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[pct-l] Running on the PCT



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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