[pct-l] running on the PCT

[Brick Robbins]

2015-03-16 11:24 GMT-07:00 Andrea Dinsmore <andrea at dinsmoreshikerhaven.com>:
> Drew.....I am not a hiker or trail runner. I don't understand your
> reasoning on scheduling the trail runners at the same time the herd is
> heading north. Kind of like having a speed of 55 for semi trucks and 70 for

Do you guys realize that the normal speed for a trail runner is below
5mph, while hikers are around 3mph. That is not a speed difference
that is dangerous or really significant.

Most of these running events are for distances of 50 to 100 miles, and
a really fast time for a 100 mile race is 24 hours which only 4.2mph,
which is basically a fast hiking speed.

I understand that some people don't want to have their wilderness
experience impacted by seeing groups other people on the trail, and I
guess that view of the PCT as their private property is not uncommon.

Comparing the speed of foot traffic motorized vehicle speeds, or even
bicycle speeds, is not reasonable.

Also "The herd" really is not that dense once you get north of Los
Angeles, and thru hikers, while the focus of this list, really aren't
a significant quantity of users on the trail, and mostly impact towns,
not the trail.

Trial runners are even less of an environmental impact than hikers
because they don't camp.