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Re: [pct-l] Early Support



Carl,
What I think I am hearing you say is that OTHERS using stashed water degrade the
experience for YOU. To say it another way: "Since I, Carl,  made it from Mt.
Laguna to Scissors crossing and almost died for lack of water, YOU have to do
the same thing. If you do it the EASY way, you cheated and that detracts from MY
accomplishment."

The reason I bring this up and ask you to examine your feelings is because we
are, in no way, detracting from the wilderness experience, not even a little.

1-Our first water cache is in a NPS Campground that happens to have the water
turned off.
2-The second water cache is on a man-made obolisk 50 feet from a paved road and
it takes the place of a horse cistern that has the water turned off.
3-Our third water cache is 25 feet from a 4WD road. The alternative is walking 3
miles down another dirt road to CIVILIZATION to get water, then walking back up
the same dirt road 3 miles.
4-Our fourth water cache is in the middle of a road crossing next to a road
overpass that is filled with grafitti. Your alternative is to drink cows piss or
to hitchhike [now there's a wilderness experience] to a town who probably
doesn't want you and hitch back.

I do not thruhike. I hike ONLY for the wilderness experience and I can say,
absolutely, that we have improved the wilderness experience of anyone using the
water caches. At a minimum we have allowed them to avoid two non-wilderness
detours for water and kept them on the trail and out of civilization.

You should know that the team has not decided how to store water. On possibility
is a LOCKED container, CHAINED to the ground, located where you wouldn't find it
if you didn't know where to look and couldn't get water out of it if you did.

We are, for sure, going to use containers that are secured so that they won't,
easily, walk off. The only question is should we provide water for only those
who request our help and, to the best of our ability, secure the water for them
so that others can't take [lock the container] it OR should we make it available
for everyone who needs it?

Don't blame the support team for some idiot who left plastic containers on the
ground. How do you know they were thruhikers?

To paraphrase Jim Owen: "Hike your own hike . . . . and let others hike theirs"


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