TechnoKOZ

While searching the local news, I came across the recent mishap of the “Spirit of Glacier Bay” running aground near Glacier Bay National Park in southeast Alaska (Monday, July 7, 2008) .  Interesting to note, Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Eric Eggen comments regarding this high and dry vessel, “unclear whether the grounding was caused by human error, or was due to a mechanical or electronic malfunction.”   Gee, did someone forget to turn off the auto pilot?  In the end, we all hope it wasn’t human error, after all it was the computer’s fault, right?  Too often these events are caused by too much firewater in the tank, if you know what I mean.

I have always wanted to partake on an Alaskan cruise “adventure”.  Now I know why I haven’t.  Instead, I have trekked more than 200+ miles in the Canadian Rockies over the last three years (Because of the PBS series, “Great Lodges of the Canadian Rockies”.)  Now, the Discovery channel has sensationalized the rugged Alaskan frontier by their, “The Alaska Experiment”.   I will admit, my wife and I are pumped about traveling to remote Alaskan wilderness.  However, these city folks never could function in the great outdoors.  Look, they had to be taught how to fire a simple .22 riffle.  I still wonder how many of them could even operate a GPS to communicate their coordinates to the authorities.  Would they know what essentials to pack for their rugged adventure, like a satellite phone.  I’m not expecting experts, but if you are going to adventure in the rugged wilderness, you better come equipped – Ultralight backpacking – bear spray, glock, gps, tarp tent, Marmot down sleeping bag.   I’m an avid ultralight hiker / backpacker.

Finally, in Arizona, we had “hikers”, who set the forest ablaze (two weeks ago), because they were “lost”.  So much for a simple signal fire.  Extensive eco & property damage, burning down several structures and causing a town evacuation were created by this group’s “ignorance”.