[pct-l] the fuss about prepardness

[Eric Lee (GAMES)]

Mark wrote:
>
It sounds to me like the real error is in calling on
someone who is busy giving of herself to hikers at her
home, and hoping/expecting she give herself more by
driving to pick someone up.
>

That I can certainly agree with.  I guess I don't have a problem with experienced people deciding to cut the margin of safety really thin, as long as they suffer in silence when they get caught out by the consequences of those decisions.  I do have a problem with people who make unreasonable demands on others merely for the sake of their own convenience when they could have easily foreseen and avoided whatever problem they're trying to get out of.

Say you're out in the wilderness and you accidentally fall and break your leg.  I have no problem with SAR being called to rescue you.  That's what they're for.  Say you're out in the wilderness and you get lost because you purposely didn't bring any compass, maps, or other navigational aids (they weigh too much).  SAR will come find your sorry butt, I guess, but you certainly don't deserve it.

Say you get a venomous bite of some kind, walk to a trailhead, and ask a passing car for a ride to town.  That's entirely appropriate, I think.  You helped yourself as much as you were able and you didn't drastically inconvenience anyone else.  However, say you're in the mountains in the spring without any kind of bad-weather gear and then it snows on you, as it tends to do in springtime in the mountains.  You call someone whom you know is extremely busy and a long distance away and tell her to come retrieve you so you can warm up, and then return you later.  Yeah, that's over the line in my book.  The situation you're in could have been so easily mitigated with a little common sense.  If you chose to cut corners, then suck it up and deal with it unless you're in mortal danger.  And if you're in mortal danger, ask for the minimum help necessary to get you out of mortal danger, no more.

God (and trail angels) help those who help themselves.

And yes, I'm aware that my comments on this topic are building up bad karma that will almost certainly result in my suffering a humiliating and entirely avoidable catastrophe the next time I'm on a long-distance hike.  If you see my name in the news this summer, you'll know why.  :-)

Eric