Going off-trail
- Thread starter pinelandpaddler
- Start date
I personally hate trails and find that surrounding the trails lacks much wildlife. I hardly ever see anything on trails, but if I go off trail I'm always encounter animals. I'm a big fan of no trails in the pine barrens I like blazing my own trails it is a much more wild expierience. As for hiking having a impact it depends on the ecosystem like others said. I've been told by biologists that certain wetlands have been impacted by hikers and hunters in central jersey bog turtle habitat. What happens is constant foot traffic through wetlands causes channeling, which subsequently speeds up the invasion of woody shrubs. This is just one example, but I don't think hiking has that much of an impact, but I guess it depends on the ecosystem.
Sometimes the most interesting things to see are off-trail, especially in the Barrrens. Just this past weekend, I walked from Carranza to Quaker Bridge and was walking through the brush to check out open areas and cellar holes and one rather large depression just past the CJ RR. Interesting thing I noticed is either reindeer moss or wild heather seems to flourish in the open areas.
That is how you wind-up with these "environmental exclusionist". Your taxes can purchase, preserve and protect the pines/open space but you can't touch, ride through or walk in them. This mentality does scare me! "Now stay behind these guardrails and admire what you can't explore without being fined out of existence."
I grew-up spending my entire day off from school exploring the woods, finding amazing things all on foot, far off any trails (long before I even became a off-road motorcyclist). I love being out in the woods, taking in the terrian and unique vegetation. Being in the woods, whether on foot or on motorcycle, is one of the few times I find peace within. I'm sure many of you feel the same about outdoor solitude. Being able to find remote, off-trail treasures, away from civilization is one of the joy's of hiking/exploring.
Well, the environmental groups don't write laws, the politicians do.
It's all a matter of who can lobby the pols better. For the most part, people are content to lay down and let their freedoms get taken away from them as long as they're mollified in other ways. How many people could tell you about how dangerous the Patriot Act is?
1984: "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever."
It's all a matter of who can lobby the pols better. For the most part, people are content to lay down and let their freedoms get taken away from them as long as they're mollified in other ways. How many people could tell you about how dangerous the Patriot Act is?
1984: "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever."
If you have ever been to Island beach SP and walked the trails there as I have, you will know that you are strickly forbidden to hike off the designated trails. It becomes obvious why: A very delicate ecosystem in a highly visted area. In that instance I can definitely see the such a rule in place but fortunitely the vastness of the off shore forests don't warrant such caution.
Jeff
Jeff
you crack me up
buddist ???? you crazy ???? i remember you telling me that when i first joined the forum ......... its a quote describing the pine barrens <3 i learned somewhere and i still cant figure out where or when i heard who said it but it fits me so cudos to creater of the phrase
buddist ???? you crazy ???? i remember you telling me that when i first joined the forum ......... its a quote describing the pine barrens <3 i learned somewhere and i still cant figure out where or when i heard who said it but it fits me so cudos to creater of the phrase
obviously
dunes are very sensitive and so are the plants that live on them i consider myself to be very environmentally concious and watch were i step and wonder places like island beach are definetly a part of the pines i like to visit and go off the trail but i stick to the sandy parts on the west side of the road where i cant destroy or hurt any flora "strictly forbidden" you make me laugh
dunes are very sensitive and so are the plants that live on them i consider myself to be very environmentally concious and watch were i step and wonder places like island beach are definetly a part of the pines i like to visit and go off the trail but i stick to the sandy parts on the west side of the road where i cant destroy or hurt any flora "strictly forbidden" you make me laugh
I'll give another perspective. Most of the folks on this forum can find their way around the woods just fine without a blazed trail. But I've had to rescue hikers twice in the last few weeks who wandered off the marked trail at Wells Mills and got hopelessly lost. The first situation was waiting for me when I got back from our outing at Cloverdale. The person had a trail map, saw the 4 mile marker, and wanted to take a shortcut to avoid walking the remaining four miles back to the nature center. Aside from the fact that the only shortcut on a trail that loops around a lake requires something that hasn't been done since some guy from Nazareth did it, this guy and his wife went in the wrong direction anyway! He called us on his cell on Rt 554 in Barnegat, not all that far from Cloverdale Road. I had to drive back there and get them, since it was getting close to the park's closing time.
The very next weekend, someone did something very similar, also ending up in Barnegat. This time I had to drive up on my day off from Little Egg, since the staff on duty were new and not familiar with the adjacent lands. That was one of dozens of times I've gone back to the park after work or on my day off to find lost hikers (and one time also having to find the lost Waretown Police who tried to find them before I got there).
While it's part of our job here, this gets old awfull fast. One of our solutions to this never-ending problem is a rule that states hikers should stay on marked trails. The people who can navigate the woods without getting lost are not of major concern to us if they break this rule. It is the rest of the hikers who cause such rules to be made.
The very next weekend, someone did something very similar, also ending up in Barnegat. This time I had to drive up on my day off from Little Egg, since the staff on duty were new and not familiar with the adjacent lands. That was one of dozens of times I've gone back to the park after work or on my day off to find lost hikers (and one time also having to find the lost Waretown Police who tried to find them before I got there).
While it's part of our job here, this gets old awfull fast. One of our solutions to this never-ending problem is a rule that states hikers should stay on marked trails. The people who can navigate the woods without getting lost are not of major concern to us if they break this rule. It is the rest of the hikers who cause such rules to be made.
Like I said I only go off trail if it is the only way to a pond or some other spot I want to get to. Some ponds dont have trails that go to them, the only way is to cut through the brush.
If there's briars though forget about it!
And there are preserves which the public is not allowed. We have plenty of them.
35 acres in Riverhead next to Tanger, owned by Peconic Land Trust and a fence surrounds the property, only one gate and you need a key.
Then there's 200+ acres of woods surrounding Brookhaven National Laboratory. There are trails in these woods, plenty of them, but it is posted with a yellow sign NO TRESSPASSING BY ORDER OF THE US DEPT OF ENERGY. There are many ponds on this property that I am unable to get to because of this. Since King George took office they have been patrolling and prosecuting hikers in that area, from what I've heard. Considering the property where the buildings are is fenced off, what possible threat to national security could hikers have?
It is referred to as the Upton Ecological Reserve.
Then there's also Deep Pond, accessible to fishing purposes only. No hiking allowed. Maybe I should get a fishing pole so they dont bother me? Deep Pond is managed by the DEC but owned by Boy Scouts of America.
And lastly lets' not forget Wertheim National Reserve, where I was told by officers to get out, no one is allowed there, in the section west of the river.
I wonder, has anyone here ever been ARRESTED for hiking?
If there's briars though forget about it!
And there are preserves which the public is not allowed. We have plenty of them.
35 acres in Riverhead next to Tanger, owned by Peconic Land Trust and a fence surrounds the property, only one gate and you need a key.
Then there's 200+ acres of woods surrounding Brookhaven National Laboratory. There are trails in these woods, plenty of them, but it is posted with a yellow sign NO TRESSPASSING BY ORDER OF THE US DEPT OF ENERGY. There are many ponds on this property that I am unable to get to because of this. Since King George took office they have been patrolling and prosecuting hikers in that area, from what I've heard. Considering the property where the buildings are is fenced off, what possible threat to national security could hikers have?
It is referred to as the Upton Ecological Reserve.
Then there's also Deep Pond, accessible to fishing purposes only. No hiking allowed. Maybe I should get a fishing pole so they dont bother me? Deep Pond is managed by the DEC but owned by Boy Scouts of America.
And lastly lets' not forget Wertheim National Reserve, where I was told by officers to get out, no one is allowed there, in the section west of the river.
I wonder, has anyone here ever been ARRESTED for hiking?
Fort Knox and the White House were also paid for with tax dollars.
But those aren't woodlands but buildings.
As a general principle, just because a piece of woodland is public property, that doesn't mean whatever agency is entrusted with its management shouldn't manage it responsibly. In some cases that may just include rules prohibiting public access. But my own feeling is that before you keep the public off of public land you'd better have a damned good reason to do so. An example is the closing of the Holgate Unit of the Forsythe Refuge to vehicles during the piping plover nesting season. I can buy that. We also can't expect free access to the woods included in military installations, although some bases do allow hunting and other access to certain parts of their land. Some of the tracts mentioned in previous posts sound like areas that could be open to the public, but each one has to be looked at individually. Enlisting help from the local government, sportsman's groups, and other community organizations can also help get these lands open. One person alone standing at the fence waving a photcopy of the constitution may have the right to do so, but tends to be looked at as a nut and doesn't make much progress.
Ft Dix does have some property near Colliers Mill that is not even near the base with signs saying to keep off. Seems odd to do that. But to give them credit they gave the state quite a bit of property on the south side of 70 back in the mid 70's to add to Lebanon State Forest. A nice gesture for sure.
Guy
Guy
I agree with GermanG on this one, the lands I mention do not pose a threat to security. The BNL land I mention isn't even the lab itself, it's completely wooded property bounded by a high tension power line on the west and a dirt road on the east that is already used by hunters, equestrians, and hikers for adjescent DEC property.
The land was actually set aside by BNL for preservation as I said "Upton Ecological Reserve", and in the past allowed hikers and equestrians onto the land (east of the ROW), but in 2000 when "King George" got elected that all changed.
I guess the best we can hope for is the eventual sale of the land to the state to add to the existing preserve to the east. A long time ago when BNL was known as Camp Upton they used to actually own land that was sold to the state and is now a state park, so there's hope I guess. Hopefully the eventual change in the White House next year will lead to some more positive results.
The land was actually set aside by BNL for preservation as I said "Upton Ecological Reserve", and in the past allowed hikers and equestrians onto the land (east of the ROW), but in 2000 when "King George" got elected that all changed.
I guess the best we can hope for is the eventual sale of the land to the state to add to the existing preserve to the east. A long time ago when BNL was known as Camp Upton they used to actually own land that was sold to the state and is now a state park, so there's hope I guess. Hopefully the eventual change in the White House next year will lead to some more positive results.