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Re: [pct-l] Re: Horses on the PCT

Thanks Brick. Several people from our chapter of Backcountry Horsemen of
Washington spent 9 days (of their vacation - these are people who work for
a living) last year doing trail maintenence on one of the remote sections
of the PCT in Washington. This in addition to weekend work parties on more
accessible sections.

Duncan Fletcher
dfletche@gte.net

----------
> From: Brick Robbins <brick@ix.netcom.com>
> To: pct-l@saffron.hack.net
> Subject: [pct-l] Re: Horses on the PCT
> Date: Monday, March 24, 1997 10:33 PM
> 
> Tom Best <spot@onr.com> wrote:
> >What is the current situation with horses on the PCT?  Are they a
> >problem?  Is the problem being addressed?  What management efforts have
> >been tried?  Will I be hiking knee deep in horse shit all the way from
> >Mexico to Canada?
> 
> You won't be hiking knee deep in horse shit all the way from Mexico to
> Canada........
> 
> Certain sections of the PCT in the High Sierra are over-used by both
hikers
> and horses. There is trail damage in these areas caused by the large
number
> of pack trains from the commercial pack outfits that have been operating
in
> these areas for years. There has been little government effort to reduce
> the number of pack trains, and in the Inyo NF at least, the pack outfits
> are exempt from trailhead wilderness permit quotas. I think this is more
of
> a Forest problem than a PCT problem, since the over use is not limited to
> the PCT. On the plus side for the pack outfitts, they are often first the
> ones to clear the tread of blow downs in their areas.
>  
> In perspective, and compared to the Motorcycles in So-Cal, the cow
grazing
> and  logging in No-Cal, OR and WA, the horses are of little concern.
> Jardine makes a big issue of them in his Hikers Guide, but from a through
> hiker perspective, I just don't see the problem, especially with miles of
> tread destroyed by active logging, and dozens of miles of clear-cut from
> past logging on the trail, I think the chain saw is more of a problem
than
> the horse hoof. I mention Jardine only because every anti-horse
discussion
> seems to lead back to him. Personally, I think that his Jihad against
> horses is more rooted in a personal beef with the PCTA than it is with
> trying to protect the trail..............
> 
> Just my opinion of course.
> 
> --
> Brick Robbins
> San Diego, CA          
> brick@ix.netcom.com              
> http://www.netcom.com/~brick 
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