[pct-l] Recruiting New Water Cachers!

[Cat Nelson]

The PCT seems destined to be a National Bipedway like the AT. "Wild" will
commericalize the PCT at an accelerated rate. More new hikers will be on
the trail retracing those "Wild" steps. The government agencies touched
will need to gear up their staff next year and the years after in those
areas due to the "Wild" Effect, the synergy will touch every drop site,
water availability, enviornmental impact. EMT services, and tax the Trail
Angels.

I am Trail Angeling this summer and planning on going SoBo 2013. I resisted
reading "Wild" opting to read real trail journals. I used copy came my way
so I read it anyway. In my opinion, "Wild is a internal reflection written
many years after a genuine section hike experience. Sex, Drugs and Danger
always sell well in pulp. Mix that together with an ill
prepared, inexperiened, solo, mentally unstable individual, and you get
more than blisters, and lost toe nails. It's a good read, but it lacks
current, genuine, trail information. Lets hope those readers meet
experienced hikes on the trail next year while they carry their "Wild"
books into the wilderness.

SageGirl

On Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 8:12 AM, Lindsey Sommer <lgsommer at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ken, you make some interesting points.
>
> In a lot of ways, I'm a little sad that I've waited until next summer to do
> a hike. Growing up in northern California, I've known about the trail my
> whole life, but unfortunately the only time I've had a REAL summer off (I'm
> in grad school for the next 2 years) has coincided with all the things
> you've mentioned as well as the "Wild" Oprah effect.
>
> However, while I have no comment on whether the trail is getting easier
> (I've never hiked it, so I don't know one way or the other), it does seem
> like long distance hiking and the PCT have been getting more attention in
> general (regardless of "Wild", effect, from your experience this seems to
> have started a before the past year).
>
> And I agree, managing the number of people wanting to hike is going to be
> one of the biggest challenges over the next few years, ESPECIALLY now that
> they're making a movie from Strayed's book. In a lot of ways, I feel really
> sad and disappointed that I've somehow missed experiencing the trail the
> way it used to be, because I suspect that will make a huge difference in
> terms of the number of people wanting to hike it.
>
> Cheers,
> Lindsey
>
> On Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 1:27 AM, Ken Murray <kmurray at pol.net> wrote:
>
> > Friends,
> >
> > The issue of trail support has weighed on me this year.  With the
> > destruction of my ankle, I'll probably never complete the trail, so my
> > perspective is soley as a support person.  I spend most of my summers
> > working on the trail in the Sierra, and run into many hikers on their
> > journey.  I was involved in cutting the trees at Red's Meadow this year.
> >
> > I was very bothered by the volume of people this year.  The impact of
> > about a thousand people is significant.
> >
> > Even in the ten years that I've been doing support, there has been a huge
> > increase, and not just this year.
> >
> > When I was doing a project at Lake Edison this summer, I asked several
> > hikers what most surprised them, and they were unanimous in saying "the
> > social aspect".
> >
> > My observation:  This increase is occuring because the trail is becoming
> > easier to hike. All of the resupply options, all the water support, the
> > support books of various sorts, maps, descriptions of how to do it, the
> > places to stay as a group that has a HUGE impact on the psychological
> > component....they all have an impact.
> >
> > The KO has filled up every year.  There are not significantly more people
> > this year at the KO, than there were 5 years ago.  What HAS happened is
> > that it fills up quicker and quicker each year...Used to take a month,
> now
> > less than a week.  The pool of potential hikers has hugely expanded, but
> > they are not being accommodated at the KO.
> >
> > Donna has had to set daily limits.  The volume of water at caches used is
> > sometimes unbelievable....and will go up.
> >
> > I don't have an answer to all this, but the future is predictable.  You
> > used to have to be able to manage snow, manage water, manage permits,
> > manage your mental state, manage resupplies.  It is getting so you don't
> > even NEED a formal resupply. How best to get cell phone coverage? Spot?
> Sat
> > phone?
> >
> > Do people even get lonely?
> >
> > This is not the trail that Eric Ryback hiked, nor Teddie, nor Strider,
> nor
> > Kelty Kid.
> >
> > In the forest service, they say that wilderness management is a misnomer.
> >  We don't need to manage the wilderness, it has done fine for itself for
> > millenia.  It is about managing PEOPLE, and it's true.
> >
> > How to manage the people will be the biggest challenge for the trail, I
> > think.  But as is true for many things, more people does not make the
> > problem better.
> >
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-- 
*Cat*
*SageGirl51 at gmail.com*