[pct-l] bikes on the PCT

[Craig Giffen]

> Well, all the serious studies have shown that on average bicycles impact trails slightly more than hikers and way less than horses. ?My unscientific experience is that any trail overused by any group tends to degrade over time. ?And nothing degrades a trail more than water running on a badly designed trail. ?Frankly, if hikers are okay with horses postholing trails and defecating all over, they should not see much issue with bicycles.

This keeps getting brought up but it ignores the fact that there are very, very few horses on the trail.  The barrier of entry for mountain bikes is considerably less than horses.  Anyone with a few hundred bucks can buy a mountain bike and go out and ride on a trail.  This is not the case with horses.  Horses have a considerable cost of upkeep hence not a lot of people do it.  I agree that horses do a lot more damage than a bike, but there would be a lot more bikes on the PCT than there will ever be horses.   During my hike of the PCT in the mid 90's, I saw more illegal mountain bikes on the trail than I did horses...and no, they did not yield.  One came around a blind corner so fast he nearly hit me head on.  He apologized but I told him other hikers might not be as nice as I was.

Craig