Leaving a Trail

For my final blog post I chose to discuss a quotation I found at the very beginning of the calendar Janelle showed us last class. The quotation form Ralph Waldo Emerson says "Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail". I thought this quote was very ironic to the paradox that is the Adirondacks, and a very interesting choice for a calendar published by an Adirondack group. There has always been a constant battle about the balance of using the park as a resource and the desire to keep a land untrammeled by man, both of which are impossible at least in the way the park is now established. This quotation though, puts an emphasis on the human experience in the park where the main point of humans in the park is to "leave their mark". Ironic because of the huge emphasis to cut out these sorts of human impacts. We as humans have this mentality that we need to cover every square inch of the Earth and basically tell the world "I was here" so seeing a quotation chosen by an Adirondack group who I would assume has ideals similar to those who want to preserve the land contradicts a lot of what they stand for.