[pct-l] ALDHA Endangered Services Campaign

[reynolds@iLAN.com (Reynolds, WT)]

You are not going to like what I say.

I do ADZPCTKO for fun and love. 

If I was doing it for money I would have nothing to do with those a-hole
thruhikers. They don't spend any money and demand services far above what
normal people require. Have you see my motel's bathroom when 6 thruhikers
wash their clothes in the bathtub? Do you see my customer's leave when a
bunch of smelly thruhikers descend on my restaurant and act like they own
the place? And my gear store is not in the business of swapping out gear
that was purchased somewhere else. Gimme a break. For fourty-five bucks I
schlep a 5 gallon pail of food up Kaiser Pass Road 21 miles to Florence
Lake, boat taxi it 3 miles, then carry it another 5 miles on trail. Are they
happy? He!! no, they bitch about the cost and expect me to BS with them
instead of taking care of my paying horse customers. And they expect me to
haul out their garbage.

How are thruhikers centered? First on themselves, second on the task at
hand, third on their fellow thruhikers. While thruhikers allow "trail
angels" into their space and while past thruhikers understand the
experience, by and large the outside world is limited to the occasional
phone call to family. 

Does this make thruhikers bad people? No, but it sure makes them bad
customers.

Tom