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[pct-l] Running on the PCT
- Subject: [pct-l] Running on the PCT
- From: "Roger Carpenter" <rogercar@pacifier.com>
- Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 07:38:54 -0700
Will wrote:
>>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 Bernardino'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 (?).<<
The status quo is that the PCT is a "national scenic trail", a national treasure that is being pressured from numerous sources. Unfortunately, there will always be potential abusers of the PCT. There is the BLM tolerating ORVs in the desert, the NFS selling timber rights along the PCT (happily, this is slowing down), private timber companies cutting along the PCT, etc. But these are all long, uphill battles that may or may not be won. With ORGANIZED races, it is a simple choice: Yes or No. I hope the PCTA takes a NO position to races, because it's a simple choice. Allowing racing today will only make it harder to reverse course years from now. By the way, I don't see any reasonable way to disallow individual runners. Organized running is another matter, in my opinion.
Roger Carpenter
Vancouver, Washington USA
PCT 1996
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