[pct-l] Pct-L Digest, Vol 112, Issue 6

[Bob Bankhead]

As I understand it, completion of the Triple Crown does not have a time
limit on any trail. In other words, I could spend 20 years section hiking
one or all of the trails or thruhike each in any continuous 12 month period.


I respectfully submit that a thruhike (in any given continuous 12 month
period) is completed when the hiker covers all of the trail that is
currently open at the time they reach it. If any portion of the trail is
legally closed, they should not be penalized for not having hiked it. If a
safe alternate route around the closure is available, they should hike it.
If no such safe alternate is available, there should be no foul if they get
around it by any means possible. The fires of 2017 closed large portions of
the trail. Fires from prior years still have parts closed. The Eagle Creek
fire last year COULD have resulted in the closure of the PCT from Lost Lake
to the Columbia River - a 50 mile section with no safe walkable alternate.
Kudos to the USFS, the Mt Hood chapter of the PCTA, and other volunteers who
put in 5000 hours of labor repairing the trail, which is now open.

Section hikers should meet the same standard. Section hiking purists have
the time over the course of the years it takes to complete the trail to go
back and hike sections they were forced to miss due to closures. Season
changes and weather conditions mean that most thruhikers will likely not
have that option, even if the closed sections reopen during that continuous
12 months.

And lest we forget, it is illegal to enter the USA from Canada on the PCT,
so most thru-hikers will need to yo-yo the 30 miles from Harts Pass to the
Canadian border, unless they have the Canadian entry permit.
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Pct-L [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net] On Behalf Of marmot
marmot
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2018 5:00 PM
To: Susan Virnig; pct-l @backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Pct-L Digest, Vol 112, Issue 6

At least when someone says they are section hiking the trails I know when
they are finished they actually did it.

I don't care if someone yellow blazes. I don't care what they do.

Being proud of the miles you have hiked is understandable. Just don't claim
a finishing certificate/Metal. And Please do not show up at the Gathering as
one woman and one man have done and receive a Triple Crown Plaque.

Marmot