Re: [pct-l] LNT and individual responsibility

["Joanne Lennox" <goforth@cio.net>]

----------
>Charlie Wrote 

"how do we keep the trail from getting beat to pieces"

I think that really depends on what you mean by" beat to pieces"

Basically I believe that I see the cup as half full, and you see it as half
empty when it comes to the appearance of the trail itself.  I think the
trail is in remarkable shape considering the use that it has had.  

Frankly, for 30 years I have actively avoided stepping onto the PCT anytime
that I could.  Thus I have by choosing to avoid it, assured that my use
would be spread elsewhere.  This is an alternative that you have never
mentioned.  The easiest way to ensure that the PCT is not over used is not
to use it. The one reservation I have about my thru hike I mentioned in my
first post to this mailing list: I do not know whether I can stay on a
"trail highway" for the required period; I am drawn to really wild isolated
places, which in my estimation does not include the PCT.

But since we are going on the assumption that we are going to use it , then
the best way to do that is not to overuse it.

This is politically a hot topic.  What is overuse for one segment of the
hiking public, may just be use for the horse-backing segment,etc.

But for me basically it comes down to NUMBERS.  WHEREEVER YOU PUT THE MOST
PEOPLE AND HORSES YOU WILL HAVE THE MOST WEAR. I do not see this as
anything to wring my hands over, it is reality.  The correlary is that
where you will have the most use, you will have the most maintence as well,
and you will have impacts that are not "minimum".

I have always seen the overuse on the PCT as a positive thing, because that
meant that the trail that I was on, which was not the PCT, was less used. 
If people chose to hike on the PCT, I always believed that they did so
because they preferred a trail highway which was wide(hopefully not paved),
had lots of people, and lots of USE.  If they did not like this, they would
go elsewhere. Basically I see the PCT exactly like " legal campsites"(your
category) : The principle of concentrating the use in the areas that are
already used, compacted, and devoid of vegetation.That is the definition of
a trail.  I think what you are concerned with is what is happening near the
trail.

So back to the NUMBERS:  I believe that there will always be a certain
percentage of people who will remain ignorant, or who just do not care ,
and who seem to have a maximal impact on any environment that they pass
through.  LNT will have no impact on them.  As population increases, and as
the PCT is used more and more, and as Horses are allowed in in unlimited
numbers, there will be increasing impacts on the PCT.  You believe that if
most of these people just practiced LNT , the impacts would be minimal.  I
believe that it would be less but marginally so, and will continue to
deteriorate until the numbers are reduced on the trail.  There are more and
more people practicing minimum impact principles, and according to you, the
PCT is getting worse.  Why?

The people on this Mailing list are here because they already do practice
LNT principles ( Plan ahead, Pack it in , pack it out, don't carry more
than you need, don't pick up anything, don't leave anything - how else can
you remain a lightweight backpacker).  Will LNT have an impact on them.  I
think you are singing to the choir.

For the majority of people who are not on this list, I think many of them
are aware of their impacts.  Education does help those who may be new to
backpacking.  There is alot of literature that is available through hiking
outlets, forest service, park service, etc. Every time a permit is mailed
or issued, minimum impact lectures and messages and rules are included.  I
think that if any beganner is at all motivated and can read, there is
plenty available for he/she to understand minimum impact. So the really
question is :If LNT is being presented with every permit, why is it being
ignored?  The understanding of mimimum impact, and an ethic to caretake the
land did not start with LNT; it started long before, and has been evolving
very well without the extra help of LNT. After all, it took years to get
the scouts out of the hatchet bearing mode and away from the construction
of "camp tables" and other furniture. How did this happen?

I do not feel that I "have to make it happen", but that I am doing my part
in many, many different ways, which I will not detail here. This is part of
my martial arts and mediation background.  I have found that if your push
too much, it all comes back in your face,.  Better to just nudge it in the
right direction.

  IF this is your mission, it is your responsibility to get it right, not
mine to tell you how when I obviously do it differently. And I have other
fish to fry right now; I am heavy into # l: plan ahead for thru hike.

Lastly, I appreciate your honesty and integrity, and how well spoken you
are.  And even though I disagree with you on some matters, I have a great
deal of respect for what you have done with the scouts, for your
committment and action to what you believe, and of course to all those
thurhiking miles (Zhowee !!).  

Peace 
Gofforth




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