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

[Rebecca Williams <rebeccaw@ix.netcom.com>]

I have a dog. I think dogs are great & I'd love to take mine, but
I've decided that it would be best to leave her home. (She's a little
itty bitty dog & couldn't carry her own food or water if I took her.)
I've also decided that the thru hike is hard enough without
adding the extra complications, planning etc. for my dog.

I just wanted to comment to anyone who does choose to take a
dog on the thru hike with them ... please be really really responsible
about cleaning up after them when they poop & keeping them away
from people who seem to mind dogs etc. The reason I'm asking this
is that what happens all too often is one irresponsible dog owner
can make matters worse for all other dog owners. All it takes for dogs
& their owners to get bad reputaions is one badly trained dog or one
owner that doesn't clean up after them. & Then everyone who has
well behaved dogs suffers. ( I'm only pointing this out b'c this is
probably a large part of the reason that dogs aren't allowed on
certain parts of the trail.)

Again, I love dogs & will be most happy when I see them on the
trail  (or better yet, when I get to hike along with someone who's
got their dog with them) .. I just want to remind all the other
dog owners to be extra responsible, so that the
annoying "dog haters" don't get any extra
reasons to discriminate against dogs & their owners.

Thanks,

Rebecca Williams


Bumblefist@aol.com wrote:

>  In 97 for the first couple of months I had the pleasure of hiking with a
> group that included two dogs (Kenya and Alaska).  The dogs carried their own
> food and water but seemed to dread having the little packs put on them.  They
> certainly enjoyed themselves though.  I think the only reason they didn't like
> the packs was because they couldn't understand why they had to carry them
> every day.  They were put into a kennel in Palmdale for the Mojave section and
> when they were spotted after two days in the Sierras a nice lady in
> Independance said her daughter would take care of them for 7 dollars a day.
> Some long hitch-hikes were necesary to get them back but it all worked out
> well.  The only reason they were spotted in the Sierras was because we went
> down to a busy campground where a ranger was on duty.  If we had stayed on the
> trail we could have made it all the way to Yosemite without being seen because
> rangers aren't too common on the trail and you would have a good chance of not
> seeing one.  If you do, just play dumb and they will most likely just ask you
> to go to the nearest exit of the park (which might be where you are going).
> * From the Pacific Crest Trail Email List |  http://www.backcountry.net   *



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