[pct-l] Waste disposal

[Ben G]

I went to a presentation last night at Adventure 16 in San Diego where a
married couple who have climbed to the summit of Whitney over 150 times
gave a presentation about climbing the mountain to those who aspire to do
so. There was a ranger there from the Whitney ranger district. He mentioned
to me that over 23000 people attempted to climb whitney last year and that
99 percent of the people who go bring their Wag Bag back down.  He did say
that last year the rangers had to remove over 250 plastic bags from the
side of the trail. He spun the reasons somebody would leave a bag there a
little more positively than I would.  Anyways, pass this along to the other
hikers you encounter.  Most of the hikers out there are responsible,
considerate and careful but the select few who do not possess such
qualities put a negative image on the hiking community.  I would prefer not
to store my feces 6 inches away from my face but the alternative, that
somebody else has to do so, is unacceptable.  The same applies to fires in
areas where they are prohibited. We are the first line of defense against
those who violate the rules.

By the way, I was under the impression they have been removing feces from
the campsites on the west side of whitney but I guess they have not done so
in 5-10 years when they removed thousands of pounds.  Most people seem to
be obeying the rules.

You can all eat your dinner now.