The joy of a walk on public land

A few days ago I went for a walk. Not in town, but in the glorious beauty of the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area.

I didn’t traipse along one of the excellent National Park Service hiking trails that lead to the canyon rim or high up the face of the Pryor Mountains. No, I simply picked a spot and headed out.

On this particular Saturday, I parked along the park highway across from the road to the Devil’s Canyon Overlook and started walking west. I followed a small draw, then moved on up to a bench approaching the eastern flank of the Pryors and Sykes Ridge. I found remnants of the ancient Bad Pass Trail and the original road to the Dryhead, long abandoned but still worn into the landscape despite decades of unuse.

It takes a long time for nature to take back manmade scars in the high desert of the West.

I made my way south along the former road, then curled back to the north and up onto a ridge from which I could see the road to the overlook far below to the east and the sunlit Big Horn Canyon beyond, the red walls glistening.

The short trek took just a couple of hours, no great feat, for sure, but it was perfect for me. I just like to wander in beautiful places, taking in nature’s beauty and wondering if any given step was the first step on a spot for 50, 100 years or more.

And sometimes it’s just fun to stroll without having to “make 15 miles today.”

I never take for granted the special place in which we live, with the freedom to go just about wherever we want to go on public lands, lands mostly without fences erected to keep people out. We can stroll along a fishing stream in the Big Horns, hike to a roaring waterfall, wander along the rim of Big Horn Canyon – each step presenting a new and stunning view, look for the magnificent Pryor Mountain wild mustangs high atop the mountains to our north or simply drive out into the wide-open prairie in the Big Horn Basin.

This is what we value in the West, a land largely free of no trespassing signs and fences to exclude us. It’s a place where we can freely wander in what is truly God’s country – without crowds.

Don’t get me wrong. I value private land and the many advantages of ownership. I love the ability to have a place of my own. But in the wide-open spaces and high mountains of the Rocky Mountain West, we have true freedom to wander on lands we all share.

It’s the best “walk in the park” a person can think of. Enjoy your freedom to wander before it’s taken from you.