While I tend to complain about misuse of offroad vehicles on public lands, at the same time I realize that over-protection of public lands in the form of unnecessary restrictions placed upon vehicular access is just as bad. A balance needs to be reached between protection and access and in my opinion closing the road from Jail Canyon into Hall Canyon went way too far in the direction of protectionism. If the governmental agencies responsible for the closure of the road from Jail Canyon into Hall Canyon had secured access to Hall Canyon via the trail that starts near the Indian Ranch, I would be less disgruntled over their decision. But the beginning of that trail is located on private property and hence off-limits to the general public. The agencies responsible for the closure should at the very least build a trail that connects to the trail behind the Indian Ranch as close as possible to the mouth of Hall Canyon. This would make it much easier for people to visit Hall Canyon and would at least defray the damage done by cutting off access via Jail Canyon.

The video accompanying this blog was taken about a mile up the closed road out of Jail Canyon. It features some beautiful Panamint Daisy plants in full bloom. The video is accompanied by a song I wrote called "Damage," which is about problems caused when people make unnecessary laws. The closure of the road into Hall Canyon places unnecessary restrictions on access to Hall Canyon. Although the song is sung in a partially tongue-in-cheek manner, there is a serious side to it. People should be free to visit public lands and although there are cases where closure of an area to vehicular traffic is justifiable, Hall Canyon is not such a case!

(My proposal is to create a general guideline requiring that no location of interest located on public lands be more than five miles from the nearest road. This would make it feasible for people to walk to any site of interest in no more than a round-trip hiking distance of ten miles. While public agencies would not be required to create access roads, they would be in the position to approve such roads that could be built by private, non-profit groups, but which would be available for use by the general public without cost.)