Having done some trail maintenance -and wishing at times for a chainsaw and a brush cutter - I wonder how did the native americans clear blow downs from their roads and trails?
Having done some trail maintenance -and wishing at times for a chainsaw and a brush cutter - I wonder how did the native americans clear blow downs from their roads and trails?
Burned with Fire
The trail was here before we arrived, and it will still be here when we are gone...enjoy it now, and preserve it for others that come after us
Prolly made the women do it.
I'm not really a hiker, I just play one on White Blaze.
You got to remeber, the forests were completly different back before the white man showed up and started clear cutting (and making raods). Today, we have no concept of what the east coast forest used to look like. Plus, they usually followed water paths.
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Mule and ox teams. Hard work didn't upset them, they were used to it.
I agree.
Old Growth forests have WAY less blowdowns.
Which native Americans are you talking about?
The ones that followed the buffalo herds didn't have many trees around i believe.
How many old growth forests are there around anymore? Not many, but the ones that are are pretty nice walking around in: especially the redwoods, aye? I would bet if they had a huge cyclone type storm and few of those fell down, they would move to a place with less blowdowns as THEY would really hamper their style. But removing them? I don't think so.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but, if there was any work to do they prolly made the women do it. Unless they were Amazon's.
I'm not really a hiker, I just play one on White Blaze.
You are probably right Gray Blazer.
Many cultures still have the women do most of the work.
Until it comes time to get the big game or go to war.
In Asia, the women do most everything except: drive trucks or taxis, play football (soccer), catch fish.
Maybe that's why they won 2 medals in Olympic weightlifting (Thai women)
slo go-en, you should relook the book 1491 for a good overview of recent scholarship on how native americans influenced and shaped their natural environment.
as stated above, most trails were already imprinted through a lot of gaps, at least. indians used these trails for minor and major navigation through most gaps. for instance, rockfish gap and northward, as ive read in Albemarle county public history archives, the Anglos used the already "buffalo blazed" trails through such gaps as Jarman, McCormick, and Beagle gaps.
The Native American Indians that lived in Virginia's blue ridge were skilled hunters and game in a abundance. Im sure they had hunting trails that were blazed to their liking, as well as numerous navigational trail that were most likely blazed with some sort marking on trees or cairns at trail junctions.
dropping bombs of historical knowledge after drinking sierra nevada.
im sure the forest back then was magical. impossible to grasp the abundance of wildlife, the game, flora, immeasurably aged hardwoods, no beer...
The Balds at Shanendoah are "claimed" to be cleared by indians - so I can agree that they would go around in an old growth forest - How did they make the balds for better hunting grounds of deer?
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
Periodic burns of undergrowth... most of the east coast was parkland forest when europeans got here. trails were footpaths and major commerce was conducted by water. There was no need for 'roads' until the spanish showed up with horses in the 1500's. Load weight before that was limited to what a person could carry on their back which, contrary to all you ultralight weenies out there is about 100 pounds...
I would imagine that in a society supported by myriad path networks, they probably didn't follow one single path as much as we did, making a blowdown much less of an issue.
I would imagine some people thanked the creator for such a gift and stopped in their travels to utilize the bark, the leaves, the wood, the roots, the rocks upturned at the roots, the fruits and flowers, the shaken out nests, nuts, branches, burls, buds, etc. etc.
or maybe just walked around with some passing words under the breath.
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