Marty’s photo of the day #4473: Today I have some photojournalism. I shot this picture last week, looking down from a mountain in a remote area of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. If you look closely, you will see the gravel road and then a bunch of 4-wheeler tracks going off-road in the foreground.
I fucking hate 4-wheelers. It’s virtually impossible to find a person with a 4-wheeler who doesn’t claim they respect nature and stay on the roads—kind of like it’s virtually impossible to find a hunter who doesn’t claim he/she follows all the rules. But in reality, there are huge numbers of slob 4-wheeler riders out there, just like there are huge numbers of slob hunters out there. And just like hunters leave evidence with a trail of shot up signs and shell casings, 4-wheelers leave a literal trail of deep tire tracks that last for many years.
When I first moved to Montana, I attended a forum put on by a 4-wheeler organization that was whining that the forests were closed to them. Yes, they whined despite at least 50,000 miles of gravel roads available for them to race along in Montana alone. Then, when an environmentalist got up and talked about the value of solitude and being able to see moose in the wild, the leader of the 4-wheeler group disputed that by saying, “You’re exaggerating. I’ve never seen a moose out on the trails.”
Bingo! The asshole didn’t even realize what he said!
I also have neighbors who have literally carved up their own land with 4-wheeler trails. I can’t say anything, because it’s their land. But it’s sad nonetheless.
So take a close look at this photo. Because of Montana’s dry climate, the damage these fucking 4-wheelers did here could be many years old. And yeah, I know not every 4-wheel rider is a slob, just like every hunter isn’t a slob. But the non-slobs need to police their own, which they seldom do in any measurable way.
Grrrr!