[pct-l] Helpers Lists

[goforth@cio.net (Joanne Lennox)]

" So why don't we setup a list of helpers willing to perform various duties
to assist PCT thru-hikers?"

I note that you want "helpers" to do "DUTIES" for thruhikers.

This reminds me of the people asking for a list of trail angels for the
PCT. It happens every year.

At the outset, it sounds like a good idea, and if these people were being
paid or were a business, I would gladly agree.

Anybody that helps a PCT hiker one day, may not be able to do it the next.
The tenuousness of a passing acquaintance offering help is far different
that somebody just calling on the phone, sight unseen, and demanding help.
If trail "magic" exists than it can not and should not be formalized to the
extent that the beauty and mystery of it is lost.

Those that helped me on the trail, I feel a special connection to, and a
certain awe of their openness and generosity.  It is a very delicate thing
that can easily be ruined by overuse, callousness, advertizement, lack of
privacy, crudeness, rudeness, or simple lack of appreciation.So I think
that a helpers list in the long run would not be helpful.

Maybe this is a "learning Voyage" and not just a set up program to get
things done.

Joanne