By defining the human footprint at every scale – a single step through terrain to the physical remains of extended habitation and

purposeful adaptation of rural land – we may view any level of human presence as extractive.

Focussing on the ways in which people then choose to establish a path through apparently ‘untouched’ terrain (and challenging the extent to which this is possible in the Anthropocene), I aim to decentralise the notion that human exploration is a static process and is rather an ongoing journey, acknowledging that the impact of this often manifests in the immediate environ physi- cally, whether through changes to water and drainage channels or, critically, man-made paths etched into the terrain over time as a reminder of recurring visits by people choosing the same routes, for ease or habit.

By refusing to impart moral judgement and categorisation of these human journeys as simply historical settlement or modern tourism, it is possible to explore the ways in which the tendency to roam leaves evidence in a deceptively fragile environment such as Lochaber, and how we may welcome this process through a series of adaptive installations, similarly refusing to remain static. Whilst the structures themselves may leave minimal physical evidence on this environment after their usable lifespan, I acknowledge that the trails and tracks left behind denote their presence, an adaptive relic mirroring the historic village of Glendrian, Ardnamurchan.