[pct-l] Worst parts of the trail and ways to get though

[Anne Estoppey]

There is also some trendy silliness about wind farms in Norway. Although it has been observed that it was a problem for birds, especially on islands where bird populations are decimated by these stupid things. And also on migratory routes. Norwegians don't like wind farms, because they hate when something so visual is killing their landscapes. Still some projects have gone through, I am not sure how.


For a lot of people, if you are opposed to wind farms, you are some kindof evironmental pro-oil enemy. For a lot of people, there is nothing in the deserts, so why not use all this otherwise useless space?

That makes me sad. I had no clue of SoCal deserts. Last year I drove from LA to Palm Springs. The highway went over a ridge, and -pang- I was in the desert. I had never seen anything like this before. Wind was blowing sand on my windshield. It was sand on the highway! I almost had to stop because I couldn't believe what I saw. The landscapes were so mind-blowing. I spent one night in a campground in Mojave. I will never forget it. I truely love SoCal deserts, and although I am from green and tiny Switzerland (and living in over watered Norway), I don't like to see the deserts, their fauna and flora, destroyed by these huge wind farm projects (neither by these solar power plant projects).

I am excited to start walking in the SoCal deserts on the PCT. I am also anxious because it can be tough and I am really not use to these conditions. And I am also anxious because I surely do not want to see any dead raptor at the feet of some wind turbine... :-/

Anne



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Message: 16
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2012 16:51:44 -0700
From: Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes <diane at santabarbarahikes.com>
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Worst parts of the trail and ways to get though
    them
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Message-ID:
    <EC0A03C0-4260-492F-9630-DB46C7E59F47 at santabarbarahikes.com>
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I agree. The wind farms are the worst eyesore of the whole trail. It  
is NOT clean energy. Not by a longshot. I feel for all the people  
trying to fight for the Mojave desert and the Tehachapi area,  
fighting for something nobody cares about (the desert) against  
something everybody thinks is pure and clean and the salvation of  
their energy profligate way of life (windmills). And here we are,  
walking through it all, not needing much energy, comfort or "stuff"  
and being the happiest we have ever been... Sorry. Off my soapbox now.

Diane

On Nov 2, 2012, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> From: Edward Anderson <mendoridered at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Worst parts of the trail and ways to get though
>     them
> BUT, the "worst" of those eyesores, to me, were the darn wind  
> farms. In?the Tehachipi area it took about 1.5 days to escape  
> seeing and hearing them. The saddest experience was along a place  
> where the PCT?was on?a dirt access road that followed closely?along  
> a line of wind turbines on a ridge. I looked down to my right to? 
> see a dead Red Tailed Hawk, killed by the rotating blades. I  
> wondered how many more dead raptors were beyond any PCT users'  
> view. The sight of that?dead bird will remain in my memory as long  
> as I
>  live. I wish they would stop building wind farms. If they  
> continue, many beautiful ridges will be lined with windmills.