Wilderness areas

[justinspicher]

So you can't take a bike into the wilderness, how come they allow compound bows? Isn't it considered to be a mechanical device?

 

[seldomseensmith]

Cameras have mechanical parts. Cook stoves do. Flashlights. The zipper on your pants and backpack is mechanical. Sunglasses and pocket knives have hinges.

 

[justinspicher]

All valid points. I think the USFS needs to update their description.

 

[couesbitten]

I would assume that the answer has something to do with the potential damage bike tires could do to trails and the resulting erosion.

 

[Tod osier]

or someone with a mechanical heart valve.

 

[Ozz08]

You use your compound bow or camera as a means of transportation?

 

[couesbitten]

You use your compound bow or camera as a means of transportation?

I've never ridden a chainsaw, but I know you can't use one in a wilderness area.

 

[Ozz08]

I've never ridden a chainsaw, but I know you can't use one in a wilderness area.

Touché

You and I cannot use chainsaws but the USFS uses them to clear deadfall all the time.

 

[justinspicher]

Touché

You and I cannot use chainsaws but the USFS uses them to clear deadfall all the time.

I've only heard of the usfs using chainsaws in a wilderness a handleful of times and it takes a special act of congress.

 

[Ozz08]

I've only heard of the usfs using chainsaws in a wilderness a handleful of times and it takes a special act of congress.

Well someone has used a chainsaw to clear deadfall from trails every year in the wilderness area I hunt in. Just assumed it was the usfs.

 

[cowboy300]

no wheels and no motors allowed

 

[541hunter]

I've only heard of the usfs using chainsaws in a wilderness a handleful of times and it takes a special act of congress.

While definitely more difficult than in other areas, it is not super uncommon for chainsaws to be used in the case of firefighting. If I remember correctly it takes a waiver that is authorized by the forest supervisor.


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[Poser]

The conservation corps use chainsaws in the wilderness area of Unit 74 to cut the rail road right of way for fire suppression. But that aside, I smell a post where somebody wants to cry about not being able to ride their bike in a wilderness area and wants to make leaps of logic about the comparison to mechanical weaponry to support their hurt feelings despite access to millions of acres where they can ride their bike. Would I be wrong?


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[Superkodiak38]

The conservation corps use chainsaws in the wilderness area of Unit 74 to cut the rail road right of way for fire suppression. But that aside, I smell a post where somebody wants to cry about not being able to ride their bike in a wilderness area and wants to make leaps of logic about the comparison to mechanical weaponry to support their hurt feelings despite access to millions of acres where they can ride their bike. Would I be wrong?


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I don't know the OP personally but I have my doubts he wants to ride a bike in a wilderness area. I think he was just pointing out a possible lack of definition for what is mechanical. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong Justin ( it has happened before 1 )

At this point I don't have a dog in this fight, I am going to make my first trip out west next year. But If my old flatlander behind has to hoof it everybody better have to hoof it ! lol

 

[WyoElk]

Likely the trail clearing you see is being done by crosscut saws. Chainsaws are used in the wilderness but it takes paperwork and hassle. A mule train and crosscut saws can do a lot of work.

 

[LongWayAround]

I and another guy used a crosscut to clear a large (18+") snag over a trail in RMNP a few years ago. You can cut a lot of wood in a short time with a few wedges and a crosscut. I also got to fall a few standing trees in the park. That seemed like a bit of a Congressional act...

I don't know enough about bike trails to care if they were allowed in the wilderness. Personally, I don't care that they aren't and probably wouldn't be bothered if they were.

Chainsaws should be left out of any backcountry area, wilderness or not, in my opinion. We had some guys running a chainsaw just down the hill from where we setup 5 miles from the truck last year. It was really kind of a bummer.

 

[justinspicher]

The post was really just for discussion. I don't ride mountain bikes, I'd rather walk. I also work for the FS maintaining trails, so I get to hear it from all of the users about who makes the most damage and who helps the most. I've done work in our wilderness, but mostly stick to the area outside the wilderness boundaries as we have a specific team to work the wilderness area.

As I was hunting the last weekend of archery season here in Colorado, I was on one of our trails that leads into the wilderness. As I read the sign I chuckled to myself as it read all of what can't be used in the wilderness despite of what "mechanized" items can be. Hell, they want you to pack out your toilet paper.

 

[Mike7]

I think the op is pointing out hypocrisy. The whole bike thread has been done, and it seems to come down to tradition and perceived asthetics from what I can tell...because a manpowered bike weighing 200 lbs with rider doesn't break down the trail (if used responsibly which is not up to the bike), bring in noxious weeds, over graze riparian areas, have exclusive access to a particular section of the wilderness from a commercial aspect, etc.

I am actually fine with the hypocritical wilderness tradition and horses.

What I don't care for, is having areas which previously allowed hikers and bikes with well cared for trails and little traffic, turned into proposed wilderness areas where bikes are excluded, trails get lost/overgrown, and the few hikers that used these trails abandon them as well. Then a person is left riding a bike on motorcycle and atv trails...what a buzzkill.

You can tell a wilderness trail in Washington now that outfitters don't use, because the forest service stops cutting at the wilderness boundary. About every 3rd year on one trailhead I have used in the Cascades, the crosscut saw maybe makes it in 1/2 mile beyond the wilderness boundary. But you still have to have a forest pass to park at the trailhead. Ugh.

It's not like the old days I guess when every ranger district with a wilderness had a full trail crew with horse wrangler (I assume paid for with timber revenue?). Maybe the whole no chainsaw thing should be revisited!

 

[justinspicher]

On our district we have six people for the trail crew and four on the wilderness crew to maintain 711 miles of trail...........

 

[sodaksooner]

Most of the wilderness trails i have been on are not bikeable anyway... I am or at least was an avid mountain biker and never had a desire to bike any of those trails. We have enough.

I laugh at the pack your sh#t/tp out ethos. When the horse riders start packing out their stuff I will....

I was impressed by the amount of deadfall cutting that had been done on the trails we were on last week. The crew in our area must be pretty good. you can tell they stay after it as there was a mix of old and new cuts, some so new you could smell it. I assumed it was a crosscut saw doing all the work.