[pct-l] Fire Closures in General

[Nathan Miller]

>That was very well said. That was the basis of my comments on Scott and Joe
continuing the trail through the closure. They are adults and know the risks
better than most of us. They also know their abilities. Apparently when the
Forest Service spoke to them they felt the same way and allowed them to
proceed.

Much of life in general involves managing risks in some form or another.  We take risks every day just going to and from work and for some of us, even just being at work (I work at a machine shop and on the weekends, I'm a potter [Just go ahead and try to tell me that working with temps. in excess of 2000 degrees isn't risky! :-)  ].).

In the world of long-distance backpacking, most of us really only have one shot at a through-hike and so, as they're fond of saying in the military, failure is not an option.  By the time a through-hiker reaches the closed and presumably still-under-construction bridge discussed a week or two ago, or the first of the trail sections a stone's throw from one of the NorCal fires, he/she has already been through a lot and quite possibly in situations at least as twitchy.  The weight of a judgement call with regard to a nearby fire could be just as much as one exercised when deciding whether to attempt any given Sierra pass under threat of storm, or choosing to try outrunning a northern WA storm rather than hunkering down.  Occasionally, such a choice will be the last.

Sooner or later, every one of us will live our last day.  We all die--it's just a question of when and how and I think it really comes down to whether we die doing something or die doing nothing.  Personally, I'd rather die doing something!  It's been said that we often regret the things we didn't do more than the things we did do.  Sure, often discretion is the better part of valor, but on the other hand, you only live once!  Perhaps when one forges ahead anyway despite the risks, one may doing so out of aggression, or out of reckless abandon, or possibly a mix of both.  Who's to say which?  Do we evaluate based on the outcome?  Often we do.

Anyway, feel free to add all this to y'all's philosophical ponderings, or not, as y'all feel so led.

-Nathan Miller
Newberg, OR