November 4, 2012 - Destruction

I hadn't been hiking the McIntyre Creek area for a couple of weeks, and when on my hike yesterday, found a slide just past the little bridge near the pump house.  It wasn't apparent what had caused it, but likely an ATV or snowmobile that might have tried to go up the hill.  There were tracks at the bottom, but not the top, so what ever started the slide started it from the bottom.

I met a By-law officer just parked at the Pump house, and later again as I approached my vehicle near the traffic circle at Mountain view drive.  I asked him what he was looking for and he said he had a report that a grader had gone down a trail at the barricade on the other side of the bridge.  I hadn't noticed it when I was walking, as I was watching the trail for rocks and roots that tend to jump out and trip people in this in between time where the snow isn't deep enough to cover all the hazaards, but deep enough to disguise them. 


So today on my walk, I watched for the destruction, and it indeed appears a grader had gone part way down the trail.  Now this isn't an ATV or snowmobile with a blade, but the tracks were definitely wide enough to be a real sized grader.  These machines aren't just something you can pick up at your local rental store, so it is a bit of a mystery as to why it was down that road, and why it decided to go down the trail trashing everything.  I did not walk the entire trail length, but met a few people who came off the trail who told me the destruction didn't go far, and it didn't seem to have any reason for having been done.

I'll never understand what motivates people to destroy nature for what appears to be a meaningless act.