Call Someplace Paradise and Kiss it Goodbye. Eagles, The Last Resort.

Call Someplace Paradise and Kiss it Goodbye. Eagles, The Last Resort.

Let me introduce you to someone I met last summer in a small Utah town. You see, Kenny has the enviable lifestyle of actually living right on the Paiute Trail! I mean it, right on it! Okay, actually he stays at one of the resorts that borders the actual trail so he has to ride a side trail to reach the actual Paiute Trail. But he still can jump on his ATV in the morning and ride it to breakfast, or to the gas station, or just about anywhere for that matter. Maybe that’s why his Rubicon has somewhere over 11,000 miles on it!

Other than living on the Paiute Trail and riding all the time, he’s really a lot like the rest of us. But I get ahead of myself. I don’t really think that applies here, but I like the way it sounded. But I get ahead…..whoops, I guess we’ve already covered that.

What Kenny and I, and hopefully the rest of us all have in common is that we love this country - and we love to explore the back roads and trails of this great country. When I blogged about trail abusers, Kenny quickly let me know his pet peeve.

So in his own words:

First Doug, thanks for allowing me the opportunity to voice my opinion and express my feelings here in your blog.

I am very fortunate to live in a state that allows me to drive my 4wd truck and ride my ATV on thousands and thousands of miles through some of the most breathtaking country anywhere.

I also consider myself to be very, very fortunate to live right in the center of the greatest ATV trail system in North America — the Paiute Trail.

Without question, the single most appalling, offensive, and disturbing thing that I come across while enjoying some of mother nature’s most spectacular scenery and the greatest ATV trails is all the garbage that’s left behind by what must be the biggest ingrates there are! What makes it even worse is that we are forced to share our oxygen supply with them!

Barney Lake is one of the most scenic and picturesque places on the Paiute Trail system.  Last October my wife and I took a ride over Marysvale Peak to view this spectacular high-country lake while being surrounded by the brilliant fall color; truly a slice of heaven!

While we were at the lake’s edge eating our lunch I was just looking around. I was appalled by the amount of trash that was left behind by others.  Someone even took the time and effort to hide their empty beer bottles under some low-lying pine branches as if that made it okay.  How much more or LESS effort would it have taken to just toss the bottles in a bag and take them back home with them?

One more thing while I'm venting. I smoked for over 30 years and I always doused my butts and put them in my pocket, I carried them in, so I carried them out. I’m not dissing smokers, but PLEASE be considerate enough to take your butts home 

with you!

What is it with these people who disrespect our most sacred public lands?

Can anyone help me understand this type of behavior?

Now it’s my turn to thank you Kenny! Thanks for picking up behind the losers in this world that don’t care enough to ‘care enough.’

My own story goes like this; I was on a very little used trail high in the mountains where I often take my daughter. We call it God’s Place for it’s unbelievable beauty and incredible views. One day we headed up this small trail only to discover a couple hunters off of their ATVs and scoping for game. I’m not sure what season it was and it really doesn’t matter I guess. We rode on to a different spot with a lesser view. On our return, we noticed that the hunters were gone so we rode up to the top of the hill only to find their trash they left behind. Pudding cups, juice drinks, and a few other items were strewn about. It was disgusting. It was thoughtless. It was a crime. And it was just another example of why we should close down the backcountry to these idiots.

But wait! How do we tell the difference between those idiots and the rest of use? How can we distinguish between those of us in the choir and those dwelling in the dark alleys of morality?

I was talking to a good friend a few years back. He was a CHP (California Highway Patrolman). I don’t remember the exact subject we were talking about other than it being about idiot drivers. He commented to me that unfortunately it’s not against the law to be an idiot. It’s a sad commentary but regrettably the truth. It’s why our country is in the problem it’s in. Nobody cares. You can’t see it from my house. What’s it to you? Mind your own business! Deal with it!

While being an idiot isn’t against the law, it is against the law to shoot them. Go figure!

So here’s my solution. It’s based on a principle put forth by the comedian Gallagher a few years back. His idea for dealing with idiot drivers was to issue everyone a dart gun that shot little flags. When you saw an idiot driver you shot them with your little flag gun. When they got three flags the police would pull them over and give them a ticket.

My idea is similar. First, there has to be a responsible group to do the policing. That’s us. Then, when we see idiot behavior, or just idiots, we shoot them………………I know that part sounds great, but I was thinking maybe it should just be with a paint gun. With permanent and irremovable paint of course! When they get back to civilization, if they have more than two colors on them (or their machine), they lose their right to ride for a year.

Or how about this? What if those of us in the choir all get issued cards, red cards that show us as responsible trail users. And that gives us the right to disable any off road vehicle that we see damaging the environment or harming our privilege to ride the backcountry.

Okay, perhaps all I’ve done is use more words to get back to Kenny’s original question, “Does anyone understand what’s going on here?”