[pct-l] Smoking on the trail

[Fred Walters]

Unrelated (partially anyway), I understood that normal tobacco filter
cigarettes are rather polluting when discarded due to the tar collected in
the filter (my understanding - which is "not always 100%").  However
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2697937/ suggests that the
filter is non-biodegradable so if discarded on the trail they will be there
for some time (until washes downstream, and pollutes wherever it ends-up).

Not for one moment suggesting smokers be banned from the trail and as I
used to smoke myself I appreciate that giving up for the trail is not going
to happen.  But it does sound like discarded filter butts are more than
just unsightly litter.

(No point in me Google searching things and selecting those pages that
support my point).

(Sorry, Google Mail does not seem to allow me to modify the title to
reflect my off-topic comment)

On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 4:34 PM, <gary_schenk at verizon.net> wrote:

>  >Last year on a section hike I met a lot of cigarette smokers.
>
> We ran into a smoker in 2011. We knew he was ahead of us from the trail of
> butts he left behind.
>
> Not cool.
>
> Gary
>
>
> On 03/13/13, Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes wrote:
>
> Was his name Dakota John or Dakota Mike? I met a guy with that name
> (can't remember which now) in Oregon. He was hiking Southbound. He
> stopped and asked me if I had seen a lake and I said no. He got a
> really confused look on his face. We talked for a while and he
> finally realized he had hiked 5 miles in the wrong direction. So he
> turned around and hiked away. I continued on. He came back a few
> minutes later to tell me there was a really nice lake ahead off the
> PCT I should go check out. Okay, thank you. I found a spot to make
> dinner. Suddenly he appeared and we ate dinner together. He would
> talk and tell me stories and nothing he said made any sense.
> Everything was told out of order. One year would suddenly blur into
> another, one trip in one place would suddenly become someplace else.
> He was really weird. He continued hiking, then once again he turned
> back to tell me one more thing. Then I never saw him again. Funny guy
> but I guess he is somewhat well-known in the hiking community and I
> think he's from Alaska.
>
> Back on the subject of smoking dope. I guess if it is medicinal it's
> being smoked for a different reason, but possibly not. I don't really
> care either way. I'm not a dope smoker. I met a few on the trail. I
> wasn't interested in that sort of experience so all I had to do was
> hike on.
>
> That's the great thing about the trail. People you don't want to hang
> out with? No problem, just hike on. You can hike on by leaving early
> from town. You can hike on by passing someone when they've stopped
> for a break. You can hike on by hiking a couple extra hours in the
> evening. It takes only about 15 minutes of separation to get yourself
> back into a completely solo experience.
>
> Last year on a section hike I met a lot of cigarette smokers. I ended
> up completing the last and final little unhiked piece of the trail
> and I celebrated by sitting in an outhouse with all these smokers.
> I'm not a smoker myself, so it was pretty hard to breath, but better
> than the smell of the toilet I guess and anyway at least these guys
> were hilariously funny. What a way to celebrate! So many weird things
> happen on the trail. Makes you appreciate all the differences of
> everybody.
>
> On Mar 13, 2013, at 6:22 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
> > Subject: Re: [pct-l] Smoking on the trail
> >
> > This chain of emails makes me chuckle. My wife and I were doing a
> > section
> > hike in the central Oregon area and on the trip we ran into several
> > other
> > hikers. Most of them very pleasant and informed. We did run into one
> > individual who must have been on something. He was walking along
> > the trail
> > talking to himself about wondering where is was. He had this kind
> > of dazed
> > look on his face. We stopped and talked with him for a while to
> > make sure
> > he was OK. We got out our maps and showed him where he was; he
> > thanked us
> > and proceeded down the trail. We had all these flash backs of the
> > 60's and
> > 70's. and you have to remember that central Oregon PCT isn't too
> > far away
> > from Eugene (University of Oregon) which is the weed capital of
> > Oregon. We
> > thought it was pretty funny.
> >
> > Dennis
>
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