In support of truly public lands

Yesterday I found my happy place. I took my rented motorbike back up into the mountains of Phong Nha National Park, where I had visited caves the previous day (see Instagram posts from the Caves and a Trek in the National Park) in search of the spot I had seen the day before that looked like a perfect swimming hole. I love swimming holes and mountain lakes, probably more than the beach, because of the time I spent in the Trinity Alps in high school and college, working at a resort on the boundary of the massive Trinity Alps Wilderness area. I love the feeling of diving into fresh water and then lying in a flat rock while the sun dries my skin. So when I saw this spot, I parked my bike by the side of the road and scrambled down to the river. Clearly I was not the only person who had had this idea - as I would find at a similar spot back home, there were a remnants of previous parties people had thrown as I walked down to the river.

I settled into my spot, getting out my Kindle (what better time to read about the Secret War in Laos than beside a delightful mountain river), sunscreen, and water and dove into the river. I stayed for about an hour and was just thinking about repeating my cycle of dip‘n’dry when I heard an angry Vietnamese guy yelling and gesticulating wildly at me in a manner that is reminiscent of videos you see of Hitler at a rally. He was pointing towards the road would not stop yelling. Irritated that he was seriously harshing my mellow but also mildly concerned at the possibility of making a visit to a Vietnamese police station, I packed up my stuff, hid my wallet (in case he planned to ask me for a bribe), but on my shirt and headed back to the road.

The sign erected in my honor

It turns out the guy was a ranger for the National Park and had another ranger with him. When I got to the road, the irate ranger pointed at this sign, which I assume he and his colleague had installed before coming to retrieve me since I hadn’t seen a sign on the way down there, it looked like it had just be installed, and they had shovels with them had shovels. It turns out that in this National Park (and maybe all in Vietnam) you are not allowed to stray from the road without a permit or tour guide. On one hand I understand this policy. The jungle in this park is pretty dangerous. Supposedly there are tigers. There is also lots of poison ivy. Also, prohibiting access is a great way to ensure that nature is not disturbed and that people don’t need to be rescued when they do stupid shit.

This experience made me grateful for the Public Lands I grew up enjoying the United States. Places like the South Fork of the Salmon River where I could go by myself in between shifts at the resort, or random swimming holes to dip in at the end of a hike or long bike ride. These places are accessible to anyone who has the ability and desire to get to them. Despite the fact that we stole most of these places from Native Americans along with the rest of our country, having access to these areas is part of what I love about the United States. Unfortunately our current government disagrees as they actively work to shrink several National Monuments to allow for resource extraction.

Scenery on the way into town

Heavily sweating while riding my motorbike back into town (both because of the heat and because the prospect of spending time at a Vietnamese Police Station made me more nervous than I had realized) I was pissed that I had been so abruptly evicted from my happy place. But as I thought about it more I came to see some of the logic behind the policy while at the same time grateful to the ranger for making me see how lucky I am to be able to enjoy any swimming hole I want on Public Land back home, at least for now.

It also made me want to get more involved in the fight to preserve public lands, though we’ll see if I still have the motivation when I get back home. If you would like to get involved in the public lands debate there are a lot of groups working in the space. Patagonia, the outdoor apparel company, is working with local organizations to fight the Trump Administration’s efforts to shrink National Monuments, and Outside Magazine and the High Country News regularly discuss issues around Public Lands. While it's obviously a smarter idea for me to follow all local regulations, if I am going to unknowingly flaunt local laws and don’t want to be disturbed I guess I should find a less conspicuous place to park my motorbike...