[pct-l] how to correctly disobey PCT closure orders

[Brett]

In the future...

As a compromise solution for those intent on disobeying forest closure 
orders, one proposal directs that the hiker should willingly set aside 
his or her PCT hat and in total anonymity hike cross-country within the 
closed areas. By doing so, said hiker may achieve the following:

1) Decreased - though not extinguished - odds of confrontation, fines, 
arrest, and other addictive forms of law-bashing mischief

2) Imparts no bad name upon the trail community or his fellow 
law-abiding hikers (aka "roadwalking/roadie scum")

3) In active fire areas, sets the fight-or-flight glands into overdrive 
- ie, maximize that rush - with the deleterious prospects of having to 
literally claw one's way out of the woods upon a sudden approaching 
smoke. (No PCTA-approved handicap rails allowed!)

4) In the friendly spirit of tradition and commiseration, demonstrates 
one's willingness to honor at least the closure order's inherent drag 
upon the hike, even if not the pesky, roadwalk-inducing proclamation itself

5) Most importantly, disavows any sense of entitlement that may be 
ascribed to those who would view the PCT - consciously or otherwise - as 
belonging to the individual rather than the collective. Accept the harsh 
reality that in 2008 those wayward, swashbuckling days are long gone 
from the PCT, but are yet alive and well along a distinct corridor of 
one's own choosing.

Go ahead, own that cross-country route, the theory goes; it's yours for 
the taking and private glory. What's more, if you live, only the 
supernal ghost of Smoky the Bear will haunt you.

- blisterfree