[pct-l] Trail Awareness - Trail Proximity ...

[Tortoise]

It is hard to discern if trail behavior has gotten better or worse over 
the years.

In the early 70's I backpacked into Sykes Camp and hot springs. It's `12 
miles (supposedly) from the trail head. Found some trash including a 
soaked sleeping bag and an abandoned towel. I carried out the towel and 
used it until it got lost in the mail.

Doing the Rae Lakes Loop, we used an empty packer camp -- lots of trash. 
We burned what we could and carried out as much as we could.

I live in Crescent City and drive up to Jedediah Smith SP occasionally. 
Often see trash along the road. Also on city streets. Have helped clean 
up trash people have dumped at various locations in the parks here.

I've backpacked into remote lakes and found fire rings and garbage. 
Always try to carry out what I can. Often found used toilet paper, etc.

But the trash problem is everywhere; it's not just backpackers. :-(


I see tourists coming thru this area who seem to think that others 
should pay for their camping or other services (like RV dump stations).

It seems to me that there is an attitude among at least some of the list 
members that a thru hike is some sort of pilgrimage which others should 
support. Sort of like a religious pilgrim with a begging bowl.   Or 
hikers thinking they deserve a big discount just because they are thru 
hiking without much money.

There are generous people who give to the thru hikers; but these are 
gifts not rights.

----------
Tortoise

<> He who finishes last, wins! <>

I switched to Mac OSX rather than fight Windows
Using Mozilla Thunderbird  http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/

stillroaming wrote:
> My guess is folks are seeing the '10%'.
> 
> As trail awareness grows, so will that 10%. While educating folks on trail 
> ethics is necessary, inundating folks with trail ethics is not a solution by 
> itself. You will always have people leaving trash, writing on rocks with 
> markers, stealing services, etc, no matter how effective you communicate 
> trail ethics. These folks probably have equivalent behavior in the 'normal' 
> world. And they aren't going away.
> 
> The only real solution is limiting people. This just won't happen, nor 
> should it. With that said, entities exist that depend on this influx of 
> people for their own well being. Bigger is better, more is better.
> 
> The bottom line is, the more people who come to the trail, the more you'll 
> see bad behavior.
> 
> Scott
> ------------------------------------
> Trails : Postholer.Com
> Gear : PeakGeek.Com 
> 
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