[pct-l] Americas 10 most dangerous hikes?

[Brett]

Haven't seen the Backpacker article, but methinks Reinhold may have 
answered his own question. How dangerous, statistically speaking, is a 
trail that almost no one uses? (Versus GC's enormously popular Bright 
Angel Trail.)

Certainly there are infinite untold dangers - worse and worser - around 
every anonymous bend in any wilderness of one's choosing. But how can a 
magazine be expected to rank trails that, one, aren't popular and 
therefore won't kill, maim, or bludgeon very many, and two, aren't 
popular and therefore won't make "good copy"?

Listing the Bright Angel Trail makes perfect sense, if the goal is to 
highlight the unique dangers of the Canyon from the perspective that a 
majority of visitors encounter them.

Now, if the article were titled "10 Most Dangerous Trails of the Grand 
Canyon" then fire off a letter to the editor indeed.

- blisterfree


> The only reason the bright Angle is ranked so high on the danger list, 
> above the other Grand Canyon trails, is because it is the ''Freeway'' 
> and is heavily used by inexperienced hikers and visitors who 
> underestimate the trail and the heat and run into trouble.
>
> JMT Reinhold
> aka....The Canyon Rat