[pct-l] Idyllwild Trail Days

[montypct]

OR have a function the same day as the Kick Off north of section A.

As an event farther north would serve a very different purpose, there would be more choices that "where".






Brett blisterfree at yahoo.com 
Thu Feb 28 20:21:57 CST 2008 

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As a potential compromise solution to the ADZ issue, in future years how 
about reorganizing this as an event more like Trail Days on the 
Appalachian Trail. Rather than having an "Annual Day Zero" event near 
the southern border, move it farther north so it has less influence over 
thru-hikers' planned starting dates.

I propose the community of Idyllwild as a possible location for the 
event, or thereabouts. To be held the first or second week of May. Among 
the potential advantages:

- At ~178 miles from the border, an Idyllwild Trail Days in May would 
attract fewer not-yet-started thru-hikers. The upshot would be that 
thru-hikers planning to attend would start out at the border more on a 
schedule and at a pace of their choosing, thus minimizing the initial 
herd. For hikers ahead or behind schedule for the event, shuttles could 
be arranged from and to I-10, Pines-to-Palms, and potentially elsewhere.

- A May event would cater to the less experienced thru-hiker who may 
want to start earlier than later, giving them plenty of time to hike in 
to the event. Faster-paced hikers, who may be less inclined to attend, 
would start later and could easily miss all the to-do and subsequent 
herd, or could still hit the event, either just before starting their 
thru-hikes or by shuttle, hitchhiking, etc.

- Any post-event herd would be smaller than that leaving the current 
ADZ, due to natural "thinning" in the initial 178 miles of walking prior 
to the event, and also because some hikers would be shuttling back to 
whatever location they left the trail in order to attend.

- Whatever the size of the post-event herd, a crowd of sorts would be 
more of an advantage going over Fuller Ridge just north of Idyllwild, 
especially for the newbies who tend to herd.

- Idyllwild offers the advantage of being close to the PCT, but not 
directly on it. So again, those who lift their noses at such events 
could walk right on by, even while it were ongoing, and suffer no such 
sensory intrusions.

- An Idyllwild event would be fundamentally different than simply 
disbanding the ADZ in favor of morphing it into Trail Fest or 
ALDHA-West. By continuing to host the event during thru-hiker season, 
and toward the beginning of it (unlike, say, on Ray Day in KM), much of 
the "Kick-Off" spirit would be retained. Also, certain aspects of the 
event could potentially become more meaningful to thru-hikers, since 2 
weeks of walking offers it own fine direction on what gear is and is not 
going to work, and the vendors in turn would have a more educated and 
discriminating consumer. And Meadow Ed would, I hope, continue to extol 
his wisdom on water and snow, and do so before a crowd who actually, by 
that point, has a clue about the wisdom he's extolling. Perhaps ice axe 
self-arrest training could also be offered in the vicinity, as well as a 
post-event guided walk along Fuller Ridge.

Appalachian Trail Days is an event much larger than the ADZPCTKO. Yet 
ironically, Trail Days seems to have very little impact on the 
surrounding trail corridor. The reason, it seems to me, is 
straightforward. It's all about the timing and location of the event, 
relative to the start of thru-hiking season at Springer Mountain. Move 
the ADZ away from the border, and it ceases to serve as a starting gate 
for the marathon heading north. Instead, it becomes more of a watering 
station, something to look forward to or else to pass quickly by, 
depending on the whim of the individual.

- blisterfree



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