (Come on people, all you need to hike any mountain in the ADKs is a pair of sneakers and shorts. You don't need hiking sticks and big spiked boots and all that.) Anyways, it is frustrating to me to go to a place I remember being quiet and secluded, only to find it swarmed with city people who think they are "roughing it". It is becoming difficult to enjoy many of the places me and my dad used to visit when I was a kid, because they are now overrun with people.

To me this is very sad.

I'm feel the same way and I'm a city folk and part of the problem. I don't know the answer.

I do know a lot of people feel that way about where the live as well, wilderness or not. Everywhere is building & expanding, we have too many people and not enough space for peace, quiet and solitude.

**redhawk** · 08-10-2007, 02:14 PM

Originally posted by rift0065

I don't post here much. In fact I'm not sure if I have ever posted at all. However I feel the need to rant a bit.

I have lived in the Adirondacks all my life and am still in love with it. When I was younger it was possible to go to a lot of nice places and not encounter very many people, if any. Now it is different. It seems like no matter where I go, there are people. They are usually tourists with their rediculous gear that they don't need. (Come on people, all you need to hike any mountain in the ADKs is a pair of sneakers and shorts. You don't need hiking sticks and big spiked boots and all that.) Anyways, it is frustrating to me to go to a place I remember being quiet and secluded, only to find it swarmed with city people who think they are "roughing it". It is becoming difficult to enjoy many of the places me and my dad used to visit when I was a kid, because they are now overrun with people.

To me this is very sad.

You can take what you posted and repeat it just about anywhere in this country.

As we get more and more people, and less and less wilderness, it will continue.

My ancestors suffered from it more then anyone. Yet we believed then, and we do today, that the land did not belong to anyone. That is was to be shared with everything, including the animals.

So in a sense, you are experiencing the same thing that the indigenous people of this country suffered years ago. Fortunately you are not dying from the diseases brought by tourists, nor are the tourists scheming how to uproot or exterminate you in order to use the land you are on.

Count your blessings.

Hawk

**Kevin** · 08-10-2007, 02:42 PM

Originally posted by Johnnycakes

"If it's tourist season, why can't we just shoot them?"

George Carlin coined that phrase (as well as many of my other favorites

).

I believe it goes:

"Why is it called tourist season if we can't shoot at them?"

_______________________

Based on the poster's definition of tourist (anyone who hikes in boots and uses trekking poles) I guess I'm not qualified to respond. I'm part of the problem after all. To make matters worse, I founded this forum which has likely only exacerbated the perceived problem.

Originally posted by Roland

French Louie complained about the same thing in the West Canada Wilderness in 1912.

Right on.

A rant about tourism..

A rant about tourism..

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment