[pct-l] Western Section R

[marmot marmot]

You’ve got to be kidding me. Since 1987, every time I was on any of the trails I wondered where the rest of the world went. No people of color.  Virtually every hiker out there was northern Euro decent and the vast majority male. That has just barely started to change. We should be celebrating the change not complaining (with no back up figures and statistics) that money is being diverted from trail maintenance to so -called extraneous expenses.  Each bit of education taught in a work place makes all us safer. It is not in any way unnecessary.  I saw the change in my industry.  I’m a painter in the Motion Picture Union so you can see what I mean. Understanding the issues makes all the difference in the world. 
I cheer every time I see the diversity of the hikers grow. I think it is magical. 

We have an over grown trail because of over a year of a challenging pandemic. It will take awhile to remedy. It’s hard in the meantime. It takes us all back in time when the trails weren’t finished and there were constant blow downs to crawl over. I walked through miles and miles of poison ivy and nettles that I had to beat back with my hiking stick on the AT in ‘91. The PCT ,in ‘94,luckily was finished but not very well maintained. I had ripped and repaired  hiking clothing from the needles in the  chaparral which covered hundreds of miles in southern Calif  Of course the CDT in ‘96 was just a southward ramble with map and compass hitting marked trail randomly about 1/3 of the way. I still feel lucky on each trail these days when the way is clear. I whine when they build stairs instead of switch backs. That’s just because I’m not a trail building expert and have to guess the reason for that is there might be a structural issue of which I am unaware. But,I still whine ‘ cause I hate stairs. I moan and complain every time I have to crawl over a downed tree. As my kid used to say when he was a teenager “ Oh Well !!”
I hope everyone remembers what the reality of why the trail maintenance is behind. We need to avoid inappropriate  transference from one practice( sensitivity training of all types that people often misunderstand and something that causes some people to be afraid) to a situation that has a different cause. We have all had to grow up and take a hard look at our preconceived ideas. 
This is a time to help build the trail or contribute to the PCTA financially. I’m sure there is a way to earmark a donation for trail maintenance only if you are worried. Ask the office. 
The other choice might be to run for the PCTA  board. I spend 16 years on the ALDHAWEST board. I didn’t alway agree with the final decisions by the board but at least I had input. Show up at PCT days. Help. Volunteer 
Hope to see you all at the next ALDHAWEST “in person” gathering or like I usually do—on some trail. I leave next week for my first long hike since this whole COVID mess started.
Can’t get the grin off my face
Marmot




Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 29, 2021, at 2:34 PM, JimLBanks at verizon.net wrote:
> 
> David, the trail conditions you describe are becoming more and more common
> from one end of the trail to the other.  The original purpose of the PCTA
> was to maintain the trail.  However,  the PCTA has become an organization
> more concerned with "social justice" and sponsoring a hiker who writes on
> the PCTA blog that the trail itself was built "on racist ideologies and
> practices."  The PCTA gets almost $1 million a year from the US Forest
> Service to maintain the trail, but spends its money on more and more staff
> (none of which actually do trail maintenance as their job), fancy offices,
> and racial sensitivity training for the staff.  The trail maintenance
> volunteers are out there busting their asses working on the trail, but there
> are just not enough volunteers to get the job done, especially with all the
> damage done to the trail in the last 10 years or so from so many huge
> devasting fires.
> 
> 
> 
> I-Beam 
> 
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