[pct-l] horse interests on the PCT

[Brick Robbins]

Former PCTA president Ben York has done a couple of "the tru-rides"
sort of. He  wrote a book about one  "PCT By 2 in 1992." I believe it
is available through the PCTA  http://www.pcta.org

Dr York is a veterinarian and experienced horseman, and he still and
lost a horse in the Sierra. That is when I first heard of blowing up a
horse carcass as a way of "cleaning it up." I met some people who
helped him in Oregon, and they were (privately) appalled at the
condition of his stock when they met him. Then again, most thru hikers
are pretty lean and ratty by then too.

He had a dedicated crew to bring him horse feed and water, especially
in the desert sections, and he trailered around snow sections. I
suppose a true thru-ride is possible, but it would be very difficult
and very hard on your stock. People on this list regularly attempt to
disabuse folks of brining their dogs on a thru hike. Horses require a
LOT more effort to maintain than dogs.

Due to overuse by the commercial pack-outfits in the Sierra, and their
damage to the trail tread, and the miles of horse sh*t that many
hikers have had to hike through, you may feel that as an equestrian,
you get a less than welcoming reception from some of the hikers on
this list. I suggest you take the good, and ignore the bad.

Good luck with your endeavour.




On Thu, Aug 28, 2008 at 2:46 PM, susan <woodswitch at hughes.net> wrote:
> Would like to know if anyone recently has ridden the PCT (as much as
> possible) in it's entirety? Planning to do that in 09 and would like to make
> contact with equestrians.
> Gray-haired rider
> Susan