[pct-l] ALDHA Endangered Services Campaign

[TOKTAADN@aol.com (TOKTAADN@aol.com)]

In a message dated 6/23/2002 2:49:03 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
jmertes@verizon.net writes:


> Hmmm, sounds like an unfair complaint to me.  If he says "all you can eat" 
> then
> the hikers are legitimately
> eating all they can eat even if it is ten times as much of something as 
> "normal
> guests".  If he wants to limit consumption
> of fruit then he needs to add that to his advertising.
> 
> Reminds me of a suit I read about years back in the Bay Area, a man went to 
> an
> "all you can eat seafood buffet" at a restaurant and
> the management refused to serve him all the seafood he could eat. The man 
> sued
> and won. "All you can eat" means that, not just the amount
> that the restaurant thinks you should eat.
> 

These types of legalistic, and somewhat egotistical, thoughts about 
thruhikers being "entitled" to food or services well beyond the cost of the 
items is at the crux of ALDHA's campaign to educate thruhikers.  When we hike 
through a town, do we care about the impact our visit has on:  the community, 
the merchants we visit and on the thruhikers who come after us?  Should we 
care?

In light of a recent and alarming trend on the AT of services being shut down 
to hikers in response to bad experiences with a growing element of thruhikers 
who don't seem to care about the impression they leave in the towns they 
visit, ALDHA wants to make sure that all thruhikers understand that we have a 
responsibility to those hikers who come after us, as well as the merchants 
and townsfolk we interact with.  It is obvious that merchants have to make a 
profit on their enterprises.  We encourage hikers to find a way within their 
means to make their presence in a trail town a positive experience for all 
concerned.  Rude or thoughtless behavior does have consequences and we ask 
all hikers to take a broad outlook before needlessly tarnishing the 
reputation of the entire thruhiking community.  The outcome will be entirely 
too predictable:  the welcome mat will be withdrawn and the doors will be 
figuratively slammed in our faces.

We encourage further discussion of this important topic.  It is obviously 
relevant to the PCT as well as the AT.

Happy trails,

Solar Bear
Membership Secretary
ALDHA



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