[pct-l] Arguing with Idiots

[Reinhold Metzger]

Switchback,
I can't believe what I am hearing in this recent "ARGUMENT" about
dangers on the trail in the "End of the World" thread.

Bricks response is right on the button.

To ignore or to refuse to acknowledge that dangers do exist on the 
trail is like sticking your head into the ground and pretend they 
do not exist.
I have been hiking the Sierra for going on 35 years now and always 
accept the fact that I will be exposed to danger.
That does not mean I will let that scare me or control my hike, it 
only means I am aware of potential danger and plan accordingly.
You can not eliminate the danger, but you can plan to be prepared
for it.

It is exactly that kind of naive thinking that encourages inexperienced 
hikers, who should not be on the PCT to begin with, to attempt a thru-hike
and then call 911 when they get scared or run into trouble, because they 
were let to believe that there is no danger in the wilderness and  "while
hiking the trail we are safer than we are in our own homes".

I have been reading the book  "Arguing with Idiots"  and this has made me 
realize  that conversing on the list is a lot like  "Arguing with Idiots".

Now don't get me wrong, there are a lot of cool, intelligent folks on the
list...but, unfortunately, there are also a few  "IDIOTS"  on the list and 
at this stage of my life I do not want to argue with  "IDIOTS"  any more.

So, to my "FRIENDS" I say, once more,  "ADIOS"  and to the "IDIOTS" I say
"wise up"  Amigos, before it is to late.

JMT Reinhold 
--------------------------
Diane wrote:
Your post is awesome, Louie. You have it exactly right. The trip is  
an escape from fear. It's a journey into Middle Earth. It's a  
wonderful, safe, magical experience. You captured it correctly.

The thing is, the people on the trail know this, but most people on  
this list do not. Every dire warning on this list is total hype.  
You'll hear this complaint many times when you're out on the trail.

Since we're entering the lull time, expect this list to hype into  
warp speed with dire warnings about everything. Don't worry. These  
aren't the lunatics you'll be hiking with. Those lunatics are smelly,  
hairy and happy.

Diane

On Nov 4, 2009, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net <http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l> Louie wrote:
>/ You'll have to forgive me for posting back to back once again, but I'm
/>/ trying to figure out just what kind of band of lunatics is going to be
/>/ on the trail come 2010.
/>/
/>/ All of this crazy talk about coyotes, and black bears, and rapists and
/>/ the end of the world make me wonder if even one sane person wants to
/>/ walk to Canada?  Do any of you fear mongers realize how benign it
/>/ actually is in the Sierras?  How often the sun shines?  How kind the
/>/ weather is for essentially, the ENTIRE walk?  We're safer on the trail
/>/ then any one of us is in our own homes.  I hope the joke is on me  
/>/ and I
/>/ just didn't get it.
/>/
/>/ Because I plan on enjoying myself.  I am going to have fun.  I am  
/>/ going
/>/ to partake in all the fish and bird the mountains grant to me.  And  
/>/ what
/>/ I won't be doing is entertaining all of the silly worries about Lions
/>/ and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!  I'll be sleeping like a baby every  
/>/ night.
/>/ Because, apparently I know something all the paranoid people don't  
/>/ know.
/>/
/>/ This trip is supposed to be an escape from fear, it is supposed to  
/>/ be a
/>/ peaceful walk, a contemplative time.  A Mission.  When the wilderness
/>/ becomes nothing more then an extension of the fears we carry around  
/>/ with
/>/ us in the "world", then God help us all.
/>/
/>/ Plan on having fun.  Your failures won't be because you got  
/>/ attacked by
/>/ a bear, or a rapist- you'll fail because you quit on yourself.  And  
/>/ that
/>/ is the hard truth.
/