[pct-l] Thru numbers

[Diane Soini]

The trail can be successfully hiked without establishment-type trail  
angels and without water caches and coolers left for hikers. I'm not  
saying that these things are not appreciated. They are. But I did  
notice that I started to expect a cooler at every road crossing and  
started to feel not just disappointment but something a little more  
greedy than that when it wasn't provided. It bothered me that I was  
having these thoughts and feelings, actually. I felt ashamed of  
myself. It might be helpful for restoring the experience of the trail  
if there was less help rather than more.


On Jun 8, 2013, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> From: Evelyn Dybowski <lilacs007 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] ] Thru numbers
>
> "It's pretty clear that for better or worse there are major changes  
> coming to
> the trail angel system that thru-hikers have enjoyed for the past  
> decade or
> so. ?"
> With the number of thru hikers increasing is there a way to  
> formalize the "trail angel" work? ?Maybe with people hiking  
> contributing to food/water costs or getting sponsors etc? (or  
> contributing to organization of trail angels and their needs)
> Or formally figuring out where the spots are that most people would  
> need water/food etc and as a group focusing on those?
> Maybe stupid idea.. but with the stores going to kick off and  
> selling goods- could they be asked to contribute to the community  
> by helping trail angels have the funds for or actual food/drink? Or  
> do they already do this?
> I'm just working on a charity organization (from ground up) and we  
> were able to get a small grant to offer our community (medical  
> expenses related). Maybe a site like Kickstarter could also help in  
> this case? You could give bandanas or whatever to certain level  
> sponsors.
> BTW I'm from sales and business development.. so if any of this is  
> stupid SORRY, I always go back to my "sales" life I guess!
>
> Evelyn