[pct-l] Mt. Whitney permit

[Sean Carey]

Hello Tamsin and whomever else this will concern,

I have talked to quite a few people about this and have gotten different
opinions as well. I definitely do not want to stir the debate back up.LOL. I
did however want to comment on the few dollars here and few grams here. For
me at least it has been like this. So I am talking to a friend the other day
and he had in the past considered doing the PCT, but due to other
circumstances has since put it off or maybe will never do it. I don't know.
Anyways were talking about gear and stuff and he says "right and gps youve
got to have gps with some kind of emergency alert on it". I say "yeah I that
would be nice, but I just am not sure if im going to have the money for it".
He says " Oh dude it's just like $100 maybe or so". OK freeze right
there..........

LOL. Everything is just like a $random amount or so. There are so many
things like this that have piled up for me over the last few months. All of
them are vital pieces of equipment that I must supposedly must have or don't
want to risk going without. Seems to me though that well....probably not
even that many years ago I am sure we didn't even have gps and people hiked
without it..Or for that matter without cell phones either. Believe me I
would very much like to have the gps and if I can affford it I will, but it
all really equals to me more money. I already am just pushing trying to get
the rest of my gear and to have at least a minimal amount of spending money
while on the trail. If I have to do that well that will be fine. It will
mean adjusting around what I can afford and skimping where I have to.

Anyways I am definitely not trying to start an argument here at all. Or
anything like that. I would say it might be like 60/40 with %60 people I
talked to went ahead and got it and %40 of the people did not. I know the
permit is not gps..That wasn't my point. I guess I am trying to say I
believe people quibble over lots of things here because it simply adds up. A
dollar here..a dollar there..Next thing you know it's $2,000 and then you
still need trail spending money or you will get no further. I am just saying
I understand both sides of this. I have a feeling I might get messages now
about how I do realy need gps...LOL...

I don't know if it is wise to get it or not. From everything I have read it
clearly states that you need the permit to summit the eastern side and/or to
exit there. I don't plan on doing either. I know this has it's debate as
well. LOL. I just wanted to pipe in on the money part because I am still
grinding away trying to put together the rest of the money I will need.
Thanks for listening. Maybe see you out there. Have a good one.

Sean C.
On Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 10:06 AM, T McMahon <tamsinrm at gmail.com> wrote:

> My friend and I are 09 thru-hikers and we both got the Mt. Whitney permit.
>
> Here is my reasoning:
> It was a lousy $15 (and I'm Canadian, so that was more like $20 of my
> currency);
> The PCT puts it on their thru-permit form, and why would they do that
> unless they were advising you to get the permit?
> I'd rather pay $15 than whatever penalty I'd pay if I got caught in the
> wrong place with no permit
> Peace of mind that I can enter/exit wherever I like and not worry about not
> complying with their rules
>
> I find the PCT-l list very informative, but people will quibble about the
> tiniest details, a few dollars here, a few grams of weight there... I'm not
> rich by any stretch of the imagination, but I can find $15 for a permit.
>
> That's just my opinion!
> Tamsin
>