[pct-l] Rescues

[JoAnn]

Of course, one of the problems for people who have no clue is that they
don't realize that... they have no clue. Being unprepared and unaware
suggests that they did not proceed out of malice or lack of concern, but
out of a real lack of awareness of how dangerous their actions are, for
themselves and others.

How do we make the unaware the aware? Perhaps the threat of paying for
rescue might make such hikers consider the risks more thoughtfully.
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Personally, I feel the cell phone and all it can do, is the problem. Many years back, everyone relied on the books by Jeffrey Schaffer, et al, The Pacific Crest Trail, or simply known as “the guide books”. These books use to be on every hikers list of things needed for an thru hike. The guide books have so much information and recommendations that there were virtually no missing hikers. By reading the guide books (and photo copying the pages to take on the hike with you) you knew exit points and what can be found if you took that exit; what to wear; dangers on the trail; a heavy emphases' on the water situation in Southern CA, snow in Washington; food suggestions; and, every step of the trip, the entire 2560 miles of what exactly the trail way like. Yes, many of you might say the trail changes frequently and/or the books are out dated, but if people had no stopped using them for the cell phone and on line maps, etc., there would have been enough income for the author’s to keep them up to date. The guide books had the whole story on flora and fauna; the Natural History of the PCT; exact distances to every stop on the trail; junctions with other trails, and maps that weren’t perfect but were damn good......I could go on a lot longer of the necessity and advantage of having read the guide books, but I won’t. To summarize, they were/are still the BEST resource ANY WHERE for hiking the PCT. 

are we there yet