Wayfaring in the Right Kind of Way

From Erie Canal and Finger Lakes

We meet many people in our travels, and most are interested in talking with us about their favorite outdoor activities and camping memories. All of the folks who lament the litter and the inconsiderate behaviors of other visitors are pleased to learn that there is actually a Leave No Trace organization that promotes responsible recreational use of the outdoors, and that there is a framework for advocacy and education that builds on an informed and common sense outdoor ethic that few can reasonably dispute. We can hope that these good folks will consider joining Leave No Trace and strengthening our member network and capacity for outreach and advocacy. More importantly, we hope they feel affirmation that they are not alone in their sense of responsible outdoor ethics. Perhaps a new awareness of a broad Leave No Trace community of like-minded individuals will redouble their personal convictions, and maybe even embolden them to actively speak out about the sustainable practices and shared responsibilities of enjoying the outdoors in the right kind of way…


Hope to see you down the road, and hear what you've got to say...

Peggy and Barrett
e-Tour Wayfarers 2010

e-word: embolden

Casting for Bigfoot at Bass Pro

We made an extended visit to the Bass Pro Store in Auburn, New York this past week and got a warm reception from both the staff and store patrons. On Wednesday evening, we conducted a seminar for area Boy Scout leaders. We engaged them in samplings of PEAK Pack activities and told them about the mother lode of teaching and activity resources on the Leave No Trace Web site. Then on Saturday and Sunday, we conducted outreach with shoppers in the store from 9:00am to 5:00pm. We were especially looking for a way to appeal to the young folks, and Peggy’s recently acquired infatuation with Cornhole (really, that’s what it’s called…) led to the "Bag'N Bigfoot" adaptation of the increasingly popular campground game. It was a great hit, so to speak. We had lots of eager participants testing their bean bag casting skill and/or luck for the chance to win Leave No Trace stickers, Clif bars, and such. Of course, everyone was a winner, and for some it just took a few more throws from a gradually diminishing distance. More than a few parents also succumbed to their competitive inclinations, and we expect that casting for Bigfoot (aka "Bag'N Bigfoot") will be a regular fixture at similar outreach events in the future.

From BassPro Auburn NY

The other poplar activity for the kids was the Leave No Trace bead bracelet craft that we had beta tested at Jellystone Maryland. Again, the craft activity engaged the interest and creative impulses of the kids while we took the opportunity to talk with parents about Leave No Trace and the Bigfoot Challenge.

From BassPro Auburn NY

On Saturday it was if we were tailgating for Bigfoot. Our setup was well-positioned at the store exit next to (downwind of) the outdoor barbecue and across from the Girl Scout bake sale, and it seemed to be a natural place where folks took pause, ate their grilled dogs or cupcakes, and waited with shopping cart-loads of purchases in anticipation of a curbside pickup while companions went off to fetch vehicles from the parking lot. We handed out several hundred LNT reference cards, and found that most of the Bass Pro patrons we approached were pleased to receive the outdoor ethics tags for hunting or fishing and to have an opportunity to voice their opinions about responsible outdoor ethics.

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We returned to Bass Pro on Sunday in a blustery rain, and moved our operation indoors near the store entry. Our interactions throughout the day were primarily with an adult audience, and we were able to show the National Park Service Leave No Trace DVD on a virtually continuous loop.

From BassPro Auburn NY

Barb Phillips of Bass Pro was terrific, not only in accommodating our outreach efforts at the store, but also in allowing us to descend on her family and setup our Coleman trailer in the backyard of her well-loved country home (…we really are talking more “south forty...” the backyard was expansive as it unrolled down past the soybeans to the banks of Nine Mile Creek, a locally renowned trout stream). Memorable food, conversation, camaraderie, and sunsets characterized our time with the Phillips family.

Hope to see you down the road,

Peggy and Barrett
e-Tour 2010

e-word: expansive

Office Hours

From Finger Lakes Region

What a great (24/7) office we have wherever we travel: we setup our Coleman E-1 camper in beautiful parks and camp grounds, or, on occasion, in some serendipitous spot next to an accommodating host’s soybean field; we hike around and behind waterfalls while admiring hanging gardens and rock pools reminiscent of Kubla Khan’s Xanadu; we bicycle along Colonial turnpikes and 19th Century canal tow paths in the footsteps of our industrious and resourceful ancestors; we visit historic landscapes and structures and talk with the stewards and interpreters of our natural and cultural heritage about the challenges of sustaining a commitment to preservation… True, we are on-call 24/7, but we’re finding it far more of a privilege than it is a chore, and we travel with the certainty that e-Tour is a pretty good gig, indeed.

From Erie Canal and Finger Lakes

Hope to see you down the road during office hours… no appointment necessary.

Peggy and Barrett
e-Tour 2010

From Erie Canal and Finger Lakes

Glens, Moraines, Drumlins, and Such

If you hear the name Watkins Glen, it might bring to mind the Grand Prix racing circuit, but over the past several days we’ve discovered another side of the Watkins Glen area. The natural beauty and rich cultural history of the Finger Lakes region of New York is astounding, and our e-Tour calendar allowed us to drive off the beaten track a few miles for a little ad hoc Leave No Trace outreach in some of New York’s finest state parks and public recreation areas.



We spent one night at Taughannock State Park near Ithaca and a second night at Watkins Glen State Park at the southern end of Seneca Lake. Both parks feature impressive gorges (“glens” in New York-speak) and numerous waterfalls, and each exhibits uniquely beautiful characteristics that have resulted from the glacial forces that sculpted the geologic landscape of the area 12,000 years ago. In addition to hiking the rim and gorge trails in Taughannock and Watkins Glen, we bicycled along the Catharine Valley Trail, which follows an old railway grade and even older canal towpath past the wetlands of Queen Catharine Marsh Fish and Wildlife Management Area and Montour Falls.

From Finger Lakes Region

As we set up our Coleman E-1 pop-up in a campground, we quickly become immersed in the local camping community. Our attention-grabbing Leave No Trace Subaru and Coleman camper invariably pique the curiosity of our neighbors, and open the door to conversations about our camping rig, Leave No Trace, and our e-Tour odyssey. We always carry LNT hangtags and brochures on our walks or bicycle rides to give to folks that we meet, and find that there is generally a receptive and friendly cohort of fellow travelers who are interested in talking with us about our shared appreciation of and concern for the outdoors.

From Finger Lakes Region

Hope to see you down the trail on foot or bicycle.

Peggy and Barrett
e-Tour 2010

e-word: evolving

Camp Louise: Redux and Restorative

Saturday found us once again at the Girl Scouts’ Camp Louise near Shickshinny, PA for the Heart of Pennsylvania GS Council “2010-11 Kick-off Event.” We entertained over 50 Girl Scout leaders in three different sessions over the course of the morning and afternoon. As we anticipated, each group was lively and engaging, and there were many opportunities to discuss various approaches for presenting the Leave No Trace principles to the girls. Our pitch stimulated considerable interest in the great resources for teaching Leave No Trace that are readily available on our website, and we also expect that there will be a number of new applicants for the PEAK Grants as a result of our presentations.



After the event concluded on Saturday afternoon most of the 200 attendees decamped, and we enjoyed a great swim, a relaxing supper, and in the evening, a quiet walk through the nearly deserted camp grounds to the lake, where we “watched the big husky sun wallow in crimson and gold and grow dim…” In the dusky light, we saw a shy and skittish pair of wild turkeys cautiously cross the now deserted camp commons, marking the reappearance of the camp’s permanent residents. Our own return to Camp Louise was gratifying, it was restful, it was restoring.

From Camp Louise 2

Thanks to Jean Barnes for her warmth and hospitality, and as always, hoping to see you down the road.

Peggy and Barrett
e-Tour 2010

e-word: (re)energized

Enduring Traces of Bloody Antietam

From Antietam

Numerous monuments and memorials populate the bucolic hills of Antietam National Battlefield near Sharpsburg, MD, where legions of Union and Confederate soldiers were locked in a titanic clash that proved to be the bloodiest single day in US history. By evening of that September day in 1862, when the exhausted armies finally disengaged from the furious assaults, counter-attacks, and hand-to-hand fighting that characterized much of the action, nearly 25,000 of the 100,000 combatants had become casualties… one out of every four men killed, wounded, or missing. In some respects, we can but marvel that the toll wasn’t greater, as we read the Park’s interpretive displays of the deafeningly relentless exchanges of rifle-fire and how acres of once tall and ripening corn were mowed down to the ground by the minie balls and shrapnel as if the stalks had been scythed for harvest.



Reflecting on this brutal battle and the awful cost exacted from the dead and crippled soldiers, we are left to grab hold of the enduring good that was crafted out of something so terrible. First, Abraham Lincoln’s subsequent decision to move ahead with the Emancipation Proclamation represented a critical step in the unequivocal repudiation of the institution of human slavery. And, from a different perspective, Clara Barton’s compassionate and selfless assistance to the wounded men of both armies was an individual and personal act of mercy that led eventually to the founding of the American Red Cross by this “Angel of the Battlefield.” Both Lincoln and Barton’s actions have become enduringly humane and distinctly human legacies, both instrumental in defining what we stand for as a nation. It’s pretty humbling, really, and to visit a place like Antietam gives us pause for reflection. The value of preserving these historic places far exceeds whatever the cost might be and it is fundamental to our collective education, lest we forget such lessons and the historic cost of the many rights and privileges that we enjoy today. In this case, traces left behind by our ancestors are well worth remembering and preserving as we seek a common ground for building our future…

Hope to see you down the road,

Peggy and Barrett
2010 e-Tour

Jellystone Celebrity Interview

Hey, hey, hey! Boo-Boo Bear explains Leave No Trace...