Re: [pct-l] Mule Race etc. - also 2 B. Wiggins

["R.J. Baynum" <rjbaynum@nidlink.com>]

I could not have said it better myself! good one BJ!
warm Regards... R.J. 

Birgitte Jensen wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 27 Apr 1999 11:01:19 -0700 Brick Robbins <brick@fastpack.com>
> writes:
> 
> brick@fastpack.com writes:
> >Because of the bad experiences with walking through several hundred
> >horse's worth of dung and conflicts with large pack trains sharing the
> >same narrow trails, some hikers have taken a dislike to all stock
> >animals.
> 
>    Oh my! I should think any hiker capable of getting through that
> veritable wall of manure would be proud to live to tell-the-tale! <LOL>
> Mules and bears; the list is becoming a zoo, heheheh.
> 
>      Seriously, all kinds of experiences and opinions are what make a
> horse (or mule) race, no? I was glad to see Shawnee's post - it's neat to
> get input from all sorts of people on the list. (lurkers, c'mon out! <g>)
> 
>      Some _other_ hikers have had quite pleasant encounters with packers,
> used them for resupply, and have even been rescued by them. I've done
> lots of hiking all over the trail, and never found myself stumbling
> through mountains of road apples or received anything but courtesy or aid
> from packers. The Sierra Club has a large mule-packing section, and
> several colleges use packers for environment and altitude physiology
> continuing-education classes. Mules/horses are used for trail
> maintainance and garbage pickup too, aren't they? Lifeline of the Sierra
> and all that.
> 
>    Many of those huge flat "packer" campsites date from the Golden Hiking
> Era of the 30's; I've seen some in the South Sierra that dated from
> cattle drives of the nineteeth century, which is neat, if you're a
> history buff. I'm under the impression that commercial packers try to use
> those sites (when they camp at all; those pack trains carry mostly
> dunnage), rather than build new campsites. It's easy (but unfair) to
> grumble along a deeply-rutted track like the JMT, see a hoof-print or
> road apple, and blame all the erosion on horse traffic. I read your post
> about the new fee to pay for repairs etc to the Mt Whitney Trail, which
> is not used by stock at all. Most of us realize there are just too many
> of "us" (whoever that may be) some places to allow the backcountry to
> stay in balance.
> 
>    Anyway, commercial packers only enter the Sierra for a few peak summer
> months, and use the main "highways". Nobody seeking a Pristine Wilderness
> Experience visits places out of Kearsarge, or Mammoth or Bishop Creek at
> that time - and regular northbound thruhikers will long since have passed
> through, having had the trail all to themselves and without being turned
> away by packers grabbing all the permits. <g>
> 
>    I can understand why a trail runner would find stepping aside for pack
> stock to be an inconvenience, but do we really want the backcountry to be
> managed for _convenience_, as most theme parks are? I don't think the
> most hurried or self-centered of us minds a little compromise now and
> then...
> 
>       Speaking of mule races: is anyone going to Bishop Mule Days? I
> think I have to work, but I might try to get off one day if the schedule
> looks really good...
> 
>        Also, ***to Butch Wiggins***:
>        I just got a new-to-me computer and in my excitement, I misplaced
> a ton of stuff - including your last e-mail and your address. I feel like
> an idiot, sorry; if you see this, could you write again? Thanks
> 
>     Two posts in a day - I'm pooped! How do you other guys do it?
> bj
> 
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