[pct-l] Denatured alcohol...

[Jon Danniken]

Hi Catherine,

The world is a different place today than it was in Mr. Muir's time.  We 
have a population of 300 million inhabitants, with exponentially more people 
in the western US than there were one hundred years ago.  There are fewer 
places to go and find solace in the wild, and those places that are left, 
such as the PCT, are becoming increasingly populated, to the point where it 
is all but impossible to find the seclusion that he sought in nature.

When you promote something, be it a hunting area, a hiking trail, or a 
fishing hole, you increase traffic in that area, to the point that the 
original character of that place loses it's "magic," and becomes yet another 
dirtpile trampled by too many feet.  Further, the type of human that goes to 
that location changes from individuals seeking solace from civilization, to 
the typical human sheep, being led by a pack mentality instead of the 
reverent allure of association with the sacred.

Jon


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Catherine Worth"
> Hi Jon -
>
> Below I've pasted a couple encouragements J. Muir had for people to go 
> outdoors. He clearly thought doing so would benefit not only them, but all 
> of society. Please note that he failed to include small print reading, 
> "This advice does NOT apply to those pathetic, obnoxious people with 
> little to no backpacking experience of their own, or who need some 
> direction or encouragement or help, or have some fears or uncertainties, 
> or who question what stove they should use, or who choose to walk in a 
> group or sometimes be social in the woods. YOU GUYS stay home."
>
> Hmmm. Was Muir actually secretly an undercover soccer mom?! Dang.
>
> -Katie W.
> 2007 pct attempter
> and john muir groupie
>
> "Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the 
> mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, 
> in craggy garden nooks full of nature's darlings. Climb the mountains and 
> get their good tidings, nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine 
> flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the 
> storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age 
> comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature's 
> sources never fail."
>
> "Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and 
> climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean."
>
> "Brought into right relationships with the wilderness, man would see that 
> his appropriation of Earth's resources beyond his personal needs would 
> only bring imbalance and begat ultimate loss and poverty by all."
>
> "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, 
> where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul."
>
> "Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to 
> find out that going to the mountain is going home; that wildness is 
> necessity; that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as 
> fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life."
>
> "Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and 
> communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in 
> woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, 
> and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as 
> life."
>