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[pct-l] Horse Free PCT? / Horse Droppings



Hello:

I enjoyed reading Mr. Payne's message regarding the presence of horse 
packers on the PCT and I'll add my point of view. And I returned just 
now to this line to add "lengthy" - I'm sorry 'bout that - I got 
carried away.

I'm a dedicated horse user but I don't ride horses. I rode one once - a 
rented, old but very safe horse for me and my five year old son, and we 
returned without objection to the horse corral way before our time was 
up because my steed wanted it to be so. And a horse ride will be a 
necessary part of an upcoming trip which my wife and I will be taking, 
and this will involve a boat of some kind on the Salmon River. I'm 
already uncomfortable over this prospect but, happily, I'm told that 
it's only for three hours one-way, this being exactly half of a two-way 
excruciating horse trip.

But, personals aside, please let me build my case now, suddenly once 
again as a horse user. This, because I work on the PCT, and I or my 
trail boss (who may frequently be myself) depend upon horses and the 
mules with whom our crew can do our work. This whole subject of 
equestrian trail use is in my mind a perfect case of: without horses 
historically there would be no trail (read PCT); and without horses 
today that trail would be quite an unreliable and chaotic mess.

Hikers are great and they alone could make great trails. Native 
Americans made great trails. I don't intend to diminish hikers, since 
although I already admitted to not being a horseman, I won't admit to 
not being a former trail hiker. I hiked many trails to get to my peaks 
as a peak climber and expeditionary mountaineer, and I climbed or led 
team climbs on more than just a few of the world's major mountain peaks 
by using trails to get to them.

But I realize my own shortcomings and those of my hiker friends when 
faced with the realities of our own trail payback desires - enthusiasm 
aside, we alone aren't physically able to supply the logistics needs 
for us fifteen souls. Include me in this group now, since I somehow 
slipped into the happy predicament of spending a week at a spike camp 
to improve the PCT in my own way. We simply have to appreciate the 
volunteer effort of a group of horse-men and horse-women who have a 
love for the PCT just as ourselves, that is similar to our own 
hiker-love of the PCT.

The present system, as I view it, is good and is working successfully. 
We have the best talent in the PCT-overview agencies who want to do 
what's best for the trails within their respective districts. The PCT 
is doubly included, financially on an annual basis, because our 
congress mandated it to be so, and these agencies do bring back each 
season returning wilderness trail crews par excellance. These 
professional men and women and their trail supervisor with whom we 
work, loan us tools and train us in how to maintain our trail. In spite 
of a few of the non-involved who will nevertheless write to suffer on 
us their opinions regarding diminishing agency funding levels, our 
wilderness will see a return once again of the good seasonal forest 
workers and supervisors we have seen in past years. As pertains present 
PCTA and agency goals, and I particularly point to those of the Inyo 
National Forest, the PCT will thrive and be maintained by both 
professional INF and volunteer entities within our matrix, including 
our partner volunteer animal packers of the Eastern Sierra Unit of the 
Back Country Horsemen of California.

Ok, now I'll address the unsavory subject of horse hockey which, when 
consciously looked for, can be found on the PCT. Hey, it's there, I 
have viewed it myself:  fly-infested junk sometimes grievously 
preceding the hapless hiker by a mere quarter of an hour.  One of my 
volunteer packers who, in a semi-confession of responsibility I 
suppose, said that it's "nothing but grass!" (Meaning that if you 
up-rank this substance with the complexities of human feces, advanced 
study might indeed reveal important clinical differentiations.) Well, 
I'll only suggest that it might indeed be "fermented" grass, yet we 
won't exactly enjoy the flies that hang around it for several hours 
afterward. But if you were possibly me and knowing that my volunteer 
packers are just ahead, you could happily accept without exactly 
kissing the stuff that this means food supplies and my kitchen will 
soon be at hand, with which I as cook can begin to do my own work for 
the PCT and its trail crew.

That's it, and I do appreciate both the server time and your attention. 
I always read everybody's remarks attentively to learn more about the 
PCT, but in the immortal words of Captain Kirk: "Don't ever bad-mouth 
horses or mules on this ship." Uh, he might not have used those exact 
words, but, uh, they would have sounded that way if he had said it 
himself.
==^=============================
Campy
Central California Trail Coordinator
"Home of the High Sierra Trail Gorillas"
Pacific Crest Trail Association
Bishop CA Tel.: 760-872-2338
Email: tap "Reply"

http://www.trailprojects.com  or
http://www.trailvolunteer.com  click on PCT

"Time spent doing trail work shall not be deducted from your life!"
==^