[pct-l] I like the ADZ

[elee at microsoft.com (Eric Lee (GAMES))]

Monty wrote:
>
I like the ADZ
Last year I attended and thru-hiked for my first time.
I consider it the most helpful of all the help I have received on the
trail.
No contest.
>

This is an important discussion to have, but let's keep in mind what
Donna originally said.  She's not against the ADZ, and she doesn't not
like it.  The ADZ is great!  I attended last year and loved it.  No
one's saying that the ADZ itself is a bad idea.  (Though Donna's choice
of the word "boycott" in her subject line is probably confusing a lot of
people . . .)

Donna's observation is that the ADZ indirectly causes problems in the
days and weeks following the event as most of the year's thru-hikers
start that one weekend and continue to move up the trail in a tight
lump, overwhelming the ability of trail angels, water caches, and small
towns to handle the influx.  

This is clearly a real problem.  It will only get worse as both the PCT
and ADZ get more popular and each year's thru-hiking class gets larger
and larger.  An enterprise like Donna's (where she attempts to host
pretty much every thru-hiker that comes up the trail) simply can't
continue to survive much longer given the current trajectory.  Either we
find some way to quit artificially bunching up all the hikers or she's
going to have to limit the number of people she hosts (or get out of the
trail angel business entirely).  Of course, this isn't just about Donna
- it's about all resources that hikers use as they move up the trail.

I don't have any brilliant solutions, sorry.  But let's keep our eyes on
the real problem.  <grin>

Eric