The West

The urge to travel. Insidious, relentless urge. Impossible to suppress once it surfaces. I first experienced this desire in my early teens. (Early teens seem to be a ripe time for many strong first desires... But that's another story!)  Images of snow-capped jagged mountain peaks, wide open spaces, deserts and grassy plains stirred the great roaming beast. Coffee table books with glossy color photographs and magazines with stories about the Continental Divide, Death Valley, The Great Plains, big sky country, and massive, thundering herds of buffalo. The West.

There's no horizon on the east coast. It's all great buildings, dense forests and rolling hills. For a boy living in Maryland, that long flat distant horizon meeting an unbroken sky was a foreign concept.

One day, I came across a copy of On The Road.19 years old, no life direction and now stoked by Kerouac's depictions of new wild places and of people "mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars..."

Not long after, I looked up an auto delivery company in the Yellow Pages (remember them?) and asked if they had any cars going to the west coast. It did not matter where. I wanted--needed--to see the sun set on the Pacific Ocean by week's end! With little more than 500 dollars in my pocket, an old Nikon F2, and a single green canvas rucksack stuffed with underwear, t-shirts and jeans, I was off. I stayed in youth hostels and crappy roadside motels. Ate fast food and drank gallons of coffee. Harsh, bitter, burnt coffee from diners and mini-marts... not the gourmet fresh roasted beans you can pretty much find anywhere today. It was great.

I made the trip 6 more times after that. And then that was enough. Sitting for hours at a time behind the steering wheel watching the yellow stripes zip by eventually lost its appeal. The love of the West still burns, though. So I get out there when I can. It's not often enough, of course... but I know it's there, and that is comforting.

 “Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” – Jack Kerouac

Gotta go!

Man and Beast.

On a recent trip to Grand Teton National Park I was privileged to see with my own eyes a level of stupidity that only the Darwin Awards committee could appreciate. A remarkable number of people treated the animals -- bears, elk, moose and the like -- as if they were tame, game-park creatures. The complete lack of respect for the wildness of the park's wildlife was shocking. The potential for carnage and mayhem seemed ever present. Maintaining a safe distance and quiet tones of voice while viewing wildlife appeared to be an utterly foreign concept to far too many individuals. Large scrums developed almost instantaneously roadside whenever an animal was spotted. Parents with small children ran up screaming wildly at the black bear with her cub. A black bear and her cub! No kidding. Not only does behavior like this shatter an otherwise moving experience for many, but it also places everyone in danger by potentially irritating mama bear. In addition, the cars and SUVs left idling, parked haphazardly along the road created traffic jams that rangers constantly tried to clear. (If they happened by.)

It was pure luck that no one was gored by a bison or turned into a tasty treat by a grizzly that week, and I have the impression that few people learned anything. But the animals in our National Parks are not tame. They may appear that way sometimes because they seem to tolerate the presence of humans to a degree. But ultimately they are wild. And dangerous! Respect that.

Man and beast will cross paths in the parks, that's just the way it is. However, simple things like staying in your car or keeping a safe buffer between you and the animal (and using your indoor voice!*) would go a long way to avoiding many tragic (and near tragic) encounters.

Below are a couple examples of near tragedies. (click on the links)

http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2007/06/grizzly-attacks-man-grand-teton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roMoGNHrrV8&feature=player_embedded

*A quick note about "indoor voices." When in the back country this is not the proper thing to do. If you want to avoid unexpected encounters, speak loudly and don't be afraid of making too much noise. Bears don't want to be bothered by you; if they hear you coming they will move on. If you surprise them, all bets are off!

Cheers.