[pct-l] Drakesbad ranch is now closed to PCT hikers

[gwtmp01 at mac.com]

On Aug 14, 2006, at 1:15 PM, yogi wrote:
> WITHOUT PAYING FOR HER MEAL.  I agree with what you
> said about Nemo not being able to defend herself
> because she is out hiking, etc.

I think in the abstract we can all agree that hikers
should pay for services and not steal them.  And I've
played the adult in several situations and explained that
I wasn't going to allow extra hikers to get a free-ride
on my hotel room because it was against the hotel
rules.  You don't have to convince me that long distance
hikers (well, actually *anybody*) should respect the
rules of any business or individual offering a service or
simply some hospitality and kindness.

The problem here is that we are talking about a
situation whose details are hardly known to us except
indirectly through one person's post.  It isn't
even clear how the original poster figured all this out.
Nemo is in Oregon at this point.  Drakesbad was several
weeks ago.  There is no reason to convict her in absentia.

> The only way
> anyone could truly state that they thought their meal
> was free would be if the person tried to pay and the
> proprietor said there was no charge.

What if the problem hikers wasn't Nemo, but another hiker
that was there on the same day and Drakesbad confused the
names? Who knows, maybe she was with another hiker who said:
"I'll pay", and then that hiker forgot to pay for two,
or forgot to tell Drakesbad who they were paying for, or....

> The Tahquitz Inn in Idyllwild had problems with hikers
> this year, too.  Check out this site for a painful
> look at what a group of 2006 hikers has caused:
> www.idyllwildpct.com

Sad.  I don't blame the Tahquitz Inn at all. They are trying
to make money, not run a hiker charity. If I'm in Idyllwild again
(I mean 'when') I'll try to make a point to stay there, pay full
price, and try to reverse the trend a bit.  I've witnessed the
attitude described at idyllwildpct.com both on the AT and the PCT.
The ALDHA organization has been debating how to respond to this
problem for a few years now with no real consensus other than
raising the awareness a bit in the thru-hiker community.

I think thru-hikers just need to show a little more humility when
in town and be a bit more understanding about the burden we put
on some businesses (smelly, dirty, extra trash, what is usually
called 'loitering' since we don't have cars...).

Hikers, and long-distance hikers in particular, tend to dislike rules,
regulations, paperwork, and so on but one idea I've had is to have
the PCTA, the ATC, ALDHA, etc. sell some sort of long-distance
hiker discount card.   You know how businesses give discounts to
AAA members?  Same sort of idea.  Sell the cards to thru-hikers
and then businesses/hostels along the trail could offer discounts (or  
not)
to folks who show their card.  This also provides a mechanism to
report problems back to the PCTA/ATC who can then feed information
back into the hiker community via newsletters, publications, and so on.
Just a thought.

Gary Wright (Radar)