Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THEY DON'T MAKE 'EM LIKE THAT ANYMORE
In his short, not-quite-39-year life, Bob Marshall managed to protect 5.4 million
acres of American wildland. Marshall, who died in 1939, managed to accomplish
an awful lot in four decades. A few of the notches in his belt:
•
His 1930 article in
Scientific Monthly
called “The Problem of the Wilder-
ness” is credited with launching the wilderness movement.
•
He regularly walked 30 miles a day.
•
He made lists and ratings of everything from mountain and baseball statist-
ics to books and girls. In fact, his elaborate rating system for women, with
number values for such qualities as intellect, physical ability, interests, and
sex appeal, may explain why he remained a bachelor.
•
He had two graduate degrees.
•
He wrote three books.
•
He once departed a Washington soirée by descending the front steps on his
hands.
•
While visiting a Supreme Court chamber, he executed an impromptu
somersault.
•
Although he acquired a generous inheritance when his father died, he val-
ued money only for the independence it provided. He never owned a house
or a car.
•
He climbed his first mountain when he was 14.
•
He once climbed 14 Adirondack peaks in one day, and by the time he was
25, he and his brother George had become the first mountaineers to ascend
all 46 Adirondack peaks above 4,000 feet.
•
He called himself a socialist and believed in the abolition of profit and
rent and in government ownership of natural resources. He was arrested for
these beliefs and weathered several Red-baiting attacks when he worked as
head of the Division of Forestry and Grazing for the Bureau of Indian Af-
fairs.
The website recommends that you can pass the “Moderate Pack Test,” a work-capacity
test designed by the Forest Service. In a nutshell, it requires you to hike 2 miles in less than
35 minutes while wearing a 25-pound pack.
