shf happens on the road: Bighorn Medicine Wheel
July 24, 2010
by shf
Medicine Wheel (Bighorn National Forest), WY (FASTLAUGH.com) — Note to the obnoxious tourist family with the brood of unruly, ADD children.
Hey dude and Mrs. dude…
When you conceived, and then acted upon, that brilliant idea of dragging your behaviorally-impaired young children up the side of a 9,800 ft. mountain in Wyoming for a strenuous hike to a centuries-old Native American sacred site, what exactly were you thinking?
Near the top of the mountain, close to the medicine wheel, a justifyably annoyed and concerned stranger shouted your way calling you out for allowing your children to scatter off the marked trail and disrespectfully traipse on such a delicate and sacred landscape despite you having being told this was not permitted by the friendly rangers at the U.S. Forest Service at the base of the trail upon your arrival at Medicine Wheel.
What parts of “You MUST Stay on the Trail” and “This is a very fragile, sacred landscape millions of years old” and “STAY OFF” didn’t you and your kids quite understand?
A short while later, returning to the base of the trail, the same justifyably annoyed and concerned stranger had a few well-chosen words with those same friendly rangers at the U.S. Forest Service and advised them to, in turn, have a few sharp words about respect for the land and respect for rules with the obnoxious tourist family with the brood of unruly, ADD children.
The rangers were advised to be on the lookout for a portly family with several whining, Craisen-eating, Craisen-littering, under-dressed, shivering children.
Sadly, that probably described several other families who were there mauling the landscape that afternoon, so you got off the hook from receiving a well-deserved U.S. Forest Service lecture.
Just so you know, dude and Mrs. dude… America’s national parks, monuments, forests, and sacred Native American sites are national treasures to be respected and preserved for future generations. They are not your playgrounds for commiting thoughtless acts of erosion and litter. Got it?
Thanks so much for providing such a high-quality, high-altitude Wyoming memory.