[pct-l] Dogs in National Parks/horses/mules/llamas

[chiefcowboy at verizon.net]

It's simply part of the wilderness experience.  On my entire thru hike I 
never had to "wade through" it, simply step over or around it.  I'm just 
glad the equestrians have the same opportunity to enjoy the trail and the 
beauty of the back country as we do.  I'd hate to have hikers listed as 
"elitist snobs" who own the trail.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Hillary Schwirtlich
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2011 7:24 PM
To: Charles Williams
Cc: pctl
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Dogs in National Parks/horses/mules/llamas

I think "offensive" is a relative term. I don't really care what's in it,
whether it's horse poo or dog poo or people poo. It's offensive to me to
have to wade through poo on the trail - or worse, kick it aside in the only
good campsite around. (The only exception to this is wild animal scat).

Basically, I just think it would be fair to expect all users to pick up
after their animals on the trail, regardless of size.

Horses that pull carriages in towns have a bag behind them to catch the
waste. Can't trail riders do that too? Then, even if they don't bury it,
which would be time-consuming and probably cause more damage than good,
they can at least deposit it off-trail or something.

Seahorse

On Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 1:29 PM, Charles Williams 
<charlesnolie at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Horse and mule poop looses it's offensiveness in a day or two.  It is just
> grasses, grains, or legumes and the remnants after it has dried are not
> very offensive.  Dog and human poo on the other hand...very bad!  They
> never become "inert" and will allways disgust.
>
> For the record... a horse is suppossed to crap every two hours on
> average.  That assumes a regular ration of appropriate feeds or grazing.
> And all the nutrients are taken from the feed without breaking down the
> structure of it beyond what the teeth do to it.  All of the breaking down
> of the fibers happens in the mouth, complements of the teeth.  Again,
> oppossed to human or dog poop which is a more thouroughly process food.
> And this too, I'd just asoon that horses did less damage to the trail
> too.  Some people think that horsemen, by virtue of the fact that they 
> ride
> and lead horses and mules, care less about our wildlands than hikers do.
> Nothing could be further than the truth.  When I dream of a brighter
> future, it includes owning a string of mules that I do nothing with other
> than support PCTA volunteers on wilderness trail crew projects.  For now,
> though, that's financialy impossible so I do my own volunteer projects 
> with
> a cross-cut saw for the PCTA with a horse and borrowed mules.
> --- On *Thu, 12/15/11, Hillary Schwirtlich <hillary.schwirtlich at gmail.com>
> * wrote:
>
>
> From: Hillary Schwirtlich <hillary.schwirtlich at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Dogs in National Parks/horses/mules/llamas
> To: "Charles Doersch" <charles.doersch at gmail.com>
> Cc: "Mark Utzman" <blackbelthiker at gmail.com>, "pct-l at backcountry.net" <
> pct-l at backcountry.net>
> Date: Thursday, December 15, 2011, 12:06 PM
>
>
> I don't know for sure which does the most damage, but I do know that I 
> hate
> hiking on trails used heavily by horses more than on trails used by
> anything else (although I love horses and think they're beautiful!). Maybe
> that's because I have spent a bit of time hiking in the NW and they do
> cause a bit of damage there, especially when it's raining (which is 
> often).
> They churn up mud, and yeah, although it's holes and not ditches they
> leave, they still loosen the soil enough to move it downstream when it 
> does
> rain, causing erosion. They also kick out check steps and water bars
> (mostly ones that are old and breaking down or not fortified properly).
>
> But mostly it's because THEY POOP EVERYWHERE. And nobody ever picks it
>
>
_______________________________________________
Pct-L mailing list
Pct-L at backcountry.net
To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l

List Archives:
http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
All content is copyrighted by the respective authors.
Reproduction is is prohibited without express permission.