[pct-l] Through Hiking as a job

[Tracy Fisher]

Yes, I too am sorry the hiker didn't stop, I would have as I am sure many others would have. 
 
Regarding the hikers who saved the dog, can you give me more details on that one?  I remember in N. Cal. going past an empty camp with a note on a rock saying that their dog was lost. From there I spent the next couple of hours whistling and calling out as I walked north in hopes of the dog hearing me.  Nothing happened and I always wondered what happened. 
 
Tracy (aka Running Commentary)
 
> From: marmotwestvanc at hotmail.com
> Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2013 12:13:15 -0700
> To: dannywormington at gmail.com
> CC: pct-l at backcountry.net
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Through Hiking as a job
> 
> I am horrified.  Maybe there is an excuse but I can't think of one.  Remember the hikers who saved the dog north of Sierra city. This year I met some south bounders who went out of their way to find a home for a kitten found on the trail near. Burney Falls.  That is what is normal   In the past 20 years as a long distance hiker I've heard so many stories like these.  I am sorry for someone being so uncaring. Marmot
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> > On Oct 10, 2013, at 11:47 AM, "Danny Wormington" <dannywormington at gmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> >     My wife and I recently hiked from Steven's Pass to Steheken.  It 
> > was early September and before all this snow and terrible weather. We 
> > only had three days of rain and miserable drizzle.  We met many through 
> > hikers and they were very pleasant for the most part.  One hiker had 
> > stopped briefly at Lake Sally Ann and when he passed us he said he 
> > wished he could spend a zero day there but there was no time.  That was 
> > when I realized that for most of these through hikers the hike is a 
> > job.  It's as if they don't have any sick leave left so they have to 
> > plug on and on.  They don't have time to stop and enjoy, they only have 
> > a deadline to meet even if it means pushing the envelope.
> >     At one point in the trail a huge tree lay across a switch back so 
> > that you had to climb down a vertical slope to the trail   You had to 
> > cling to slender tree roots, digging your toes into the soft, wet duff 
> > to make your way down.  As my wife climbed  down, a tree root snapped 
> > and she bounced to the trail below, laying on top of her pack like a 
> > turtle on its back.  There was a through hiker who had just caught up 
> > with us and  was waiting impatiently for us to finish our short descent 
> > so that he could hurry on to meet his schedule.  Time was a-wasting.  
> > When he got his chance he danced down the steep slope danced by my still 
> > prone wife.  And hurried out of sight without a pause or a word.  Time 
> > was a-wasting.  I checked my wife out, helped her to her feet and only 
> > then did I begin to wonder what was so important about a through hike 
> > that you didn't have time to help another hiker in distress.  Well, I 
> > was there, so I guess that took the load off him, and his job was so 
> > important that he didn't have time to slow down.
> >     Just a thought.  Perhaps it is the same kind of thinking that drops 
> > a hiker unwittingly into chest deep snow without warm clothes or enough 
> > food.
> >     It isn't really a job.
> > 
> > Danny
> > 
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