MEEKER I Getting out in the great outdoors has been the remedy of choice for so many of us during the pandemic. Even some of my friends and family, who never seemed to make the time for the activities they enjoyed so much before Covid-19, are venturing back out again.
Some of my favorite hidden places up in the Flat Tops wilderness are reported to have seen a major increase in visitors this summer.
The Rio Blanco County Historical Society has been updating the museum’s Theodore Roosevelt display and reported in their Spring newsletter that Teddy Roosevelt’s image as an outdoorsman extraordinaire was attributed, in part, to overcoming childhood maladies of asthma and a weak heart. It was that intense interest in hunting that led him to come here more than 120 years ago. When his doctor warned him about not engaging in strenuous activities, he took that as a challenge. So too, this pandemic’s effect on so many people.
Malaise and boredom always sets in when anyone faces confinement. That explains the record numbers of people visiting so many national and state monuments and parks this year. Many of my favorite spots I like to visit to get away from the crowds have been overrun with visitors this summer and fall. Quite a few of them have suffered from these extra guests. And then there are the hidden spots, our state’s undesignated camping sites on National Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, that have seen so much damage and abuse with this increase in visitors. The volume of this increase continues to put a strain on the governmental agencies responsible for maintaining these properties, as well as the amount of money required to keep them viable for public use.
I am tired of the damage being done to my favorite places. It is not just the huge numbers of people visiting these special places, it is how these visitors take care of the land. Apparently, warning signs are not enough. Increasing the visits from government officials hasn’t solved it yet either. Now some of our most treasured natural resources, such as Hanging Lake in the Glenwood Canyon, are shutting down.
I hate that it is not easy anymore to “get-away-from-it all.” I am waiting for the day that someone in a survey asks me, “How do you like your nature experience?” I have only one answer: pure and unadulterated. Then I will simply ask, “You?”
BY DOLLY VISCARDI | Special to the Herald Times
