[pct-l] On the trail....''Grubby'' is good

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

On Feb 18, 2009, at 7:56 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
> Yes Diane & Monty,
> I never have been bothered by dogs on the trail.
> They don't seem to have any desire to growl or snap at me.
> Perhaps I don't look or smell to appetizing to them.
> It seems they prefer the good smelling clean ones like  
> 'Monty''...he, he, he.
> The same with bears....that is one reason why I am not particular  
> interested
> in being overly clean and good smelling on the trail.
>
> On the trail, GRUBBY IS GOOD.....clean & sweet smelling, not so good.
>
> JMT Reinhold
> Your GRUBBY trail companion

Actually, I have been bitten by a dog while hiking. I won't get into  
the details, but I felt it was partially my fault. The main reason I  
want to avoid dogs is poison oak. They will rub up against it and  
then it'll rub off their fur onto you. But there's not much poison  
oak on the PCT, so when I saw a dog I really wanted to make friends  
with it. But I think they sense I'm not a dog person and rarely  
wanted to make friends with me. I'm a bird person.

I was thinking of bringing my parrot on the PCT. She is fully- 
flighted so she'll wear a harness and be on a leash at all times. Are  
there any rules about birds in the National parks? (I'm kidding, what  
a pain in the butt a bird on a hike would be.)