Musings on Wilderness and wild-ness

By Marla Waters, Eugene Conservation & Outreach Intern

It was the wildest place I had ever been. Emerging from the dense forest of the Siuslaw National Forest into the clearing where Wasson Creek ran, I laid eyes on the infamous Devil’s Staircase. Crystal clear water flowed over steps of rocks and down into a stream, on either side of me were beautiful tall Douglas fir giants. However, this beautiful site wasn’t easily admired. For the 3.5 hours prior to reaching the Devil’s Staircase we hiked through the rugged terrain using landmarks and way points like "to the left of the sap tree" and "to the right of two large Douglas fir" as ways to tell our directions. Despite the lack of Wilderness title (the proposed Devil's Staircase Wilderness is still pending in Congress) one cannot deny the sense of wildness found in such an area. 

Opal Creek by Stan Newman

It wasn’t but a week later that I found myself hiking the Opal Creek trail in the Opal Creek Wilderness. Opal Creek is known for its crystal blue pool and ancient forests. This hike is full of wonders - from Sawmill Falls to Jawbone Flats - and shows another one of Oregon’s natural beauties. This hike was considerably different than the Devil’s Staircase; there were clear trails, no large ridges to slide down, and even a lodging area where you can pick up a cool drink after your hike. Although these hikes were vastly different, I found similarities in how I felt seeing the natural beauties each had to offer. 

This brought be back to a question my environmental studies teacher once posed to my class: what does it mean for a place to be wild? 

In school we were taught that wild is a state of natural, uncultivated or uninhabited land that has no human inhabitants. But after these two hikes that definition troubled me. Hiking the Devil’s Staircase we were virtually alone in the forest, whereas at Opal Creek I was just one of the many partaking in the hike. Yet I felt the same sense of wildness in both settings. Too often we define nature as separate but equal to our human lives. Is there a place where the natural world and the human world can coexist? Many people lack a developed sense of value for the natural world that has perpetuated the need for designated Wilderness areas. If more Oregonians found value in places like the Devil’s Staircase and saw themselves as a part of nature then it would not need the protection of being defined as a Wilderness area - we would just natually yearn to keep it wild.

My advice: on your next venture go out and find where you fit into the wild, wherever it may be.