About Tim Rowland

Tim Rowland is a columnist, author and outdoors writer living in Jay.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Bill apple says

    I guess that DECs stay on the trails dose not applied to you.
    They tell you that so that some one can find your your body.

    How many millions do tax payers have to pay to find lost people here?

    When your GPS dies , your cell phone does not work or you hit a Iron valley with compass then what do?

    Their is no place in the Adriondacks that lots a people have not been on.
    It’s been all stripped to feed NYC and Canadian companies, towns were built by railroads, wood products left, so did rail roads, fact of life around the world.
    John Brown brought people here in hoards, mainly Blacks to clear and farm the land for Smith, who sold on land contracts and took wood for payment, only to repo and sell to the next one..NYS gave him 1,000,000 acres for his part on rail road.
    No we’re can you walk on state land and not see the signs of the past if you know what your looking for.

    If you do not know were your water flows, or how far away your next road out is,
    How in the world can any one find you when you Break your leg and them starve to death???

    Post man in the 1990 ties…
    On trail with a plan, NYS DEC said he was a nut and crawl out to kill him self , so much for the search…
    Hunters found the body on trail in the fall…

    Posting articles like this are dangerous especially when PEOPLE are scared to death of a virus that The W.H.O. says is not that bad. No mask needed for 7.9 billion people just the 320, million in the US the best health care system in the world..
    So if theirs no plan and no groups with experanced It’s not too wise to go alone..
    Cuomo say stay on the Trails…. Good advice.

    • Sula says

      I’ve bushwacked since I was teenager (I’m 74) and am still alive. I learned wilderness skills from old woodsmen and was a reasonably sensible child and knew that water runs down hill and the sun rises in the east and sets in the west even if one’s compass makes a mistake (which can and does happen). I didn’t have a cellphone because they weren’t yet invented, and don’t always work now. Suggesting that people should go out and bushwhack is a very dangerous suggestion which may lead inexperienced hikers into real trouble and cause our already overworked rangers even more trouble.

      That said, Bill, you might try to spell check, stay on topic and keep your political opinions for some other forum.

    • Tom says

      The DEC recommendation to stay on the trails is intended for people who are hiking on designated trails. Bushwhacking is not illegal in any way, nor is it frowned upon by the DEC or any other authority. Bushwhacking is how all of the trails were first made. All first descents of any mountain were initially a bushwhack. And it’s how America was discovered, most notably westward expansion. However, it is absolutely true that bushwhacking is inherently dangerous compared to trail hiking and should only be attempted by experienced hikers that know how to navigate safely. Almost all physical sports are inherently dangerous. Soccer players twist ankles, get knee injuries, etc. Even golfers get injured playing golf. To discourage bushwhacking with this all too common rhetoric is just one person’s opinion. This comment starts as a criticism of bushwhacking, and then devolves into a bunch of off – topic things that cannot be understood.

  2. Kurt Wisell says

    So we’ll said! Your article is a comforting glimmer of hope that after all these years, my idea of fun might not be entirely the product of a deranged mind after all!

    • Johny Witter says

      Of all the hiking I’ve done, and I Love Winter trail hiking, Bushwhacks are the most satisfying. There’s something more fulfilling, exciting and fun finding your own way than following a trail. I’ve bushwhacked many peaks in the Catskills that have trails, and many were easier and more fun than taking the trail! You also know that you are seeing terrain, and views that 99% of other hikers will never stumble upon. Literally stumble upon. My friend George G and I whacked many of the Catskill 67, aka Highest 102 (thank you, Alan Via). We are currently working on the ADK Other 64, aka ADK Highest 100 (thank you Spencer Morrisey). Once while we were navigating endless nettle fields and raspberry cane fortresses in the Western Cats, I said to him, “We’re lucky that each of us knows at least one other person who is as crazy as each of us are.” Whack on!
      Yes, Kurt, but mostly of a deranged mind. And isn’t it grand?!

  3. David Baylis says

    Once you are out of earshot, even a twisted knee or sprained ankle on a wet log can end your life on a cold night.
    Going in , knowing that may dissuade those who don’t know , with great rewards come great risks…

  4. Marty says

    Stop. All these comments are ignoring the essence of the story of bushwhacking. Yes it can be very dangerous but that is the whole point. Don’t criticize other people for what they love to do. If it’s dangerous they know it. If it’s wonderful then not. Stick to your own range of sensibility and safety and everyone will be fine. We all love the Adirondacks.

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