Bushwalk Australia

In the past individuals and clubs were the repository for information about areas, routes etc and while the information could be accessed you needed to know who to approach and what questions to ask rather than relying on Mr Google after a discovering an area in a random flick though Facebook . Information was generally shared among friends and club members through slide evenings and write ups in the club magazine which often only circulated within the club. Occasionally books were produced but they usually had a limited and short retail presence.

Perhaps we need to extend lnt to the electronic domain.

Thanks for this post MechanicAl. In a shrinking world, people will naturally seek out those hidden gems until before too long they are no longer hidden. I feel it’s an important process to consider for all who choose to publicly post blogs, Facebook photos, books and trip reports. Self reflection on my own works have brought out a mixed bag of possible reasonings for why we feel the need to share things in such ways - inspiring lazy friends to get off the couch and explore their surrounds, a storage bank resource of photos and tales for my own bad memory, even some elements of naive youthful self promotion in “proving one’s self” to the world - or even just to themselves...

I guess I first properly become aware of these negative impacts whilst following the “favourite campsite” page from a while back - and consequently have stopped captioning my Facebook photos at the least. If someone can figure it out, thats great that they’ve done their homework. Recently I have taken down much written content from my old blog, and am considering deleting it completely - I feel there is already enough info out there, and I like the idea of walkers still being able to feel the adventure of route planning from scratch in at least a few remaining places. I’d like to see books like The Abel’s resort back to one promoted generally accepted access on the maps, leaving additional options to notes only (as there are always bound to be many). It may seem dramatic - but creep is real and the Tassie secret is definitely out.

Lets not forget what lead us here in the first place....bushtalk....I mean bushwalk!

This forum is for posting information about trips you have done, not for requesting information about a track or area.

We are all just prisoners here, of our own device

Tastrippa wrote:
This forum is for posting information about trips you have done, not for requesting information about a track or area.

Disagree. There is a wealth of valuable information on here compiled by some very experienced bush walkers doing the hard yards out in the bush over a long period of time. So why not use that resource ? It's just how we share this information that needs consideration. The PM function is one of this forums most valuable tools but probably one that doesnt get used enough.

Lake Rhona would be an interesting test case.
How many people have walked in there after seeing those stunning images on line.

Now look at whats happening.

Mechanic-AL wrote:Lake Rhona would be an interesting test case.
How many people have walked in there after seeing those stunning images on line.

Now look at whats happening.

The log.

Mechanic-AL wrote:

Tastrippa wrote:
This forum is for posting information about trips you have done, not for requesting information about a track or area.

Disagree. There is a wealth of valuable information on here compiled by some very experienced bush walkers doing the hard yards out in the bush over a long period of time. So why not use that resource ? It's just how we share this information that needs consideration. The PM function is one of this forums most valuable tools but probably one that doesnt get used enough.

The site does have an old rule on the page of rules that recognises the issues raised in this topic - and yes, it mentions PMs:

Rules wrote:Avoid posting detailed information on accessing sensitive areas without recognised tracks to public topics, but rather use private messages, email, or other non-public means to communicate such information instead. Feel free to ask questions about such areas publicly, so long as the post includes a reminder of this rule to get answers privately only.

I don't know if it gets the balance right or not, but it is an early (~2007) attempt to provide a forum for fairly open bushwalking discussion while putting appropriate limits in place - at least that's the intention.

Rule 24 can get a bit rubbery at times but my intention was never to take a shot at this forum. Just to raise awareness.

It's just not possible to share your secrets with the rest of the world .......
and then get cranky when they are no longer secrets.

Mechanic-AL wrote:

Tastrippa wrote:
This forum is for posting information about trips you have done, not for requesting information about a track or area.

Disagree. There is a wealth of valuable information on here compiled by some very experienced bush walkers doing the hard yards out in the bush over a long period of time. So why not use that resource ? It's just how we share this information that needs consideration. The PM function is one of this forums most valuable tools but probably one that doesnt get used enough.

I was quite literally quoting the forum rules...

Tastrippa wrote:
I was quite literally quoting the forum rules...

OK. My apologies TT. I obviously need to take a better look at the rules myself.

Al

Mechanic-AL wrote:It's just not possible to share your secrets with the rest of the world .......
and then get cranky when they are no longer secrets.

Yes, I am feeling similarly about this sentiment. Sharing what we enjoy is just part of being human. But we need to reign it in at times. Especially the online sharing, where it's out there potentially forever and potentially for the entire internet-connected population to see.

Its always a personal decision as to whether we publicise our favourite places. Not sure if it really is selfish to want to keep them to ourselves or not.

However the thought that we are somehow "protecting" these places by keeping quiet about them is, in my view, a dated way of thinking about them, especially when these places are more remote and it takes special effort to see them.

While any increase in visitor numbers has some effect, if we ignore blatant vandalism which we would not expect to see...those other changes are in the greater scheme of things not at all relevent.

It was bought home to me on a recent visit to Evercreech Forest Reserve which up untill recently contained a group of white gums collectively known as the "white knights" which are now dead...once the tallest white gums on earth.

Wherever we go in the bush we are seeing remnants of a bygone era...relics of ecosytems that evolved in different environmental conditions that will change no matter what we do.

Many of these places a relics of a much more widely distributed ecosytem that has gradually been shrinking...they are the first to dissapear under environmental change.

So whats the harm in sharing these places with essentially like minded people who are prepared to get off there bums and go see them...while these places exist. Most will be completely gone in our grandchildrens lifetime and a few more tracks and worn footpads will mean nothing in the longer term.

ghosta wrote:
So whats the harm in sharing these places with essentially like minded people who are prepared to get off there bums and go see them...while these places exist. Most will be completely gone in our grandchildrens lifetime and a few more tracks and worn footpads will mean nothing in the longer term.

When you post something how do you know that you are sharing it with ' essentially like minded people ' ?
Are the people who are willing to light fires in fuel stove areas or trample and *&^%$#! on cushion plants or leave rubbish in wilderness areas really like minded with the majority of bush walkers ? I really hope not.

Forgive me for thinking your attitude seems very fatalistic.........like ' oh well, its all stuffed anyway so whats it really matter if we just continue to f,,k it up a bit more.

That there are lots of people out there who probably share these sentiments is scary as all hell.

Even if there's not a lot left to see, the concept of wilderness is timeless & in itself worth preserving. In fact if places weren't so ridiculously pretty, the people we pay to look after them may have their primary role brought back into a sharper focus.

It depends on how pristine the area is but there's got to be something between walking on official parks service tracks and coming up with your own walks purely by looking at topos. If walkers are a community sharing some off track waking is part of that. I do some totally off track walking just trying to find my own way to something but I never would have got to that stage without a lot of stepping stones walking less and less official tracks.

Once I could have joined a club but that seems not so much an option (my local club runs walks on weekdays and seem mostly older) so it comes down to looking online for ideas.

Ive just returned from my first visit back to the WOJ region since I posted this topic.

On this trip I was pulling on my boots in the car park at the start of the Lees Paddock Track when a couple of people came riding out onto the Mersey Forest Road on heavily sweating horses. I got into a conversation with one of the riders after they had dismounted and she introduced her self as a member of the Lees family. I have forgotten her first name but she was a short, slim, wiry woman with a neat bob of brown hair and a handshake that could cause blood blisters ! They had just spent the day mustering cattle in preparation to move them back down to Chudleigh. We had an interesting conversation about her families history in the area and their relationship with Parks and Wildlife. Although I wasnt intending to pass through Lees paddock on this trip I took the opportunity to ask what the procedure was for seeking permission to do so. She gave me their number to call and went on to say that there shouldnt be any problem but to (quote); "try not to splash photos all over Facebook and everywhere else when you get back ". Her request was almost word for word the same as the one I received from the ranger last year.

I didnt have the heart to tell her I thought she was fighting a losing battle..........

Mechanic-AL wrote:Lake Rhona would be an interesting test case.
How many people have walked in there after seeing those stunning images on line.

Now look at whats happening.

We were in there a month or so ago and my partner spoke to the ranger at Rhona. Apparently it used to previously see around 300 or so visitations a year and is now more like 900.

biggbird wrote:
We were in there a month or so ago and my partner spoke to the ranger at Rhona. Apparently it used to previously see around 300 or so visitations a year and is now more like 900.

I heard that one 6+ years ago.
Basically the numbers suddenly leap frogged over the Western Arthurs in a single year.
The only thing Parks could attribute it to was social media posts.
In fact I was told tourists where flying into Tassie grabbing a hire car and trying to day walk it, with zero clue how to even get to the track.