LA.com’s Daily News is reporting hikers are damaging the re-opened trails of recently burned areas of Griffith Park by straying off trail and trampling over recovering chaparral. And who, you might ask, is doing all of this irresponsible hiking? According to the News, “elite hikers of the Sierra Club.”
Up to 500 Sierrans hike Griffith Park three nights a week, and apparently their reckless off-trail stomping isn’t news either to park rangers or Sierra Club hike leaders. Endangered Species Task Force hike leader Rosemarie White recalled running into another group of Sierra Club hikers while leading a moderate on-trail hike: “They were coming straight up where there was no trail, grabbing branches like it was the cat’s meow.”
Large-scale off-trail hiking can increase erosion and destroy plant habitat anywhere, but in this area of fire recovery, stomping boots can crush new seedlings, kick up roots, and displace planted mulch and seeds.
But that doesn’t matter to hikers like Andy Serrano, who
said a trail is a trail, with many undesignated paths leading to stairways, bridges and other man-made features.
In some areas, he said, the unofficial trails are the only way to get from place to place, as from Lake Hollywood to Mount Cahuenga.
“I’m a fast hiker, but I don’t blaze new trails,” Serrano said. He added that, without the sporting element, many hikers would rather stay home. “They won’t come. I wouldn’t come.
“I’d go to the gym, where there are pretty girls in leotards,” he said. “The smaller trails … are very steep. You do some technical climbing. There are rocks. They’re more challenging.
“The fire trails are like a sidewalk. There’s absolutely nothing interesting there.”
Hey, Andy, you know what? I don’t like fire roads, either. But when I want a challenging trail, I find a challenging trail. I don’t make my own.
Also, you’re in the Sierra Club. Act like you at least have an ounce of respect for the natural features that others protected so you could enjoy them.
Via CurbedLA.
Photo by Al.Hermmann.
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I have fairly recently gotten more serious about the sport of hiking…part of a new year’s resolution that has had me hiking on average of twice a week since early February. Anyway, I am always astounded and annoyed at the lack of respect some hikers have for trails. Many people have no familiarity with leave-no-trace ethics, leaving their trash, toilet paper, etc. along the trail, damaging foliage by cutting switchbacks. I haven’t been hiking in Griffith Park yet since the fires, but I can imagine the damage being done by the more cavalier Sierra Clubbers. Perhaps they just think they are so in tune with nature…that, while it would not be ok for you or me to leave the trail they can because “they understand nature.”
In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I am a member of the Sierra Club, and that most of the Sierra Club hikers I’ve met have been VERY conscious of their impact on the surrounding landscape. I generally support what the Club does, and think that the vast majority of members are responsible and informed outdoorspeople.
But when someone is hiking irresponsibly not only as a member of the Club, but on a Club-organized event, it is inexcusable. If you’re part of an environmental organization and you’re not following the basic rules of responsible hiking, you make us ALL look like hypocrites. It makes the group more difficult to take seriously, and it hurts the cause in the long run.
I also want to clarify that my comment was not directed at all Sierra Clubbers…only the ones described in the article. Thus my usage of the phrase “more cavalier Sierra Clubbers.”
Hope you didn’t think I was referring to all members.
Nah, I didn’t think you were. But with stories like this, it’s really easy to take an event and apply it to most of the Club’s members. Just check out the comments on Curbed LA.
Those that are in question know who they are at some level…
Hopefully they will then act in accordance with what they sense is the right thing to do…….
Good article.
DSD
Although I’ve more than my share of respect for the environment, I’m a little at odds with the seemingly cardinal sin of leaving a trail. What’s over that ridge? If the trail doesn’t take you there, you don’t get to see. I’d love to get a closer look at those rocks, but I guess I never will, it’s off the path. Don’t get me wrong; I understand well that cumulatively, if *everyone* strays from the designated trails, we risk misshaping animal habitats and we leave clear traces on otherwise unspoiled lands. Got that. Guidelines are needed in order to minimize our impact. But is leaving the trail at any time “irresponsible”, “inexcusable”? Your reaction sounds a bit extreme…
Andy, I agree with you, and don’t want to sound like a Trail Puritan (excuse my New England heritage for a moment), but here’s the thing –
Leaving the trail to peak around a corner is not necessarily the end of the world. I don’t do it often, but I *have* done my share of off-trail hiking, and don’t necessarily want fences to be built to keep people on the official trail. But when you’re hiking on a recently opened trail in a sensitive recovering burn zone, your sense of adventure should *always* take a backseat to your sense of environmental responsibility.
A good point, Casey. Whatever local, state or federal authority is managing a trail system, they most often have some rules, and have them for a reason. I support that. And in any case, it really is about using sound judgment and remembering a sense of stewardship when treading anywhere. I guess I just bristle a little bit at the issue being treated as black-and-white, in all cases.