Wheels or Boots

Today Im doing two things- recuperating from my hike up Cliff and Redfield, and reflecting on my trip as a whole. The recuperation is fairly easy, consisting of lots of Netflix and junk food. The reflection, however, is taking me in a lot of different directions. There is one thought in particular that Id like to highlight. Throughout my hike, I noticed that many of the trails I used were wide enough for an ATV and nearly as muddy as some of the ATV trails my friends in Pennsylvania have taken me to. This confused me because I thought the idea was that hiking left much less of an impact than motorbikes and quads, but it seems to me that (barring the air and noise pollution) there wasnt much difference on a lot of the trails I saw. It made me wonder how, those who are anti-motor vehicle, are the same people responsible for over widened trails. And while ATVs use gas and emit pollution into the air, hikers leave crumbs at camp sites and a slick of doctor Bs and oatmeal bits on top of ponds. As someone who loves and participates in both hiking and offroading, I think its fair to say that both are, in part, a product of how you are raised, and neither are going disappear. Maybe its too idealistic of me, I just find myself wishing that the offroaders could acknowledge that there are hikers and visa versa. If each could respect the place they are in, why cant it all exist? We talk about the Adirondacks as a playground, and some people play by tearing it up on a quad, others play by packing a tent and lots of cheese. Every action we take within the park, leaves an impact, no matter on foot or on wheel. What really makes one more acceptable than the other?

We've even decided to put a "trail" here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbtZfzxX44o

You decide if it looks like fun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEYhhRRK4GY