[pct-l] Scott Williamson's Worksops

[Carl Siechert]

 Jon:

You're on pretty shaky ground impugning Scott's love of the trail. But
suppose he *is* a trail whore who's hiked the PCT 6 or 8 times (?) just so
he'd have this moment to cash in. And that Ned, Yogi, Postholer, Brick, and
the Kickoff are enabling, nay, *encouraging*, dozens of people to go out on
a trail that they have no business being on, and who are not going to
properly enjoy it as a real backpacker would.

None of that "deprives" you and other true backpackers of anything. As for
depriving the aforementioned whores' customers/victims of certain
experiences, it should be pointed out that they avail themselves of
the services voluntarily. Let those poseurs think they're having a good
time, deprived as it is. *You* can still enjoy the learning experience, the
sense of accomplishment, your own backpacking experience off in the woods
with other backpackers, etc.

And if encountering dozens of people over the course of dozens of trail
miles offends you, you're really in the wrong place by going on a designated
National Scenic Trail. If you don't want to see that many people -- or none
at all -- there are thousands of miles of seldom-used trail traversing some
of the most beautiful places in the world. Many of those lonely trails are
very near the PCT, but get a tiny fraction of the attention. Still
too crowded? Go cross country. Because of its topography, geology, plant
cover, and weather, the Sierra Nevada offers lots of superb routes, which
you're likely to have all to yourself.

Cheers,
Carl
ADZPCTKO unindicted co-conspirator

P.S. I put my affiliation here in the interests of full disclosure, not so I
can enjoy the notoriety, fame, and profit. But come to think of it, the
adulation that comes with it is really cool.



Depriving people of the learning experience itself, the sense of
> accomplishment gained only through years of devotion to backpacking and
> outdoor pursuits, is a very selfish thing, and furthermore to fill the
> trail
> with such people is disengenuous to those of us who have devoted ourselves
> to the experiences of backpacking far off in the woods away from the
> crowded
> masses that inhabit our currently overcrowded world.
>
> As I have suggested before, perhaps those people who seek the notoriety,
> fame, and profit of building up social structures should form a softball
> league or something similar, and leave the experience of hiking the PCT to
> those of us who seek our own backpacking experience, off in the woods,
> with
> other backpackers.
>
>