Leaving Your Mark.

plastid

plastid

Joined
May 8, 2012
Messages
413
I'm sure,on bladeforums there are alot of travelers,campers and wanderers that get around to many different places.

when visiting a place new or old do you feel the need to leave your mark to show you have been there?
If so what do you do?
 
Last edited:
If outdoors, I always try to follow what we practiced in the Boy Scouts decades ago (and hopefully they still do), leave the area in better condition than when you arrived. Nothing else. Mike
 
Nope, not at all.
If I do disturb anything while in the wild I try to put it back to like it was.
 
Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints. Cheesy but its a good one to follow in the woods IMHO
 
I'm not sure this belongs in general knife discussion. I'm an antrhopologist and have seen the damage people "leaving their mark" can do on some pretty invaluable stuff. I pride myself in leaving as few traces as possible, especially in wilderness areas. I've never been big on souvenirs (most of the time I don't even carry a camera when I travel).

The only mementos I've got from some of my most fondly remembered trips are spoons I carved form some local wood (I love to whittle spoons).
 
you don't even stop to carve your name in to a tree or write your name on the bathroom stall
 
Well personally when I go out to parks or in nature I would rather not see names carved into trees. My favorite hikes have been off the beaten paths where even less is disturbed.


Also I think writing names on bathroom walls is trashy, makes the place look bad, and it's vandalism.
 
I go by the saying "Take nothing but pictures, Leave nothing but footprints"
I had a few scouts I caught defacing trees and rocks and they were not allowed on outing for quite a while.
 
plastid said:
you don't even stop to carve your name in to a tree or write your name on the bathroom stall
Click to expand...

No. I wish people wouldn't do this.

And why did you make this thread in the General forum? It has nothing to do with knives.
 
I don't carve into trees, but I've been known to pee on them. Does that count?
 
plastid said:
idk i just thought this would be a good place to put it... thread fail.....
Click to expand...

Indeed.

In before the move.

No need to tell nature or society how important I am by defacing a tree or vandalizing property, by the way.
 
General KNIFE Discussion is not an all purpose forum. Please take time to look around and post topics in the appropriate areas.

With that said, i'm sure our wilderness and survival forum members might have something to say about "leaving your mark". :thumbdn:
 
I stopped carving stuff into living trees when we got caught doing it and we were forced to pack the tree out with us. Using manual tools to take down, process and transport a fully grown green tree is no joke, especially when you are a kid.
 
I've never felt the need to leave a visible mark behind except once and I'm not sure why I did it then. It was somewhere around 25 years ago in Northern Ontario. I was alone on a fly in Moose hunt and I had walked probably a mile from the creek where I had left my boat. I followed a faint game trail for a long ways until I came out in this little pond. I sit there about an hour just taking it all in and making Moose calls. When I got up to leave, I carved my initials and the year into the trunk of a Birch tree. I've wondered why I did it then.

Nowadays I just 'mark' my territory so if any other Alpha Males come along they can 'sense' that I've been there ;).
 
I hammered a quarter into a stump 10 years ago. Still there to this day. My friend was with me. Now and then I come across it and send a pic to him.
 
If you come to where I camp you would not even notice anyone was there. If I come across you carving your name into a tree you won't know what hit you!:mad:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top