[pct-l] Time for the Annual "Why I Boycott the ADZ" Message

[virgil]

On Wednesday 27 February 2008 11:09:32 Slyatpct at aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 2/27/2008 2:00:23 PM Eastern Standard Time,
> gkesselr at whidbey.com writes:
>
>
> The  problem of the herd is that those 300 people start within a few days
> of the  end of the KO, whereas if you didn't have the KO, they would spread
> out over  several weeks.  Seems like a big difference to  me.
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
>
> Check your facts. 300 hikers don't start at the KO but within a few  weeks.
> About 150 start around that weekend.

Indeed,

Last year TwoLegs counted about 100 people that had signed the register at the 
border prior to the KO, IIRC, the earliest starting approximately the middle 
of march. (And not everyone signs the register)

My own perception as a serial hiker of the PCT in southern california is that 
while the KO may sharpen the peak, publicity about the herd has actually 
caused more people to to pick starting dates significantly before and after 
the KO in order to avoid the herd.  Last year I started the 11th of April 
partially for that reason, and many of the other hikers I met at that time 
cited that atleast partially as a reason for their starting date.

On the other hand, back in '96, before there was a KO, I, and a bunch of other 
random people, picked the last weekend in April as our starting date.  There 
werent very many people ahead of us, and not very many people started after 
us, so even before there was a KO, there was still a herd.

-- 
"I came into this game for adventure - go anywhere, travel light, get in, get
out, wherever there's trouble, a man alone."

Robert De Niro as Harry Tuttle in Brazil.