[pct-l] Disrespect of the PCT

[Peter Necarsulmer]

Thoughtful and well stated in all respects. Thank you. Peter 

Sent from my iPhone

> On May 24, 2014, at 5:31 PM, Anthony Biegen <ajbiegen at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Triple Crown thru-hiker Flippy (Sean Ansley) actually called the ranger who
> took the picture of the bag of trash and note and posted what he found on
> Facebook. I chatted with him a bit after I found my information about the
> ranger's presentation on manipulating a fire story to better present it to
> the public. He said, "I could tell from our phone conversation she was in
> full backpedal mode." Here is his post from Facebook:
> 
> Lately thru-hikers have been getting blamed for a lot of trash left on the
> trail, from packing in couches to Scissors Crossing (just kidding) to the
> latest of leaving a bag of trash in the High Sierra with a note for someone
> else to pack out. Personally I think this is misplaced blame and decided to
> inquire firsthand about the incident before drawing my own conclusion from
> the post below. Whatever hiker(s) left the trash, it's inexcusable.
> 
> http://www.pcta.org/2014/hey-thru-hikers-carry-darn-trash-20557/
> 
> After calling and speaking personally with Deb Schweizer (Public Affairs
> Officer, Inyo National Forest) about the bag of trash she found left in the
> High Sierra near Kearsarge Pass, she admitted that she really had no clue
> if it was left by thru-hikers, section hikers, or weekend warriors. She
> stated that she felt obligated to report the incident to the PCTA for
> consideration and review.
> Here are some simple observations from the article and conversation that
> would lead any reasonable person familiar with thru-hiking to come to the
> same conclusion:
> 
> * First it's 5/21 and almost no 'real' thru-hikers should be anywhere near
> the High Sierra, much less Kearsarge Pass, especially with the weather it's
> experiencing recently.
> 
> * The note states "We are back-packing the PCT" not we are thru-hiking.
> While this seems to be a play on words, back to point one (thru's shouldn't
> be anywhere near Kearsarge Pass). During our conversation, Ms. Schweizer
> repeatedly expressed her reservations about the hikers being thru-hikers.
> 
> * The note also states "...after resupplying in town we bought too much to
> carry.." and after speaking with Ms. Schweizer, the bag was left on the
> trail, not the bear box/trash can as pictured. Back to point one, after
> thru-hikers having hiked ~788 miles they know about how much to carry and
> strip their supplies of packaging before hitting the trail. Ms. Schweizer
> confirmed the contents of the trash were mostly empty juice bottles and
> empty Pop-Tart boxes. What thru-hiker packs out supplies in boxes after
> ~788 miles of hiking and resupplying? One can barely fit their supplies in
> the pack/bear canister for the High Sierra without the packaging.
> I do believe that thru-hikers should be "trail ambassadors" and set the
> standards of trail etiquette and LNT for the hiking community, but
> shouldn't be blamed for all the problems that can't be readily explained
> during thru-hiker season.
> 
> In a further chat with Sean, he added:
> 
> 
> Based on the PowerPoint you provided and her recollection of the events,
> her credibility is suspect in my opinion. I mentioned the bear box being
> close by that was pictured and asked her if that's where she found the
> alleged bag of trash. When she said she found it on the trail, I asked her
> why she didn't take the picture of it there? She hesitated and said she
> just wasn't thinking. The whole story doesn't make sense from thru-hikers
> having extra garbage bags and the trash being mostly juice bottles and
> Pop-Tart boxes.
> 
> It seems that a lot of people have jumped to a lot of conclusions based on
> some sketchy information. The bag was found only 1.5 miles up the Kearsarge
> Pass trail so it could have been left by anyone. I'm sure that there have
> been other incidents on the PCT there were done by thru-hikers or
> thru-hiker wannabes, but I've spent some time on the PCT every years since
> 2008 and haven't yet seen anything that would support righteous indignation
> to the degree that you could blame all PCT thru-hikers. There's a lot of
> good people out there.
> 
> 
> TrailHacker
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