[pct-l] Info " Hot" off the Trail

[walkinglarry at yahoo.com (larry hillberg)]

No doubt many will disagree with me, but here goes.

I too have thru hiked the PCT.  I am grateful to the
Saufleys and Andersons and Middletons and many others
for their help and hospitality.  My hike was better
because of it, and I will always be thankful.

However, at no time did I feel entitled to this help. 
It seems to me that we should appreciate any help that
we get, but expect nothing.  Since when do we thru
hikers have the right to expect anything, never mind
question the furnishings of the bunk house or become
angry because there are conditions for our water and
our two hours in the shade.  If we aren't happy with
the conditions, and don't wish to meet them, then we
should move on as you suggest.  There is water at the
store down the road or at the school just north.

Trail angels, trail workers, water stashers, thanks.

Larry H
  
--- Christopher Willett <chwillet@indiana.edu> wrote:
> I think that this should come out in the open from a
> first hand source.  
> I arrived at the old Jack Fair place, now run by
> Richard Skaggs, around 
> 3:30 in the afternoon on June 2, having done about
> 23 miles at that point. 
> The trail in is not all that great and it was very
> hot.  I was planning to 
> get some water and cook and eat my dinner in the
> shade, before taking off 
> for the aquaduct walk around 5:30.  There were
> around two dozen thru
> hikers there.  I dropped my pack in the "bunk
> house", which was a tool 
> shed with no bunks that I could see.  I went inside,
> where another hiker 
> pointed me to the water.  I had been sitting down,
> sipping water for 
> about 2 minutes when Mr. Skaggs walked up.  I
> thanked him for providing 
> this bit of shelter, to which he responded that I
> had to pay him $10 or 
> paint the fence.  I was a little suprised and
> responded that I only wanted 
> some water and about 2 hours to rest and eat dinner
> in the shade.  In that 
> case, he said, I only had to paint the fence for 40
> minutes.  He said he
> was building a haven for hikers and I either had to
> help, or pay for some
> one else to do the work.  When it became rather
> clear that I wasn't going
> to paint a fence for 40 minutes in the heat of the
> Mojave afternoon, he 
> called me outside to look at something interesting. 
> The object of
> interest was a large box of rose bush root stock. He
> wanted me to move
> them to a big barrel and water them down.  I
> complied with his wishes,
> filled up with water from the hose, and left.  The
> only sign up at the
> place just says "Water", by the way.  None of the
> other hikes warned me
> about what was going on, although in the process of
> moving the bushes, 
> I did noticed three or four hikers painting his
> fence (a nice picket
> fence, which, although it encloses his front yard, I
> am sure will be 
> part of his haven).
> 
> I was a little angry when I left.  Afterall, I just
> wanted a little water
> and shade.  I didn't think it was too much to ask,
> but apparently it was.
> I pushed on for a while and camped after a nice, hot
> 32 mile day.
> After talking with other hikers, it appears that Mr
> Skaggs has different 
> standards for different people.  Most women were not
> asked to paint the 
> fence, but rather asked to eat a burrito with him or
> something like that. 
> According to Yogi, he doesn't ask his workmen to
> labor during the day: 
> They come out after the sun goes down.  I know water
> is scarce in the 
> area, but I don't think a self-described millionaire
> with a Ferrari in his
> yard is going to be bankrupted by giving out a few
> gallons of water over
> the summer.
> 
> My anger soon faded as I really enjoyed the aquaduct
> walk.  I truly did. 
> The day cooled off, the late light gave the land an
> almost holy look, 
> and all I could hear was the blowing of the wind. No
> one around for miles.
> As I thought back to the kindness of Jeff and Donna
> in Agua Dulce, the
> anger was gone, and replaced by a pity for Mr
> Skaggs.
> 
> For those hiking in the future, skip the old Jack
> Fair place.  Let him 
> rest in peace.  There is a store about a mile from
> the highway crossing 
> and you can get water out of the aquaduct, about a
> mile from the 
> old Fair place.
> 
> Chris
> 
> 
> ----------------------
> Christopher Willett
> Department of Mathematics
> Indiana University
> 831 East Third Street
> Bloomington, IN. 47405-7106
> (812)-855-6737
> chwillet@indiana.edu
> php.indiana.edu/~chwillet
> 
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