[pct-l] Why I do it (was do gooders)

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

I think that maybe the way you phrased it hurt some feelings.

I, too, was annoyed by the water caches and thought they sent a  
message that people didn't think we could do this trail without help.  
They cropped up everywhere and made the trail very unsightly. It  
looked like trash and ruined the sense of being in the wilderness.  
But I decided that it didn't make my hike any better to get upset  
about it. I felt good about my ability to manage my water whether  
someone left a cache or not. So little of the trail's water was  
"natural" water. Too much of it came from faucets and cattle troughs.  
After a while, it kind of seemed like a false division between water  
in a bottle vs water from a faucet or trough.

Full disclosure: I did take water from caches three times, mostly out  
of anger from suffering in the heat. The PCT just seemed so  
inappropriately routed sometimes. I think back now and laugh at  
myself for complaining so much.

Diane

On Jan 8, 2010, at 7:26 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> From: Bob Vance <hikerbob62 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Why I do it (was do gooders)
> To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> Message-ID: <443080.56064.qm at web114014.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
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> ________________________________
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>  She wanted to respond to
> the whole "fragile flowers" and "do-gooders" topic that was up  
> recently.
>
> let me make things clear.i never said i had a problem with people  
> in town opening up their homes. i never said i had a problem with  
> people offering rides to and from trailheads.these are services im  
> free to accept or decline as i see fit.what i said is, the only  
> "trail angeling" problem i had is with water caches.i believe the  
> only reason they exist is to make it easyer, if there is another  
> reason id love to hear it.how does this affect me?part of the  
> allure of the p.c.t. is the challenge,i like the chess game of how  
> to make it from water hole a to water hole b. now yes ,i can   
> always walk on past,but in the back of my mind,i know their  
> there.this is very different from people offering services in  
> town.i won`t back down from my previous comments. i think they are  
> there because the cachers believe that a lot of people can`t make  
> it without them.
> note to the grammer nazi(you know who you are) yes im aware of of  
> my educational limatations,thanks for letting me know i will make a  
> note of it.