[pct-l] Permanent Campfire Ban on PCT?

[Jeffrey Olson]

A different take on this issue is that the PCTA and any organization or 
person talking in public about hiking the PCT could be encouraged to 
discourage building campfires except in emergency.

Prohibition doesn't work.

However, appealing to the ethical sense of thru-hikers might.  Sure 
there will be "I'm in this for me" small minded hikers, but most people 
get the destructiveness of fires, not just in terms of danger to the 
forest in raging wildfires, but to the small world where firepits leave 
scars that last for years and years.

There will always be selfish people, but most people can claim ignorance 
- so let's just keep up the consciousness raising and support 
campfireless hiking on the PCT...

Jeffrey Olson
Rapid City, SD

On 9/15/2012 8:49 AM, Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes wrote:
> I don't think that is workable. First of all, it has not been
> determined that a PCT hiker's campfire caused the fire. Second, PCT
> hikers aren't the only people hiking the PCT. There are hunters,
> scouts, weekenders, and others. I suppose you could deprive the whole
> world of the enjoyment of a campfire to quell the carelessness of a
> few but that seems rather harsh. Not to mention that careless
> campfire people are going to have campfires no matter what anybody
> says about it and there's about a grand total of zero rangers out
> there to enforce anything.
>
> On Sep 14, 2012, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>