FOOTPATHS

Getting Off the Beaten Path

By Ellen Morris Bishop

For off-trail walks, sometimes it’s best to follow informal trails, or have a specific destination. Fort Rock (Fort Rock State Park) in Oregon’s high desert, offers open vistas, and a 2-mile hike to circumnavigate the Ice Age tuff ring and its beaches. You may meet antelope, prairie falcons, and eagles along the way. Park hosts can offer suggestions for things to see.

Hole in the Ground, a 10,000-year-old maar, or explosive volcanic throat, in the Deschutes National Forest 60 miles southeast of Bend, tells a fascinating geological story. There you may encounter deer, elk, and marmots.

On recently acquired U.S. Forest Service Lands between Mosier and Rowena, there are few trails, but great overviews of the Gorge. Wild turkeys and mule deer abound here. Keep dogs on leash, and enjoy the open and uncrowded vistas!

One of walking greatest pleasures is following a well-worn path and taking in the sights along the way. Places change with each season. They are never the same, truly, from one moment to the next. Traveling the same path on Tuesday morning is a different trip from one we may take on Wednesday afternoon.

But trails can also lead us into complacency about our surroundings. We see the same familiar sights. Walk the same comforting path. And unless we are truly dedicated observers, the subtle changes that make the path different from moment to moment may miss our gaze.

One way to step into a new experience is to walk in places where there are no trails. To literally avoid the beaten path and spice up your walk with a stroll across places without trails. Or at least, without pathways developed by people. A walk off the trail can heighten your connection with plants, geology, and wildlife that you might otherwise miss. And simply because you have to focus on where you are going and where you’ve been, you’ll see more of the landscape around you.

Where to Hike off Trails
Public lands, with few exceptions, allow you to walk in places where there are no trails, as long as you are not destructive to the landscape, follow laws and rules regarding natural resources, fossils, and antiquities, and do not endanger yourself. Most national parks, national forests, national monuments, state parks, and BLM lands are open for you to explore. Check with rangers or district offices before you go for specific rules or guidelines.

What to Take
Especially when hiking off the beaten path, these items will be a big help should you get lost or need help:
• Water: Be generous. Take at least a whole quart per person.
• Food: Your walk may take longer than you think. Take some extra energy bars.
• Basic Safety Stuff: My pack always includes an “Emergency Space Blanket,” multi-tool, whistle, small mirror, basic first aid kit, and, yes, the (charged) cell phone.

Three Safety Precautions
There are three precautions that you should take when venturing off the beaten track:
• Investigate: Use a topo map to investigate and plan your trip ahead of time. Google Earth or Google Maps can also be helpful. Then: Take a map with you, and know how to read it. GPS is helpful. Check the weather extra carefully before you go.
• Inform: Always tell someone where you are going — and when you expect to return. Leave them a written description as well. And, importantly, be back when you are expected. Cell phones may not work off the beaten path (or on it).
• Interact: Be an active participant in your venture — not only in investigating your surroundings, but keeping track of where you are headed, what direction you’ve traveled, and also, where you’ve come from. Turn around and look at what the landscape will look like when you are heading home.

While walking off-trail is not for everyone, it will bring an extra dimension to your treks, and perhaps new discoveries as well.

Ellen Morris Bishop is a geologist, writer, and photographer who uses all three vocations as excuses to hike and explore with her dogs. She is Programs Director at the Oregon Paleo Lands Institute, and teaches at Columbia Gorge Community College.