The Scottish Wild Land Group, founded in 1982 “to protect and conserve wild land throughout Scotland”, looked as though it might be fading away last year due to a dearth of volunteers to run it (and I have to confess that despite having been a member for many years I was one of the many without the time to help). Happily new people did come forward and the organisation was able to continue. Now the first edition of the SWLG magazine, Wild Land News, has appeared and it is excellent. Published just three times a year Wild Land News carries in-depth articles that are usually worth reading and studying. The theme of the Summer 2009 issue is rewilding (a neologism I am not very happy with but guess I have to accept) and the features on this are thought-provoking and stimulating. Peter Taylor, author of Beyond Conservation and a founder of the Wildland Network, looks at the very different approaches of Alladale, Trees for Life and Carrifran Wildwood. Taylor feels that all three have something to offer, though his description of Alladale suggests it will have a negative not positive effect as the whole philosophy behind it is wrong. I was happy with the article to this point but to finish Taylor writes about the need for the return of predators and goes into a somewhat fuzzy “new age” morass of thoughts that I find extremely off-putting. The idea that our souls are separated from “an abundant and forgiving earth-mother” and that the “inner worlds of …private religious experience” need to be “made whole again” are just high sounding but meaningless guff.

More down to earth is a piece by ecologist James Fenton entitled “The Scottish uplands: allowed to be wild” in which the author argues that wild land should be left alone rather than being managed with fences and planting and that it has always been more wild than many people think. “Letting things be wild means letting nature decide what happens”. I have a great deal of sympathy with this view. Certainly I think any management should be as minimal as possible, probably just restricted to reducing the artificially high numbers of grazing animals and reintroducing extinct ones.

Continuing the rewilding theme there are two articles from two members of the SLWG steering group. Calum Brown gives a brief history of wild land in Scotland since the last ice age and looks at the possibilities for rewilding and the benefits it could bring. Moving from this overview to specific proposals David Jarman considers the idea of rewilding Kintail and Glen Shiel, a glen marred by ugly block conifer plantations.

I’m impressed with this issue of Wild Land News and recommend it to everyone concerned about wild land in Scotland. The SWLG has a new website too, which is worth checking regularly.

Photo info: Glen Affric, where the remnants of the old Caledonian pine forest are expanding due to regeneration and planting. Canon 350D, Canon 18-55mm lens@22mm, 1/80@f8, ISO 100, raw file converted to JPEG in Lightroom 2.

Labels: conservation, forest, Glen Affric, mountains, rewilding

In the last issue of TGO, just out, I write about the joys of journeying on foot in my backpacking column, review walking sandals (which have certainly be useful in the recent heatwave) and test the Hilleberg Soulo (which is great in wintery conditions but certainly not ideal for heatwaves!). Coincidentally in the two pictures of me accompanying my column I am backpacking in sandals – in places as far apart as the Uinta Mountains in Utah and the Scottish Highlands. One of those pairs of sandals, Merrell Molokai, is discontinued, the other, the Hi-Tec Tahoma is still going and included in my review. Both my pairs are usable though the threadbare sole on the Molokais means they are relegated to short walks locally and general wear.

This issue also includes a piece on the cuts in the Ramblers organisation, cuts that have now gone ahead and seen the demise of the Scottish and Welsh offices and also, I think, the demise of the Ramblers as a campaigning organisation with any interest in the hills or wild places. I have cancelled my subscription.

Other good pieces include Ian Battersby going coast to coast across Wales, Bernard Newman traversing An Teallach and Stephen Venables trekking round Manaslu, all with excellent pictures, plus Glenmore Lodge’s advice on interpreting summer weather and Eddy Meecham’s take on bivvy bags.

Photo info: The Hilleberg Soulo pitched in the Loch Avon basin in the Cairngorms. Canon 450D, Tamron 11-18mm lens@11mm, 1/400@F8, ISO 200, raw file converted to JPEG in Lightroom 2.

Labels: backpacking, TGO, writing

The urge to head for the wilds is always strong and I try and seize any opportunity to head out for an hour, a day, an overnight or longer. A few days ago the chance of an overnight trip came about with the completion of a piece of work and a gap between city trips – Aberdeen a week ago, Edinburgh this week. It had been twelve days since I managed more than a few hours in the local woods and on that occasion strong winds and low cloud persuaded me a long day over Braeriach, third highest mountain in Scotland and one of the finest in the Cairngorms, would not have had enough rewards for the effort involved. Instead I took a lower route over smaller hills and through a section of Rothiemurchus Forest I hadn’t visited for a few years. The likelihood of better weather in the late June heat wave persuaded me to think of Braeriach again so I wandered back through the forest, which was somnolent and silent in the heavy, humid, hot air. Nothing moved, nothing called or sang. Just once a heron flapped slowly out of a boggy trailside pool. Lush grass speckled with flowers edged the path. The first orchids poked their pink and purple spikes through the greenery. This is old natural forest and rich with vegetation, beautiful with age. Leaving the trees I climbed into the rocky confines of the Lairig Ghru. Thick grey clouds hung over the peaks and a southerly wind gusted through the pass. The moving air was warm though and I was fine in shorts and thin top. Once over the pass I found a streamside camp site, still in the breeze at around 750 metres and hopefully midge free.

The sudden spatter of rain on the tent woke me at 5.30 a.m. I peered out into dense mist, rolled over and went back to sleep. A few hours later the rain and mist were gone. To the south Cairn Toul and Bod an Deamhain looked grey and cold, the clouds still brushing over them at times. Knowing the forecast was for a gradual clearance and a fine end to the day I did not hurry to pack and move on, lingering over a second coffee, taking photographs, dismantling a recently built little rock shelter and chucking the stones into the stream, writing my journal, watching the clouds swirl and split, revealing specks of blue and short bursts of hazy sunlight, and just delighting in being there, in the heart of the hills. When I did eventually move I left the trail and contoured round the hillside into Coire Brochain, a fine, high corrie backed by the summit cliffs of Braeriach. Out of the wind here and with the sun strengthening and hot I found a granite seat with my pack softening the rock backrest and ate lunch, wrote more notes and studied the complex, shattered rock architecture curving round the flat, grass and boulder floor of the corrie. Close to hand a clear stream gurgled out of a boulder pile and trickled away across a bed of pale golden sand and gravel. Not very seriously I contemplated investigating one of the gullies, still half-choked with snow, to see if a way could be found to the summit plateau. A sudden loud bang followed by a series of cracks and roars startled me out my reverie. High on the cliffs a smudge of dust hung in the air. Below this I spotted a rock, the size of a football, bouncing wildly and fast out of a gully, spinning many feet into the air each time it hit a boulder until finally coming to rest almost on the corrie floor. I would not be entering any gullies. Instead I clambered over the boulders and up the edge of the corrie to Braeriach and an expansive view of the northern Cairngorms. Further away all was hazy and cloudy.

After a brief chat with the few other walks on the summit I strode across the broad stony plateau to pick up the old stalkers’ path that runs steeply down into Coire Dhondail and then more easily into Gleann Einich. Once off the plateau and out of the breeze the sun was very hot, the sky now cloud free. The long walk down Glean Einich and back through the forest to my car was relaxing and leisurely, with flowers and trees and streams and rocks to keep me interested and involved.

Photo info: Camp in the Lairig Ghru. Canon EF-S 18-55mm@20mm, 1/60@F8, ISO 100, tripod, raw file converted to JPEG in Lightroom 2.

Labels: backpacking, Cairngorms, Scottish Highlands, wild camping

Rohantime has uploaded to Flickr some of my photos from long distance walks in the 1980s on which I wore Rohan clothing. You can see them here. The originals are mostly Kodachrome 64 slides (a film that Kodak has just discontinued). They were scanned for Flickr by Sarah Howcroft. Images include ones from the Continental Divide Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, the Pyrenees and my length of the Canadian Rockies walk.

Photo info: Campsite in Teton National Forest on the Continental Divide Trail. Pentax MX with Tamron 35-70 lens. Kodachrome 64 film. Camera balanced on a rock. Exposure long forgotten!

Labels: backpacking, Pacific Crest Trail, photography, wild camping

Hiking in grizzly bear country is always an adventure. Just knowing there is a predator out there that is bigger and stronger than you adds an edge to a trip, even though the likelihood of a dangerous encounter is extremely remote. I’ve hiked thousands of miles solo in grizzly country and only ever seen three bears, though I’ve seen plenty of bear sign (and reacted accordingly). Two of the bears were spotted at a distance (one of the reasons I carry mini binoculars – is that a tree stump or a bear on the far side of the meadow?) so I changed my route without going near them. Just one bear was relatively close – a few hundred feet away, which seems no distance with a grizzly bear – and coming towards me. Nothing dramatic happened. I made a noise. The bear sniffed the air, changed direction and disappeared into some willow thickets, leaving me feeling elated and scared at the same time and privileged at seeing the bear wild and free in its wilderness home.

There are many books about grizzlies. Too often they paint the bears as killers and monsters and humans as victims and heroes and have little to do with the true nature of bears. The books of Doug Peacock are an exception. For many years Peacock spent months at a time living alone in grizzly country studying and filming the bears. His first book, Grizzly Years, tells the story of those trips and is one of the best natural history and wilderness adventure books I have read. In The Presence of Grizzlies, written in conjunction with his wife, journalist Andrea Peacock, looks at the relationship between human beings and grizzly bears and why it is of value and why the continuing presence of bears is necessary. The book discusses fear of bears and how to act in grizzly country and has interviews with photographers, hunters, bear keepers, conservationists and others involved with grizzlies, including survivors of attacks by bears. Interspersed with the interviews and facts are fictional stories of individual bears, bases on grizzlies Doug Peacock encountered. These tales are wonderful and whilst of course no one can know how the world looks from the perspective of a grizzly bear or how a bear thinks Peacock can undoubtedly come as close as is possible. His knowledge of the natural history of grizzlies and the pattern of their lives means that the stories fit with how wild bears actually behave.

This is a powerful and moving book, well written, enthralling, enlightening, informative and inspiring. Ignore the sensationalist bear books. This is the one to read to learn about real bears and our relationship with them.

Photo info: Yellowstone National Park is one of the few areas in USA outside of Alaska where grizzlies are still found. Canon EOS 350D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm@28mm, 1/400@F8, ISO 100, raw file converted to JPEG in Lightroom 2.

Labels: bears, book reviews, books, conservation, nature, wilderness, wilderness literature, Yellowstone

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland has issued a press release in support of Ramblers Scotland (see my June 14 post Ramblers Betray Scotland). We at the MCoS work closely with Ramblers Scotland colleagues on many access and conservation issues and are impressed with their dedication and expertise. The outdoor world in Scotland needs them.

This press release has been reported on the excellent Grough website here.

And it's now appeared on Outdoors Magic.

And Walk Highlands has a post about the press release and Ramblers Scotland appeal.

Update 18 June: Cameron McNeish has posted about the press release on his website and also published an excellent letter of support from Glasgow Young Walkers.

Update: 19 June: The Herald has an excellent piece on Ramblers Scotland President Dennis Canavan, who says that Ramblers Scotland might have to go it alone if Ramblers UK withdraw funding.

Photo info: The MCoS and Ramblers Scotland work together to safeguard access in Scotland and prevent the appearance of notices like this. Canon EOS 300D, 18-55mm lens at 55mm, 1/125 @ f8, ISO 100, JPEG processed in Lightroom 2.

Labels: Mountaineering Council of Scotland, Ramblers

My second post on the Rohantime website has just appeared, headed Pacific Crest Trail (see my post for March 13 Rohan Memories). I hiked this magnificent trail from Mexico to Canada back in 1982. The first lightweight polycotton hiking clothing from Rohan had just appeared and I wore this on the walk and was delighted to discover that it was really durable. The Rohantime post describes the clothing, with weights (which are lower than those of some of today’s hiking clothing), with a little bit about the trail.

Photo info: Below Mount Jefferson on the Pacific Crest Trail in Oregon. This is one of the few photographs I took of myself on the walk as I didn’t carry a tripod. The camera was balanced on a rock. Pentax MX. 28mm F1.8 lens. Kodachrome 64. Exposure not recorded.

Labels: long distance trails, long distance walking, Pacific Crest Trail