[pct-l] Are dogs alowed on the trail?

[elee@microsoft.com (Eric Lee (RAT))]

Dave wrote:
>
I thought that Man was the best creature on earth when it comes to
walking 
long distances. I heard somewhere that if all the mammals started out on
a 
hike together and just kept walking until they keeled over, humans would
win 
hands down ( not literally, of course)
>

I highly doubt that.  There's a reason why mounted cavalry used to
travel a heck of a lot farther and faster than infantry.  Humans are
uniquely adapted for many things, but efficient walking isn't one of
them.

I think the biggest reason why long-distance hiking isn't for (most)
dogs is that dogs have more sense than humans.  As Marshall observed,
the PCT is hot, dry, dirty, and downright miserable at times.  We humans
put up with that in order to get abstract philosophical rewards (beauty,
solitude, achievement, etc), but dogs don't care about that stuff.  All
they know is that they're miserable and they want to go home.

But I'm no expert on the subject so I'll crawl back into my hole now.
:-)

Eric