[pct-l] oh no

["PCT Boy" <pctalker@hotmail.com>]

Responses to my recent post about running on the PCT have gotten under my 
skin, so a few words....

1. For years, I actually felt guilty about enjoying to run. There are always 
lots of people to say, "Look at him. He doesn't REALLY enjoy the wilderness 
'cause he just speeds along through it." I tried to go slower just because 
so many people told me I was missing something along the way. First of all, 
this is a common criticism of thru-hikers on the PCT; the people who spend 
two or three months on the JMT see the PCT-ers bustin' along at their 25 
mile-a-day clip and cluck and shake their heads.
    Running in the woods is probably as liberating a feeling for me as when 
Jardine first put his big pack down and started carrying less, going father, 
leading it out.

2. When I reached the ridge near Mt. Baden-Powell, the view was so stunning, 
I yelled out and cried. The fact I was in this wonderful race to share this 
experience with others just made it more special. I don't like the notion 
that runners can't enjoy the woods because they're running.

3. I've been using the term "woods" rather than "wilderness" 'cause the 
AC100 doesn't go through the wilderness at all.

4. Finally, a correction for the correspondents who picture the 
long-distance runners as a pack of exhausted, stumbling, sweaty disaters 
just waiting to crash into hikers and other legitimate users of the PCT. The 
AC100 and other trail events are not the Boston Marathon; they're limited to 
smallish groups of people and we aren't racing after some huge purse -- we 
will step aside to let people by.

I never cease to be amazed by how sensitive PCT-hikers are to the slightest 
disruption to their idea of status quo. There are huge, off-road truck races 
ripping up the desert, giant clear-cut strips right ON the PCT, trees dying 
of smog high in the San Bernadino's, etc., and hikers worry at a hundred-odd 
runners using a small section of the trail once a year. Now that I've been 
told that the PCTA is "considering" this issue, I'm wondering what the 
upshot could be....a ban on running on the PCT? So if you lift your back 
foot before the front foot hits the dirt, a PCTA enforcer jumps out from 
behind a tree to give a ticket? If running is banned, only criminals will 
run (?).
       Sorry, that's a bit dramatic.

will

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