[cdt-l] Backpacker Magazine C.D.T. Project (Skot Phrea)

Thu Sep 13 08:47:23 CDT 2007

Over the next few months, we'll pick about 200 applicants to join BACKPACKER 
editors and CDTA volunteers for a week of hiking and mapping. We'll split 
you into teams, provide GPS units and training, load you up with free gear, 
and assign your team a specific section of trail. You'll record waypoints, 
shoot photos, and submit trip reports. We'll publish the results next winter 
and post a downloadable version of the map (with your pictures and notes) on 
our website.

Don't miss this chance to join me for a week of phenomenally scenic--and 
worthwhile--backpacking. To apply as a map volunteer, go to 
backpacker.com/cdtmap. The contest deadline is March 30; we'll notify 
winners by May 1.

Jonathan Dorn
Editor-in-Chief 
Backpacker presented this as a contest please note the words contest and 
winners in his call for entries. They asked us to provide them with shoe 
sizes, hat sizes , torso length, among many other questions that seemed to 
indicate that there would be some gear. I was still enthusiastic about the 
project even after the realization that there was no gear until our team 
leader told me there was only one set of maps for the whole team. And as to 
volunteering I don't know how they do it where you live but when we have 
river clean up day we are provided a band, keg , and dinner,. I could have 
went to Patagonia but  instead I believed in what they said. I am glad that 
You and others had a great time, I too made a lot of new friends , took some 
great pictures and got in some great hiking . I agree with you that I am 
harsh yes, unfair no. Any unbiased review of the project from its inception 
will clearly show that in the end it was not as they represented it .HAPPY 
TRAILS !!!
----- Original Message ----
From: "shegget ." <shegget at hotmail.com>
To: <cdt-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2007 8:13 AM
Subject: Re: [cdt-l] Backpacker Magazine C.D.T. Project (Skot Phrea)

> Wow, that's a pretty unfair and harsh critique. We did a 60 mile section 
> for
> Backpacker and while there were no good freebies other than a few bags of
> trail mix and some high-def topo maps of our route, we still had a hell of 
> a
> good time. We extended an existing trip just to do the mapping, and got to
> spend 5 more days out in the wilderness and make two new friends, seeing 
> an
> area we wouldn't have visited otherwise. For us, it was an awesome
> experience.
> Plus, Backpacker did only say that they would *try* to get some free 
> schwag
> to give out. They never promised us anything, and we never expected
> anything. They made it clear that the people on the trips were 
> *volunteers*.
>
> A quick definition of that word from dictionary.com states:
>
> volunteer:
> 1. a person who voluntarily offers himself or herself for a service or
> undertaking.
> 2. a person who performs a service willingly and without pay.
> http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/volunteer
>
> I'm sorry that you felt lied to, misinformed, had a bad trip leader or
> whatever. But there was no doubt in our minds that we were volunteering 
> from
> the start, and that we were responsible for planning and executing our own
> trip. I do agree that they should have provided you guys with a GPS or 
> two;
> however Scott did offer us one for our trip (we ended up using our own
> instead so they would have more to go around). In my opinion, that's
> probably a failure on your trip leader's part if he didn't get a GPS to 
> use,
> not on Backpacker's.
>
> sean (co-leader of Team35a - "Altitude without Attitude")
>
> (and hey, if this was a blatant troll attempt, well hell... i fell for it 
> :)
>
>>Message: 1
>>Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2007 07:53:14 -0500
>>From: "Skot Phrea" <skotphrea at hctc.net>
>>Subject: [cdt-l] Backpacker Magazine C.D.T. Project
>>To: <cdt-l at backcountry.net>
>>Message-ID: <001201c7f53b$e2a92540$152daa41 at Hal>
>>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>>Howdy Folks ! Backpacker Magazine did not do anything that they said they
>>would. There was no gear, no G.P.S.units or training, They said that we
>>would get socks , wrong ! All they came through with was 1 bag of trail 
>>mix
>>, 1 single serving of peanut butter, and a pack of candy. There was only
>>one set of maps that our team leader received.I do not go into wilderness
>>without my own maps ! ( I could have brought my own if only backpacker or
>>our team leader would have communicated with me ). Our team leader didn't
>>return my calls and had a bad attitude. I had to have a benefit to raise
>>the money to go on this trip as that I have A.I.D.S and am compelled to
>>live on my S.S.I. I feel like a sucker for buying into their lies, One lie
>>backing up another for the entire fiasco. The thing that confuses me most
>>is wondering why they made it sound like we won a contest and in reality 
>>we
>>won nothing at all. Why couldn't they have been honest from the start ? 
>>Who
>>likes to be lied to ? This
>>  whole situation has left me broke, depressed and mistrustful . I bet 
>> that
>>Jonathan Dorn makes more in a month than I do in a year. I wonder how he
>>would feel if the tables were turned ? I wouldn't wish H.I.V. on anyone 
>>but
>>it would not hurt my feelings if he fell off a mountain on his expensive
>>mountain bike. I am canceling my subscription to their feculent rag and I
>>intend on calling and writing their advertisers informing them of this
>>publications ethical bankruptcy . BACKPACKER MAGAZINE AND MR. DORN, YOU
>>SUCK !!!
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>>End of cdt-l Digest, Vol 47, Issue 6
>>************************************
>
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