[pct-l] Clarke's Trailway

[Deems]

I was reading some old PCT books by Clinton Clarke ( the father of the PCT), 
that described the route before the trail was built, and found his words 
still ring true and are worth sharing:
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"In our hurry-scurry world of machines, noise and distractions, the mind 
becomes confused and our sense of values is lost.  Throw down your 
sleeping -bag beneath a pine high on a mountain side, and get acquainted 
with that vast world of God's creatures that are more and more being 
banished from our consciousness.  Peace and contentment come, events that 
yesterday seemed so vital shrink to their true worth, and we return to the 
slavery of our inhuman world with enlightened mind and revivified soul."
Clinton C. Clarke- Natural History of the PCT System-1935
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"Care should be taken that the TRAIL never be made for the average tourist 
type of recreation seeker, but that it be kept intact for the true 
wilderness lover and nature worshipper"
Clinton C. Clarke- Pacific Crest Trail- 1935
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"Our wildernesses are about gone. The primitive regions are being destroyed 
by the unnecessary building of roads and recreation areas; they have been 
driven to the high mountain divides where runs the Pacific Crest Trail 
System; that is the LAST FRONTIER.  The severe pressure of a growing 
population, the enslavement of our people by a highly mechanized 
civilization makes the task difficult. Though the Pacific Crest Trailway has 
not been molested by the industrialization of War Projects there is grave 
danger that it will not be able to withstand the ravages of peace times. 
Already the wilderness everywhere is under savage attack by 
commercialization programs and mechanization projects."
Clinton C. Clarke- Pacific Crest Trailway-1945
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"I made my bed in a nook of the pine thicket--snug as a squirrel's nest, 
full of spicy odors with plenty of wind-played needles to sing me to sleep"-
-John Muir