TomT, ST & All -

My thoughts on the subject are perhaps best summed up in the very LAST line of a post made on QJ by a young 20-something - he went by the handle of "Akula" - back in November of 2008.  It may be my favorite all-time post on QJ.  Here are the contents of that entire post:
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"Personally speaking, I think I was born in the wrong century.

In today's world of technological sorcery, instant gratification, wanton waste, and reckless consumerism, the feeling of being human has become something of a rare and fleeting thrill. The wilderness, and canoe country, remind me that wisdom, grit, and self-reliance are the only things that will grant one a seat at life's poker table - at least those of us whose last names don't matter, and who don't measure the depths of our pockets in fathoms.

The wilderness represents freedom and FAIRNESS; the latter of which, it seems, is in short supply outside of its borders. There's too many people with too many nonsensical convictions; and in our attempt to simplify the world through progress, we have only managed to lead ourselves toward the path of self-destruction. My heart aches for the future, and the horrible things we will have to overcome, if we can.

In the future, I fear that a place of wilderness like the BW/Q will be looked at only as a security variable that must be eliminated, or a tract of land that must be developed in order to support our already over-capacity population.

I fear that the invisible borders of adulthood are fading into obscurity, and that the lines between right, wrong, and legal have become an incomprehensible mess of gray space and bullshit. I fear that as a society, the things we respect and admire are things that get us nowhere; and serve only to reinforce a standard of living that is both selfish and destructive.

But for now, we can treasure these wild places and the secrets they tell us. Perhaps with conservation and smart legislation, these public oases of solitude will remain just that, but only time will tell if this is only a pipe dream. We may have to start traveling to the Far North to get the same kind of escape that we now enjoy so close to home.

Am I rambling a bit much here? I'm just trying to be realistic. I guess everything I feel can be summed up in a sentence:

By the light of a simple campfire, I can see all the way to Heaven."
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"Akula" is no longer 20-something.  Several years ago he quit his job in the Dakota oil fields, sold his canoe, and found a job in the mountains of Montana (where he could do some serious fly-fishing).  We haven't heard from Akula in a very long time.  Nevertheless, every trip up north since, I've watched my sparks ascend to the stars and contemplated on what that young man had to say.

Jimbo   8-)