[pct-l] Ray Memorial (long)

[enyapjr at adelphia.net]

With all due respect...
I have read all the pct-l posts regarding a 'memorial' to No Way Ray, but I have mixed emotions regarding some of the ideas...

I never had the opportunity nor pleasure of personally meeting Ray, but did correspond with him via email a few times...
>From those emails, his many pct-l postings, his obvious love of the PCT, and his work for ALDHA West, I'm certain that Ray wouldn't want a plaque...  
Placing a plaque would really be, instead of being 'for' Ray, more for those 'left behind' (not that Alice isn't deserving of that remembrance) or those that 'follow' ("Aspiring hikers could then get a good dose of reality early in their hikes..." -
yet those aspiring hikers SHOULD know what they might be getting into long before Lake Morena if they have done ANY homework at all!)...

A plaque wouldn't bring any sustainability or improvement to the trail as Ray might have wanted...
It would be much more appropriate to establish an endowment fund through the PCTA or ALDHA West (or both jointly!?), similar to the PCTA Jane and Flicka Endowment Fund (see <http://www.pcta.org/help/janeflicka.asp>)...
It was founded "...in their memory to benefit the PCTA and to keep their spirit alive along the trail. ...
"We considered putting a memorial up for them, to join the others, yet we did not want to remember or memorialize that place. We wanted to think of them out on the trail, in God's country...
"...something that will live forever and help to preserve the trail for others to be inspired."
That 'sounds' more like Ray to me and, therefore, a more fitting tribute in his memory...

Most plaque memorials noted in previous posts, if in designated wilderness areas, were put in place well before the Wilderness Act or those areas became designated wilderness...
or - they were 'illegally' placed after the fact and have not been discovered by the 'authorities' as yet...

As for bridges, the 'hard' crossings are in designated wilderness areas - so 1) bridges probably won't be built - unless 'grandfathered' (i.e. 'replacement' of a previous structure) and
2) commemorative names are not allowed in wilderness areas "...unless an overriding need exists, such as for purposes of safety, education, or area administration."
See <http://geonames.usgs.gov/pppdgn.html#3-C>, Policy III and IV...

Where 'wilderness character' of the trail is involved, I don't feel that a plaque should be placed on or near the trail except in an area that is definitely not 'wilderness' 
- yet we all know there are many miles of PCT without 'wilderness character' (but how can a 2650+ mile trail all be in wilderness today?)...
Would I object to a plaque near the trail?  No...  Do I 'need' a plaque to remember Ray (or others)?  No... That's not my 'style'...
I will 'talk' to Ray whenever I pass through the Deep Creek area - just as I 'talk' to my Dad and Doug Andrews (a long time Klamath NF trail boss) when hiking in the Marbles and Salmons in NorCal, or Galen Rowell when in the Sierra, and many others in many locations...  
That is 'my' personal way of paying respect to the departed souls that I have crossed 'paths' with...

If an endowment fund in memory of Ray is established, please post to the pct-l...  I would like to contribute in Ray's memory and I'm sure many, many others would also...

Happy trails Ray!!!