[pct-l] Bear Killed... (clueless hikers)

[dude at fastmail.ca (dude)]

> I think both you and Tom over estimate the importance of the
> thru-hiker crowd. Most forest users don't even know there is a
> PCT, let alone whackos that hike the whole thing in a year. The
> ones who **ARE** aware of thru-hikers are not the ones who are
> causing the problems anyway, because they are the educated ones.


Brick is dead on target.  Most people don't know anything about the 
thru-hiker subculture or even that it exists.  Most people think 
of "hiking" as: "I will drive to a campground and walk a mile to a 
waterfall or vista, then *maybe* I will sleep on the ground in a big 
stand up tent if I can figure out how to set it up."  To test this 
out, take a day trip to the Mist Trail in Yosemite.  You will see 
people hiking the 1.x miles up to Vernal falls with coolers, enormous 
packs, two-burner coleman stoves, baby strollers, suitcases, fine 
china, silverware, etc.  They have no clue that the trail isn't paved 
the entire way or that it is actually steep and rugged. "After all", 
they think, "the park service would never put people at risk by 
making them walk on actual rocks, would they?  How else would people 
get up there?"  

At the Whitney Portal its the same way (or at least it was before the 
lottery system; I haven't been since they instituted that).  You will 
see people who obviously have not trained and have no idea what it 
means to actually "hike" or "climb".  In 1998 we slept on the summit 
and started down to the Portal at dawn.  This allowed us to pass all 
the people on their way up.  I am talking SERIOUS COMEDY here.  We 
would pass these people carrying small lunch-mate Igloo coolers, lawn 
chairs, folding cots, small appliances, etc.  We'd start talking to 
them just to see what the hell they were doing.  They'd say "Oh... we 
just came out to walk up to the summit and maybe catch a few rays up 
there".  They would have a big metal round canteen that they got from 
Academy on the way out of town, some top-sider shoes, bermuda shorts, 
a golf shirt, and possibly a brand new "Mt. Whitney" baseball cap 
that they got at the portal store or in lone pine the day before.  
They would usually be accompanied by their wife who was equally as 
over-weight as they were and their pudgy Nintendo-addicted kids who 
were less than happy to be peeled away from the portable TV/VCR that 
they had in the travel-van where they were preparing for the trip by 
watching John Candy in "The Great Outdoors".  Invariably, when they 
would pass us, they would ask if we'd been to the summit.  When we 
replied "yes", they looked hopeful, as if it were only a few hundred 
yards to go and then ask "How much further?"  Of course, they started 
at the crack of 9am after they woofed down some pop-tarts and 
powdered doughnuts, so when we passed them, they hadn't even made it 
to Outpost camp.  When we would tell them that they probably weren't 
going to make it to the summit today, they would always look 
perplexed as if we told them some astounding revelation.  They'd want 
to know the distance, so we'd tell them "9 more miles". Then they 
say "No way!  You mean we've been walking for 3 hours and we've only 
covered 2 miles??"  We wouldn't waste our breath trying to tell these 
people that in addition to the 9 miles, it was also another 5000 
vertical feet.  It would have been a waste of time.  They have no 
understanding of what that means.  Of course, when we pass the solar 
outhouses along the trail people would always ask to borrow toilet 
paper.  I guess it never occured to them that their gastorintestinal 
system would still function while they were hiking.  Just the fact 
that there are two locations with solar outhouses on the way up to 
the summit and an additional outhouse on the summit says alot.  
What's even worse is that some people DONT USE THEM.  I've seen turds 
just out in the open both on the summit of Half Dome and 
Whitney.   ...so much for "leave no trace".  I've told people that I 
ahve packed out my poop before and they just stare in disbelief, as 
if I were some sort of disgusting freak.  I guess that the thought of 
visiting the Grand Canyon and seeing it filled to the rim with human 
waste is more appealing to them than packing out poop.  Oh yeah... 
can't forget about those people who haven't been outdoors in so long 
that they forgot what a sunburn is.  You know you've seen these 
people on the trail.  The ones who are as red as a stop light and 
have no clue that they are acquiring melanoma as they are talking to 
you.  Then when you ask them if they want to borrow sunscreen, they 
say something like "Nah... I tan easy." 

The last time I hiked Half Dome (July 4, 2003), we ran across dozens 
of people at Nevada falls who ran out of water and needed us to filer 
water for them.  We saw more than one family that only had like 1 
liter of water between four people.  One family we saw only had one 
20 oz Aquafina bottle for two adults and two kids!!  All these people 
are just utterly shocked that there is no water fountain at Nevada 
Falls.  They all say "this is ridiculous, they should put a faucet up 
here."  ...and I am thinking "yeah. right, lady.  maybe you should 
just grow a brain instead."  I am telling you, people are DUMB.  We 
spent over an hour filtering water for people at Nevada Falls and 
there was a line!  We had to turn people down because if we didn't, 
we would not have made it back down before dark.

You might think that I am making this up, but I am not.  I am amazed 
at the stupidity every time I go to a popular destination.  This is 
most of America.  Why do you think that at the Grand Canyon, there 
are signs as big as billboards posted at the trail heads that tell 
people that hiking to the bottom of the canyon and back in one day is 
impossible?  Its not "impossible"; people trail run from the north 
rim to the south rim and back in one day.  Its just "impossible" for 
someone who has laid on the coutch in front of the TV, then gets a 
wild hair to go to the grand canyon because he saw a show on the 
Discovery Channel or watched City Slickers one too many times on 
TBS.  I am not making this sh*t up.  The park service put that huge 
sign there because they got tired of rescuing people who litterally 
walked themselve to exhaustion in 5 miles of downhill walking.  Its 
disgusting how out of shape the average american is, and also how 
ignorant (s)he is.  How in the hell does someone who is as fat as a 
whale and hasn't walked more than 100 yards from the parking lot to 
the mall in the last 10 years, think that they can just get up and go 
climb Mount Whitney on a Sunday afternoon with no preparation, 
training, or equipment??  I am telling you, talk to any park ranger, 
they will back me up.  ...or just watch a reality TV show to verify.  

Of course, I have also met some really cool, intelligent, and 
interesting people on the trail as well.  Most everyone that I have 
met in the backcountry has been really nice and fun to talk to.  

peace!
dude

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