[pct-l] safety on the trail

[Donna Saufley]

Don't forget John "Seabreeze" Donovan who got lost in the San Jacintos and
died from unnamed causes (presumably hypothermia, but not confirmed).  His
death could probably have been prevented if he had carried maps and a
compass and knew how to use them.  

You're right about the AT being much closer to civilization and therefore
closer to the ills of society.  Pretty much everyone on the eastern seaboard
knows about the AT, and roads that cars can travel on intersect it
frequently.  I know people who live directly on the PCT (on Agua Dulce
Canyon Road) and don't know that it's a national scenic trail that goes from
Mexico to Canada. It's exceptional that I mention the trail to non-hikers
and find that they've even heard of it.

L-Rod

-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net]
On Behalf Of Brick Robbins
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 10:42 AM
Cc: PCT
Subject: Re: [pct-l] safety on the trail

> Come on folks, statically what
> are the chances of any of the above happening.
> I'm not being naive, bad things do, unfortunately happen,

The bad things brought up in this thread have to do with human
interaction on the AT, not the PCT.

FWIW, in my experience in the backcountry, the "moral quality"
increases and number of people you meet decreases, with the square of
the distance from the trailhead and the cube of the elevation gain.
The PCT has a lot more distance and elevation gain between it an the
bad guys than the AT.

Most of the AT is a whole lot closer to a whole lot more people than
the PCT. Even the section of the PCT that is physically close to Los
Angeles is not easily accessible from there due to the steep terrain.

In the 11 years I've been running this list, I can only remember 4
fatalities of thru hikers on the PCT: Two from falls, one which may
have been prevented by an ice axe, and two hikers that were hit by a
car while roadwalking around a section of trail (is that even a trial
death?)

This leads me to believe that carrying and an ice axe is a whole lot
more important than carrying any kind of defensive weapon.

All IMHO, YMMV and HYOH

Brick
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