filed under: editorials

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Why Water Trails are Better Than Land Trails

A totally unbiased analysis by a kayaker with a disability.

by Mike Passo, Executive Director, American Trails

I’m starting a movement... Land-lubbers have dominated the trails discussion for too long. No more, I say! Did Lewis and Clark choose to follow game trails to connect to the Pacific Ocean? NO! What was the most miserable and disheartening part of their epic journey? It was walking over the Continental Divide! Americans knew the score back then. Why walk when we can paddle?

Since those heady days, we Americans have lost our way. We have turned to the land as our primary means of travel and recreation. We need to return to the right path... the wet path... and, coincidentally, an extremely accessible path!

I am a person with a disability, and I used to own a sea kayak tour company that operated in the Pacific Northwest. I have conducted extensive, pain-staking research on the subject and have discovered the following absolute truisms:

1. Kayaking is more fun than walking.
2. A water trail is already there. You just need to provide the means to utilize it.
3. Canoeing is more fun than walking.
4. Water trails are cheaper to build (refer to #2 above).
5. Rafting is more fun than walking.
6. Water trails are cheaper to maintain (refer to #2 above).
7. Sailing is more fun than walking.
8. Your trail is one continuous overlook. Forget building a long winding trail up to the highest point in the park so you can see an expansive view of the ocean. Just float out on that ocean and it’s one big overlook experience.
9. Floating on an inner-tube is more fun than walking.
10. Water trails are more accessible: for the most part, water seeks to be flat. You can't say that of your local river bluff.
    

Now let’s talk finances. Let’s use a completely unbiased case study. Let’s say we wanted to run a trail the entire length of the Mississippi River. By land, this trail would cost approximately $138 Septillion,
and would take 248 years to complete. By contrast, a water trail already exists the entire length. We would need to construct around 176 launches at $20,000 each, and about 400 campsites at $2,500 each, for a total cost of $4,520,000. I’ve known three miles of boardwalk to cost about that much money.

So, if you are having trouble getting your family up and down the steep trail down to Phantom Ranch in the heart of the Grand Canyon, or up and down the bluffs in Winona, MN, consider giving them a boat and personal flotation device, find a nice gentle access point to the water, and let them follow nature’s best, most accessible, readymade trail to where they want to go... the water trail!

Published August 2019

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