[pct-l] maps/thru-wallets

[Matt Geis]

Postholer is no more of a predator on thru-wallets than anyone who sells an emergency locator (i.e., SPOT), cell phone, "kills everything" water filter, or any other "must have" item.  I'd argue that he's definitely *less* of a predator.  If more people relied on maps (and actually knew how to use a compass), and fewer people relied on having ALL possible connections to home while on-trail, we'd have a smaller (i.e., less trail and town impact), wiser (a crowd that actually knows their trailcraft), and healthier (fewer people getting lost, injured, or worse because they relied on a device that lost its GPS satellite connection, had its batteries die, pushed on into bad weather emboldened by their pocket "routefinder", or simply trusted a hunk of electronics because their own instincts were lulled into a false sense of security).

In my opinion, the real predators are the ones who pimp products that, even if only in a small way, cause the hiker to actually mentally *disengage* from the trail.

Iron Chef