More Exploring In Bass River

[Teegate]

We continued our exploring in the burn area of Bass River trying to visit as many general locations as we can before the vegetation is back this summer. I saw this on Lidar so we hit it along our way.

There were plates and bottles nearby so maybe the hunters from Highland Park spent time there.

The walking won't be this easy again most likely in my lifetime.

Our tracks. 3.1 miles. We walked in the center of the open areas when we could, and we were able to get a good view of what may be there that would be of interest. It is remote and not much to see other than the woods which is fine by me.

On the way out we saw the hikers on the Batona Trail and couldn't help thinking how much they are missing by walking the trail. They travel it again and again and walk right past the best places to visit. I just don't understand that. They are missing so much.

 

[bobpbx]

Fine by me too Guy.

 

[lj762]

On the way out we saw the hikers on the Batona Trail and couldn't help thinking how much they are missing by walking the trail. They travel it again and again and walk right past the best places to visit. I just don't understand that. They are missing so much.

Learn about Leave No Trace - https://lnt.org/ is a good place to start. Imagine the effect of you times 100, or 1000. There are good reasons for these signs:

 

[bobpbx]

That is pretty brazen Lj, telling Guy to stick to the trail. You knew that was going to rub Guy the wrong way when you posted it. What gives?

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Learn about Leave No Trace - https://lnt.org/ is a good place to start. Imagine the effect of you times 100, or 1000. There are good reasons for these signs:

View attachment 22291

Please educate us. What exactly would you like for us to glean from that website?

What significant ecological damage is being done by walking off-trail in the Pine Barrens of NJ? Thanks in advance for your detailed response.

 

[Teegate]

Think about this closely Bob and Gabe and everyone else here. lJ762 works at Bass River State Forest, or at least volunteers. Now think about what is going on in Wharton right now.

I show my tracks above, so Lj762 can go out today and find the damage I did. Good Luck finding anything!

 

[enormiss]

I see it coming, no joke

visitor-and-vehicle-use-survey.14188/page-21#post-178068

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Going off-trail

Today, a friend and I were discussing the impact on the environment that hiking off the trail has. He is of the persuasion that hiking off-trail has a negative impact on the ecosystem and should be avoided as much as possible. What do you guys think?

forums.njpinebarrens.com

 

[Teegate]

Going off-trail

Today, a friend and I were discussing the impact on the environment that hiking off the trail has. He is of the persuasion that hiking off-trail has a negative impact on the ecosystem and should be avoided as much as possible. What do you guys think?

forums.njpinebarrens.com

Nice to see I have the same opinion then as I do now. And the correct one

 

[RednekF350]

Here is my December 23, 2007 response in Gabe's Going Off Trail thread. I like my opinion now more than ever.

Off trail hiking creates the lowest possible environmental impact becuse of its random nature and the impossibility of duplicating and using the same trail more than once.
Repeated, heavy use of designated trails causes soil compaction and root exposure and other human contact problems.
Trying to find the impacts from a few people traversing the pines in a random pathway would be as my mother used to say, "like trying to find fly sh-t in pepper"
Scott

 

[GermanG]

This isn't as cut and dry as some would like it to be. I also often leave trails in my explorations, and my hunting certainly isn't done on hiking trails. But this is usually in parks and forests that have less concentrated use. In others, off-trail traffic can indeed have an effect. I can show you at least three new and well-worn trails at Wells Mills that have been created in recent years through cedar swamps, two of which go right through Swamp Pink populations. These aren't subtle routes as might be made by deer. They are now as well-worn as any of the maintained hiking trails. Attempts to block them have just resulted in go-arounds, with continued use.

It reminds me somewhat of the original boardwalk at Webbs Mill Bog, which could be easily stepped off of. There were footprints throughout the bog, holes in the ground where plants had been dug and even the occasional litter. You generally don't see this impact in the deep woods areas where most of us here do plant explorations, but it can and does occur at sites more people visit.

Where Bass River's trails fit between these two extremes is up for debate, but saying off-trail use never has impact is simply false.

 

[bobpbx]

This isn't as cut and dry as some would like it to be. I also often leave trails in my explorations, and my hunting certainly isn't done on hiking trails. But this is usually in parks and forests that have less concentrated use. In others, off-trail traffic can indeed have an effect. I can show you at least three new and well-worn trails at Wells Mills that have been created in recent years through cedar swamps, two of which go right through Swamp Pink populations. These aren't subtle routes as might be made by deer. They are now as well-worn as any of the maintained hiking trails. Attempts to block them have just resulted in go-arounds, with continued use.

It reminds me somewhat of the original boardwalk at Webbs Mill Bog, which could be easily stepped off of. There were footprints throughout the bog, holes in the ground where plants had been dug and even the occasional litter. You generally don't see this impact in the deep woods areas where most of us here do plant explorations, but it can and does occur at sites more people visit.

Where Bass River's trails fit between these two extremes is up for debate, but saying off-trail use never has impact is simply false.

Here I also repost my post from that thread. I still stand by it. By Pines in general, I mean a simple visit through even senstive areas while on an explore or survey. I don't mean repeated visits showing people flowers. It's the main reason I've yet to lead a botany trip via the Philadelphia Club. I could of course, lead them on trips to see special grasses and sedges, which are often in less sensitive areas, but they'd wonder where the 'pretty' stuff is.

Like everything else in life; it depends upon the situation. If everyone who wanted to come to Webbs Mill to gawk at the orchids were not restrained a bit by the walkway, it would be a mess in a few years. If everyone who climbed Mount Marcy and Mount Washington went off trail, the fragile alpine plants would be destroyed quickly, leaving a bald mountain. On Marcy, they have stewards up there all day to keep people off because it got so bad.

But in the pines in general, give me liberty, or give me death!

 

[GermanG]

Bob,
We appear to be essentially saying the same thing, that off-trail activity can be damaging in some cases, which was pretty much the only point I was trying to make. Once that point is established, the devil is in the details, trying to separate the random and fairly harmless use from the more concentrated activity that does damage. And if you are in a position of managing public land, for both the environment and public use, there is literally no winning, with grief earned no matter what course is taken. Thankfully, I have only a few more months of it, and I'm done. I got fishing to do!

 

[Teegate]

Not too much fishing in the same place, I hear it is bad for the environment.

 

[GermanG]

Not too much fishing in the same place, I hear it is bad for the environment.

That's OK. I have a strong bladder

 

[Teegate]

All,

We are enjoying our explorations in Bass River so we decided to pick another location and give it a go. We again traveled Shamong Road and parked.

We found another hunters tent with the chair nearby. They like tents it appears and they like leaving them.

This location came with electronics. It appeared dead as I pushed all the buttons.

We eventually made it to the long unused road that headed to the Cutts reservoir.

Some places like in the distance here, the road was grown over.

She took a tumble and took some time to get up.

Getting close.

Our Tracks

 

[bobpbx]

Quite a ramble Guy! I fell down twice in one week. I'm thinking the muscles are not back to prime yet. Seemed like I could not right myself quickly (yet).

 

[Teegate]

(yet).

By the end of the summer you will be just fine! And the plants will love you for your hard work.