[pct-l] Old PCT marker on Ebay!

[csiechert at hotmail.com (Carl (1977 Kelty Kid))]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joanne Lennox

> found the remains of a  ballon on top that he been launched 
> by a first grade project.( card with address asked for 
> return)  Should I not have picked it up?.

You're equating a randomly placed item whose return has been requested by
the owner with (what some consider to be) an historic artifact? C'mon, get
serious.

> never advocated their sale on Ebay.  You are comparing an old 
> miner's remains with a piece of metal dropped on the ground 
> 25 years ago?

That's a much more valid comparison than the one you make. 

As for whether removing a trail marker constitutes cleanup of litter, I'd be
a lot more willing to listen to that argument if the person making it picks
up all litter (or most litter, or even a few pieces of litter) other than
the coveted trail marker. If you're picking it up because it has some value
to you (economic or otherwise) and you leave the other crap you encounter
along the way, you really dilute the argument that you're cleaning up for
the LNT benefit.

 
> The important thing is that there are definitions to 
> antiquities and cultural relics; beyond that each person has 
> to decide for themselves and LNT is a system of ETHICS.  I do 
> not believe that everybody has to have the same ethics.  Over 
> the years I have found that it is not very beneficial to be 
> taking somebody else's inventory.

On this we agree--although I reach a different conclusion. Taking an old
marker deprives someone else of the shared discovery, even if (perhaps
*especially* if) it's well off the current PCT route.

Cheers,
Carl