[pct-l] Hiker Trash

[abiegen at cox.net]

Let's not go off full cocked - some of us have already gone off half-cocked.

First of all, this is hear-say information. We heard it on the PCT-A list from
Philippe, who heard it from
a friend who lives in Palm Springs who heard it from 
a lady at the gym who lives near Snow Creek who probably heard it from
someone who actually lives in Snow Creek.

How many degrees of separation from the real facts is that?

Secondly, the story makes statements that just don't ring true.

1. There is really good water at the water fountain and PCT hikers coming down Fuller Ridge have to go right by it. Who in their right mind would not load up on water there? 

2. Piper and I did the San Jacinto down Fuller ridge last weekend. There was still water in the little creek that runs near Snow Creek. Cool, clear water. The herd has already gone past so that water could have sustained all those who were foolish enough to miss the water fountain. So why would any PCT Northbound hikers be going to the houses begging for water?

3. Any self respecting thru-hiker who gets a soda or a beer is going to drink it on the spot. They are not going to carry it all the way down Fuller Ridge. And where is the last place prior to Snow Creek that they could have gotten a soda or beer? Maybe from a camper at Fuller Ridge camp? If they got it there they would leave the can there.

4. In all my years of hiking and backpacking I never had enough time to stop and grow marijuana. Frankly, it just takes too long to set up all those irrigation hoses and then - the wait for the buds? And there is no practical place to plant it on Fuller Ridge - I'm just guessing here, not speaking from experience. Can't be thru-hikers involved in that.

Don't believe everything you hear, especially if they heard it from someone who heard it from someone who heard it from someone...

So what's this all about? Well the article in Palm Springs Life, I would guess. Yes, the Snow Creek denizens moved there to get away from people. I'm sure they are upset that one of their own is inviting unseemly hiker trash to her house and might become a Trail Angel. They need some facts to support their prejudice against thru-hikers so the misdeeds listed in the story fit the bill. I know that other Trail Angels have had problems with neighbors and their prejudices about hikers. I see this as typical of that reaction.

Beyond that, do all PCT hikers follow all the rules? The  vast majority do, but a few don't. Yes, coming down Fuller Ridge we saw some minor trash. A piece of a bar wrapper I picked up and put in my pocket, later was blown away when I pulled my bandanna out of my pocket by the 55 mph gusts. I tried to take it off the ridge but it just had other ideas. I assume that it was dropped in a similar fashion by accident. And why someone was dropping short lengths of colored wire on the trail was a mystery. 

I'm more concerned about the somewhat careless use of fire. In a video recently posted from this link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ThruHike4Freedom 

Two hikers enjoy an illegal fire in the San Jacinto Wilderness (or there about). They probably were unaware that the area has suffered at least two fires in the last three years (Fobes Saddle, Fuller Ridge), one of which was claimed to have been started by a thru-hiker. As one who has lost my home and everything I owned in a fire started by a human, I am very sensitive on this subject.

TrailHacker

"When my feet hurt, I can't think straight"
Abraham Lincoln