Wilderness Areas: Use 'Em or Lose 'Em

Let's go hiking with VDH, shall we? The last bit in this post is about hiking the Sierras...why people should, why they don't, and how our approach to nature appreciation actually discourages any nature appreciation.

we have a created a sort of natural religion for those who treat our wildernesses as churches rather than classrooms that can impart a much needed wisdom to an increasingly clueless generation.
The final irony? The best way for the Sierra Club to avoid becoming something like an esoteric cloister is to promote greater use of our parks: with public contact, comes reverence; while civic disdain is the companion of ignorance of and inexperience with nature.

Apropos of mountain reverence, the Weedlets & I just finished My Side of The Mountain, so we're all in the mood to go live in the woods by our wits for a year. They don't like the "prove yourself" angle so much as the idea of no school, of course. Actually, that's what appeals to me too.