[pct-l] ADZ?

[at2002 at mac.com (Gary Wright)]

On Apr 26, 2005, at 1:03 AM, Monty Tam wrote:
> What specifically are these proposals and how much would each increase 
> the ADZ's ability to reach and help more first time hikers?

The suggestion was to decouple the kickoff and thru-hiker
start dates by moving the event into May/June and further
up the trail. The underlying concern was the unfortunate
side-effects of lots of hikers starting +/- a few days of
the kickoff. Relocating the kickoff is just one suggested
way to address this problem.

Moving it into May/June breaks the association with
a traditional start date thus reducing clumping of hikers.
Moving it up the trail makes it logistically possible for
current hikers to attend by hiking into the event or getting
rides from north or south of the event location.

The current location/time of the event is argued to be too
early in the year such that hikers starting before the event
are hitting the Sierra too early and hikers starting after
the event have to kill some amount of time before starting
(i.e. returning home or doing something else for 7 - 14 days
after the kickoff).

Now if we could just convince Mexico to extend the trail to
the South, that would open up some more possibilities!