[pct-l] perception

[Tom Sweetnam <savamutt@razorlogic.com>]

Bob McCallister wrote:

>  ... isn't backpacking largely about self-sufficiency, routefinding, co-existing with wildlife, pulling and literally-carrying your own weight? Nobody doubts the companionship a dog can give, but a dog shouldn't be a backcountry crutch, either.

Hmmmm....so I guess man's oldest wilderness symbiosis -that with the canine- is largely a crutch in your eyes? Let me ask you Bob, if you were buried in an avalanche and a bloodhound or St. Bernard found you and saved your life, you'd consider that a "crutch",
right?...and you'd rush right out and bury yourself in the next available avalanche because a canine's intervention in saving your life didn't fit in with your image of  wilderness self-sufficiency...correct?

You speak of "idiots" in the context of rangers and the wilderness in your post. Get in touch with your county canine rescue volunteer agency sometime and ask them how many self-sufficient wilderness idiots have their lives saved by canines every year. Without getting
into a pissing contest on the subject, let me just state that I was a Ranger in the US Army and spent two years in Vietnam, and I've been wilderness backpacking for 25 years since. So excuse me for not fitting in with your macho image of what backpacking is all about,
because  I'm just one of those wimps who'll rely on what a dog has to offer in the wilderness any chance I get.

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