The place is somewhere off the Pacific Crest Trail deep in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. It is midnight and one of my best friends and I are returning to our camp site after hours of exploring snow fields and glacial terrain. Allowing only the full moon to light our trail we take in the most spectacular twighlight view of high alpine meadows and Cascade peaks that I have ever experienced in my life. I felt trully alive. I thought of Thoreau’s words from his essay, Walking, when he said ”. . . . in wildness is the preservation of the world.” Thoreau often wrote about nature and wilderness as a sort of holy land and a place that was spiritual. I felt blessed to be experiencing that first hand.
What is wilderness? Is there a simple one or two line definition that can be etched into stone that everyone can relate to and understand? I have heard it described as a sizeable chunck of land untouched by the developments or alterations of human kind. I have also heard it described in legal terms in the US as areas within the forrests and federal lands designated and signed into law by the US Congress (as established by the Wilderness Act of 1964) as primitive areas off limits to development and where man is a mere visitor. I provided some links below I think offer some good explanations of what wilderness is.
2. Wilderness Resources via Backcountryattitude.com
3. What is wilderness? and How a Wilderness becomes Wilderness - Via Wilderness.net
Why is wilderness important? I am not sure that one blog post can answer that. If you happen to read this and care to share your thoughts I would love to hear. I will be spending the next few days working to answer this question through studying the forming of one of my favorite Wilderness areas of all - Washington State’s Alpine Lakes Wilderness.
Also – within the National Park System – Such as in Grand Teton National Park – there are areas that I believe are designated as “primitive.” Which I believe is similar to the Natioanl Forest Service and BLM designation as Wilderness Area. Not 100% certain on the specifics, but I know that many national parks have areas have very similiar legal descriptions and land tracks set aside. I believe that Leigh Lake is in one of those areas. Although, due to the traffic in some of those areas within the NPS, you will find some structures such as outhouses, trash cans, etc, to help reduce the overall impact of human traffic.
By: mountainskier on July 29, 2011
at 12:17 am
Excited to hear more about your trip up to Leigh Lake. My comments above were from past experience. I wish I had been up in the Glacier Peak area recently.
By: mountainskier on July 29, 2011
at 12:09 am
Thanks for the info about wilderness. I remember hearing/reading Thoreau’s “in wildness is the preservation of the world” when in high school. I understand your feelings. You must come by them naturally…. lol…. I am just back from camping in a primitive area in Teton Park but it wasn’t really wilderness as you speak but close to it. It was great though …..
Were you recently on the Pacific Crest Trail?
By: Sam Sherman on July 28, 2011
at 11:22 pm