Writing and Essays - Recreational Engineering - Designing the Experience
The term "recreational engineering" is borrowed from Aldo Leopold in his Land Ethic in the Sand County Almanac. I wrote a textbook manuscript on park and facility design. Using the model on the right, its thesis is to bring together the resource, facilities, and activities and programs to deliver the desired experience.
Originally, this group of essays was titled the Homestead. However upon further examination, the theme presented in the model better depicts the underlying themes of the essays.
Recreational engineering is designing the resource and facilities and the activities and programs occurring on the resource and facilities to deliver a desired experience. This is the essence of recreation programming. It is the essence of outdoor recreation programming also. It is the underlying theme of the essays.
This section contains the unpublished writing of this author. Read them and enjoy them. Remember that all of them are copyrighted and are protected under the copyright laws. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to download the information.
INTRODUCTION:
Introduction - This essay is really an introduction. It explains in more depth the previous section.
THE OUTDOOR EXPERIENCE:
Recreational engineering creates a desired experience for people. The focus of these essays are on how we interact or interface with the outdoor environment. Many of the essays are from Everglades trips. As a sidebar, there is an underlying theme regarding how the group interfaces with the outdoor environment. Tongue-in-cheek, I refer to this interaction as the "thundering herd." Unfortunately, the group often misses the experience because like the astronaut, they travel in their bubble through the backcountry.
The Astronaut - A very short essay but extremely profound. For a view outside of the box, read this essay.
[Keywords: outer space, astronaut, backpacking, outdoor experience]
The Outdoor Museum - Is the outdoor environment so fragile that we cannot leave a trace? This essay raises the question.
[Keywords: wilderness, outdoor experience, leave no trace]
Equilibrium - It is an essay involving canoe instruction and about seeking a flow experience or equilibrium or an adrenaline experience. Actually, canoeing may have a closer affinity to dance.
[Keywords: canoe instruction, flow experience, adrenaline experience, surfing hydraulic]
The Attack of the Killer Vampires - A fun piece that chronicles a mosquito attack in the Everglades. So much for designing the experience.
[Keywords: mosquitos, Everglades, outdoor experience]
Mile Mark 23 - A romantic piece, this piece captures that special moment during a backcountry trip.
[Keywords: outdoor education Everglades, programming, outdoor experience]
Mist Over the Delaware - This is a "thundering herd" essay. While the campers are still asleep, it is a brief moment in the morning where the sun hasn't burnt off the mist hanging over the Delaware River. I captures a special moment.
[Keywords: outdoor education, camping, Delaware River, programming, experience]
The Campsite - A fun piece, the campsite is not about what you think that it is about... enjoy it! It is a reversal essay looking at the outdoors from a different perspective.
[Keywords: outdoor experience, ticks]
An Evening on Hurricane Point - The curtain goes up on natural and man-made experience occurring on the stage at Hurricane Point in the St. Lawrence River.
[Keywords: outdoor experience, outdoor recreation, Sugar Island, St. Lawrence River]
The Visitor - The visitor is one of my favorites. Thematically, it is a classic role reversal. The essay looks at a backcountry trip from the perspective of the resource rather than from the perspective of the participants. However, it is more. The background sounds indicate when wilderness is no longer wilderness and becomes urban. It is an interesting indicator.
[Keywords: wilderness, resource management, outdoor recreation, recreation experience]
DESIGNING THE RESOURCE:
Designing the resource to create the desired experience is an important component of recreational engineering. The main focus of the essays in this section are on designing and managing the resource to create the desired experience.
Wilderness in 2025 - A futuristic piece, it has nearly been published several times. Close but not quite yet. It examines all the premises of Wilderness and the Wilderness Acti of 1964 by juxtaposing current wilderness with the new wilderness created by the Wilderness Act of 2018. Note: The article is not hostile to the Wilderness Act. Its thesis is that the Act designs the resource to create an experience.
[Keywords: Wilderness, resource management, outdoor recreation, experience]
Shark Valley - Outdoor recreation planners and managers have considerable impact on designing the outdoor experience. This essay juxtaposes two different management examples that create different backcountry experiences while protecting the resource. The essay raises the theme that it may be desirable to sacrifice a small portion of the resource for the public and public education to protect and preserve the remainder of the resource.
[Keywords: resource management, outdoor recreation, outdoor experience]
High Bridge Creek - It is not wilderness. But it is a simple story of matching the experience to the participants while protecting the integrity of the resource for the wildlife. It is a win/win situation similar to Shark Valley.
[Keywords: resource management, outdoor recreation, outdoor experience]
Devil's Hopyard - Devil's Hopyard is a trail through scenic ferns and other sensitive vegetation. It is an essay of the importance of "information management". Often, protection of the resource occurs because of what people are not told. Devil's Hopyard is protected because no one knows that it is there.
[Keywords: resource management, outdoor recreation, outdoor experience]
Tuckerman's Ravine Trail - Tuckerman's Ravine Trail is the primary route to the summit of Mt. Washington. It is a story about sacrificing part of the resource to save the rest of the resource. In turn, this aids in managing users because their use is concentrated and not dispersed. Also, it is a story about the role of "information management" in managing the resource.
[Keywords: resource management, information management, outdoor recreation, outdoor experience]
Corridor of Death - This is a story of how even seemingly insignificant management techniques can affect navigation and the outdoor experience. It is also a story about creating adventure in the experience.
[Keywords: resource management, outdoor recreation, navigation, outdoor experience, adventure]
DESIGNING ACTIVITIES & PROGRAMS:
Recreational engineering involves designing the activities and programs of people using the outdoor resource. This section focuses on the these activites and programs to create the desired experience.
The Picnic - It is a Steve Van Matre Day - A long essay, it explores Leopold's concept of "recreational engineering." It demonstrates on the same trip how more than one experience can be created. It is about recreational programming. It is about how the nuts and bolts of the trip can easily dictate the experience of participants.
[Keywords: recreational engineering, outdoor education, environmental education, recreation programming, Steve Van Matre]
The Mullet - This essay examines why we take people into the backcountry and the experience that we attempt to create for them. It is a variation of the outdoor museum. Will the backcountry miss a few mullet if it enhances the experience. Aldo Leopoldu might agree.
[Keywords: recreational engineering, outdoor education, Everglades, recreation program]
Raccoon Eyes - A team building and barrier breaking activity for the group before entering the backcountry, the activity became a metaphor for the trip itself. It is an example of engineering the recreational experience for participants.
[Keywords: recreational engineering, outdoor education, Everglades, recreation program, team building, barrier breaking]
The Lehigh Canal - The outdoor recreational activity provides a glimpse for the river runner into the history and heritage of the area, the environment, and the interconnectivity of people within the region.
[Keywords: recreational engineering, outdoor education, interpretation]
THE ENVIRONMENT & TECHNOLOGY:
Although not actively delineated in the model, this section focuses on the environment.
The Thin Blue Line - From outer space, the atmosphere creates a thin blue line of protection. The police are the thin blue line between civilization and anarchy. This essay explains that the role of the environmentalist is to serve and protect the environment.
[Keywords: environmental protection, environmental education, environment, outdoor education]
Environmental Fundamentalism - Sometimes a definition can synthesize a concept down to its essentials. Try definition 4b. It says it all.
[Keywords: environmental fundamentalism, definition, religion, environmental education, environment, outdoor education]
If I am a whitewater paddler, I should support building more dams - In resource mangement, the dirty little secret is that the facility or resource are the limiting factor in the growth of most outdoor recreation activities. Limit the outdoor recreational opportunities, limit the activity. Conversely, increase the outdoor recreational opportunities, facilitate the growth of the activity.
[Keywords: resource management, outdoor recreation, outdoor experience, environmental movement]
The Onionskin - Are we playing Russian Roulette where the development of no new technology is the bullet that returns us to a less sophisticated way of life? The thesis of the essay is that as energy resources become more scarce, substitutes have historically been found to replace the original energy source.
[Keywords: technology, economic substitution, fossil fuel, energy, scarcity]
OUTDOOR PHILOSOPHY:
To paraphrase Aldo Leopold, the purpose of recreational engineering is to create receptivity and husbandry in those participating in outdoor recreation experiences. The theme of this section emphasizes the "why." We are engineering outdoor recreational experiences to create outdoor experiences for what purpose?
We no longer live or work in the outdoor environment. It is the new environment, the new experience. Therefore, we need to be educated for our outdoor experiences. Historically, this was the role of the schools. Now it includes other venues such as NOLS, Outward Bound, etc. These reading focus on educating people in, for, and about the outdoors. It includes interpretation.
The River of Life - The river becomes a metaphor for living life. It is an essay on why I chose paddling over other outdoor activities. It is an introspective essay.
[Keywords: outdoor philosophy, canoeing, outdoor recreation]
The Role of Camping in Outdoor Education - This is a slightly homogenized version of the Golden Quill Award article published in Camping Magazine. Its thesis is that outdoor education needs to redefine itself more broadly to include all ages and settings. Although it was written to the organized camping movement, it could equally apply to the recreation and parks movement, etc. It suggests expanding the definition the definition of outdoor education to include provide education "in" "for" and "about" the out-of-door regardless of age or setting.
[Keywords: outdoor education, technology, camping, philosophy, outdoors]
The Outdoor Recreation Imperative - Are outdoor educators a profession and should they be given professional status. This piece examines the need for outdoor educators. It explains the "why."
[Keywords: recreational engineering, outdoor education, outdoor recreation, technology, professionalism]
