I've been thinking it... one would think these things don't necessarily need to actually be said... but thank you for saying it and saying it so well. You have inspired me to say it as well....
I have been a back road adventurer since I could drive, I think I was 14 when my dad let me drive his pickup on a bush road. I have put runs together and we go pick up garbage and clean up campsites that look like a beer can bomb went off at the site, my favorite is finding dirty diapers in the fire pit, who in their right mind throws a diaper in the fire pit? I have packed out so much of other peoples trash from the wilderness, but I feel proud when I leave a site better than when I found it. I am going to sign up for Trails 4 Tomorrow right now.
Even with these tools, there is still a layer of research you need to do to make sure trails, gates, and passes are open and clear. The USFS maps can be out of date and trails inaccessible because they haven't been maintained or cleared for years. But to your point - the default should be for people's recorded tracks to NOT be made public. I've found that people will record anything and everything on Gaia so trusting public tracks can be misleading and even confusing: we were doing a long daypack trick in Hawaii on an obscure and rarely traveled trail, I looked at the public tracks and it was just people's recordings from the helicopter tours going over the area, so it really wasn't helpful in that situation. I've used Gaia for years and never used onX Off-Road, and appreciate having the USFS maps available to re-plan routes when things don't go according to plan (they never do). I'm pretty sure the off-road / outdoor community is cooling down after the post pandemic surge.
So instead of blaming the apps... how about blaming the particular government that's looking for ways to close things down? Here in BC, there's an area called Rady Creek (also very close to Alberta) - beautiful mountain trail in the Kootenays, accessed via an old mining road. A few years ago the government was going to decommisson the road because it was starting to get sketchy and they figured nobody really went there anyway. Well, that led to an outcry from multiple different groups, including wheelers, because it was, in fact, quite a popular destination... that everyone kept quiet and the government didn't know that it was actually a "high value recreation area". Rady FSR received a "stay of execution" thanks to the heavy equipment that was going to dismantle the road being needed instead in fighting wildfires, and later in flood repairs... so far there have been no more concrete plans to finish the work and the trail is still open. It might not be if everyone continued to keep it quiet, and if we didn't have a provincial government who actually cares about outdoor recreation for *everyone*, not just a couple of lobby groups. I don't know about Alberta, but here in BC, the government already has their own maps of pretty much every FSR, backroad, and most trails, so other than a few little side trails, users documenting them is not really giving them information they don't already have - Rady, as mentioned, was a mining road, and on those same government maps, so they were fully aware of it, and in fact, the decommissioning was ordered after a regular inspection found slope instability. When it comes to telling newbies to "just go exploring"... yeah, good way to get people lost.
I think it will change as BC grows and environmental groups get more traction. For now, yes AB has much less land and no plan or budget to manage heavily used trails. The Govs response to bypasses, sinkholes is "just close it". But outcry in BC did not save Racehorse Pass. And I suspect alpine routes will be the first to go near cities. Thankfully BC just has so much more than we can continue to drive further and further for now.
Well said; and I think you're right about BC; they have a lot more "room" for trails. It just sucks having to travel 500+ KM to get to the trailhead. Hopefully we can manage to keep the trails we have here in AB; Livingstone has been heavily restricted now. North Fork was such a fun trail; no logic to it being closed; there wasn't even a water crossing. Frustrating.
@@JustEmptyEveryPocket We unfortunately hold no visible voting power and the ATV/SxS people threw us under the bus. I can't believe they would spend 30k+ on bridges just to restrict it for themselves. A fractured community does us no good. Not to mention these new SxS have more power and tire than my truck. Redline and Farnham are now also tourist destinations thanks to Toby Creek. How long until they block off the road to the Public like Paradise Mines and Bruce Creek? Even my favorite destination. A certain waterfall that is very far... now has a lodge built on it for heli tourists.
I've been thinking it... one would think these things don't necessarily need to actually be said... but thank you for saying it and saying it so well. You have inspired me to say it as well....
Agree; a lot of this should be common sense; but lately sense ain't so common :) Spread the word! The more people that hear this message the better.
I have been a back road adventurer since I could drive, I think I was 14 when my dad let me drive his pickup on a bush road. I have put runs together and we go pick up garbage and clean up campsites that look like a beer can bomb went off at the site, my favorite is finding dirty diapers in the fire pit, who in their right mind throws a diaper in the fire pit? I have packed out so much of other peoples trash from the wilderness, but I feel proud when I leave a site better than when I found it. I am going to sign up for Trails 4 Tomorrow right now.
Shared to a buddy, AND half way around the world to someone in Australia. Where the government is atTAXing SUV owners
You're killing it, You really should have 6 figure views.. easily.
@@shannonshull6989 I don’t do weekly releases so the algorithm hates me. Appreciate the feedback!
Even with these tools, there is still a layer of research you need to do to make sure trails, gates, and passes are open and clear. The USFS maps can be out of date and trails inaccessible because they haven't been maintained or cleared for years.
But to your point - the default should be for people's recorded tracks to NOT be made public. I've found that people will record anything and everything on Gaia so trusting public tracks can be misleading and even confusing: we were doing a long daypack trick in Hawaii on an obscure and rarely traveled trail, I looked at the public tracks and it was just people's recordings from the helicopter tours going over the area, so it really wasn't helpful in that situation.
I've used Gaia for years and never used onX Off-Road, and appreciate having the USFS maps available to re-plan routes when things don't go according to plan (they never do).
I'm pretty sure the off-road / outdoor community is cooling down after the post pandemic surge.
Well said!
So instead of blaming the apps... how about blaming the particular government that's looking for ways to close things down?
Here in BC, there's an area called Rady Creek (also very close to Alberta) - beautiful mountain trail in the Kootenays, accessed via an old mining road. A few years ago the government was going to decommisson the road because it was starting to get sketchy and they figured nobody really went there anyway. Well, that led to an outcry from multiple different groups, including wheelers, because it was, in fact, quite a popular destination... that everyone kept quiet and the government didn't know that it was actually a "high value recreation area".
Rady FSR received a "stay of execution" thanks to the heavy equipment that was going to dismantle the road being needed instead in fighting wildfires, and later in flood repairs... so far there have been no more concrete plans to finish the work and the trail is still open. It might not be if everyone continued to keep it quiet, and if we didn't have a provincial government who actually cares about outdoor recreation for *everyone*, not just a couple of lobby groups.
I don't know about Alberta, but here in BC, the government already has their own maps of pretty much every FSR, backroad, and most trails, so other than a few little side trails, users documenting them is not really giving them information they don't already have - Rady, as mentioned, was a mining road, and on those same government maps, so they were fully aware of it, and in fact, the decommissioning was ordered after a regular inspection found slope instability.
When it comes to telling newbies to "just go exploring"... yeah, good way to get people lost.
Alberta is the polar opposite of BC. They don’t care about recreation for everyone; they care about the wilderness Alberta lobby group :(
I think it will change as BC grows and environmental groups get more traction. For now, yes AB has much less land and no plan or budget to manage heavily used trails. The Govs response to bypasses, sinkholes is "just close it".
But outcry in BC did not save Racehorse Pass. And I suspect alpine routes will be the first to go near cities. Thankfully BC just has so much more than we can continue to drive further and further for now.
Well said; and I think you're right about BC; they have a lot more "room" for trails. It just sucks having to travel 500+ KM to get to the trailhead. Hopefully we can manage to keep the trails we have here in AB; Livingstone has been heavily restricted now. North Fork was such a fun trail; no logic to it being closed; there wasn't even a water crossing. Frustrating.
@@JustEmptyEveryPocket We unfortunately hold no visible voting power and the ATV/SxS people threw us under the bus. I can't believe they would spend 30k+ on bridges just to restrict it for themselves. A fractured community does us no good. Not to mention these new SxS have more power and tire than my truck.
Redline and Farnham are now also tourist destinations thanks to Toby Creek. How long until they block off the road to the Public like Paradise Mines and Bruce Creek?
Even my favorite destination. A certain waterfall that is very far... now has a lodge built on it for heli tourists.