[pct-l] Unraveling thread.

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

Will's back:

I work high in the White Mountains (or will for another few weeks) and only 
get to email every week or so.
So....

I couldn't believe how the thread on trail running took off and morphed into 
the anti-horse, anti-sponsorship, and anti-trail race thread. Unlike some 
heated exchanges, this one took off without me, between Brick and Strider in 
particular. And I didn't even get any personal flames, which makes me feel 
like I'm losing my touch for this sort of thing.

Rather than feeling mad, as I have in the past, last week's exchange makes 
me yawn. Look, dear, another example of intolerant PCT-ers. I've only met 
about a thousand of them in the past three years. Look, dear, some 
uninformed PCT-ers spouting off on the mailing list again.

A few random facts:
1. There are hiking quotas in the high sierra. There are also quotas for the 
commmercial packers, but they're really high and getting higher as it 
becomes harder to get a permit to hike. This is wrong and people are 
"expending energy" to fight it.

2. There are no races through national parks or wilderness areas. Right or 
wrong, it's not allowed. People would love to race the Muir Trail, but they 
can't.

There are a few things I'd love to know for sure. First, the effect of 
various uses of a trail. I'm picturing a University Lab with a strip of 
trail. You run over it with a bike, Vibram shoe, running shoe, horse, etc. 
and then measure the displacement of dirt, compression, erosion, etc. Until 
you do a study like that, it's all bullshit (subjective.)

People don't like horses. People don't like "speed hikers." People don't 
like runners. It's so dumb! And it WILL divide wilderness enthusiasts where 
there should be harmony. I couldn't believe the things I read about trail 
runners and equestrians. If I were to just read some of the entries on the 
list, I'd think they were hooligans tearing town trees and putting up 
billboards. Oh, wait, that's what the big developers are doing all over the 
place while we split hairs about trail running.

--I'm backing off from this mailing list for awhile, and am considering a 
permanant break. This may not sound exciting to you guys, but I've been a 
regular contributor since 1997, so it's a little sad for me.
      Why?
I have maybe 500 miles of trail to go until I finish the PCT. I could go out 
there right now and finish these miles before winter sets in. My job 
finishes for the season in a week, I have strong legs, a great partner, and 
all the equipment ready to go. But I'm not going out there because...

1. In three years, I've met an incredible number of grouchy and mean PCT 
hikers! In 1998 I was told I wasn't a REAL thru-hiker any more because I 
hiked the road into Warner Springs. I was told it was IMPOSSIBLE to hike the 
Muir Trail in June last year. Thru-hikers wouldn't talk to me this summer 
because I was JUST a backpacker, or even lower on the food chain, a CLIMBER. 
Now I'm a RUNNER, and it's even worse.

2. I got out the atlas last night and started planning some trips with my 
partner. Oh, we could go to Patagonia or the Alps or Arizona. But Will, 
don't you want to finish the PCT? Why? Honestly, the only reason I'd finish 
it, as opposed to going to the Trinity Alps and Crater Lake to see the 
sights I've missed, would be to gain the clout of being a REAL thru-hiker, 
and that isn't worth my time. I remember when I was flamed by the guy who 
wanted to branch off from this mailing list and start a REAL THRU-HIKER list 
for the REAL HARD CORE dudes who slog the entire 2600 miles.
    I bet that every backpacker on this list has faced, at one time or 
another, disdain or criticism from a REAL thru-hiker.

3. The list never seems to get anywhere with these endless strings. I've 
probably received a thousand anti-equestrian messages since I've been on the 
list. And there are horses on the PCT, and there will always be horses on 
the PCT. This spring, we'll get another Jardine debate, a start-date debate, 
a filter debate, an alcohol stove debate, a permit debate, and all the same 
crap I read in 98 and 99. Did y'all know what I did for a permit last year? 
I changed the date on my 98 permit -- somewhere in the Sierra I burned it to 
stay warm and no one asked me for it anyway. Such are the rare joys in 
America: hiking when and where you feel like it.

4. Gear gear gear. I touched on this in "3." For real, why would you write 
to the PCT-L for information on a warm sleeping bag? I've seen more crazy 
posts here than at a Elvis-is-alive mailing list. The firefighters in Big 
Bear say that the PCT-ers have a fad every year. One year, everyone has the 
mylar umbrella. One year, everyone's in running shoes. One year, they all 
have alcohol stoves or single wall tents, or bivies, or whatever, and the 
dropout rate on successful thru-hikes remains the same. You can hike the PCT 
with 300 bucks of gear. If you have the mental constitution, good feet, a 
good back, and good weather, you can do it. You can carry an army pup tent 
or a Bibler. You've got to want to do the hike, and you have to have the 
weather -- or it's not happening.

The thing that makes me sad: there's a real need for a PCT-L. But I can't 
stand reading it anymore.

will
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