[pct-l] Rather funny.. :), and realistic advice

Thu May 21 14:54:24 CDT 2009

Jeff, Marge--

Whoa!  I'm floored! Thank you so much for the support. I had no idea there 
was so much interest in an issue that some say does not pertain to the 
trail.

I had a simple question, an issue that didn't make sense in my mind, and I 
thought, with all the varied expertise on this List, I'd likely get an 
answer to it if asked in an honest, open, non-judgmental way. People are 
entitled to their opinions, certainly this forum allows for that, and in the 
brief time that Brick allowed the thread to continue, everyone basically 
behaved themselves.

As you all know, we are very concerned, here, about hiker preparation, 
specifically, a hiker's awareness of the practical side of thru hiking, the 
non-romantic side, and especially how that relates to on-trail skills 
training, to keep them safe and provide for fun expeditions.

So, the next question for the "panel" is just how aware are most thru hikers 
of the dangers of the recreation? Sure, hikers can and have died on the 
trail from all sorts of things from bee stings and hypothermia to drowning 
and falls (snow and dry trail), but we all know they are infrequent and far 
between. However, what I see every year as the next Class ques up and asks 
the usual questions is tremendous romantic desire to accomplish dreams 
hitherto unknown with such naiveté that I become certain that many of them 
will not succeed and lose the incredible opportunity to learn of life and 
mature in stature that the long trail offers.

Now, many start with the desire and realize that they have to learn more 
about it and, so, begin the lengthy process of planning, research, and 
trial-runs. This is fantastic.

But this is what I want to say, once again, when so few finish the whole 
trail in one season compared to the mass that starts out each Spring, does 
that say that the rest were not thoroughly enough acquainted with the 
realities of the adventure, what the trials will be? Sure, we "veterans 
young and old" are there to assist and advise when asked, and the trail 
journals can be read, but are we really doing all we can to help the next 
generation accomplish their dreams, ones we have already tasted, by 
preparing them for all the possible realities? This is not intended to 
inject fear or doubt, but to bring to the planning table all the issues so 
hikers can be at least mentally aware of what can be around the next bend in 
the trail. When the highway sign says that rocks could fall on my head up a 
ways, I can chose my response and proceed advised.

The subject of weapons in the woods relates to such preparation advise. When 
I hiked the Continental Divide and arrived in Chama, NM, to receive another 
resupply, I stayed at a small resort on the southern edge of town that was 
just coming out of winter hibernation. The place was empty of guests and the 
owner couple were facing preparing all the cabins for the summer's busy 
season. We repacked our new gear, skis, skins, and avalanche beacons in one 
of the cabins and shoved off a few days later back up to the snow and Wolf 
Creek Pass.

The going was horribly rough. There was a lot of snow the winter of 1979! 
After slogging it out and climbing some crazy-steep snow chutes, we deemed 
the effort insane and not worth it, and we bailed out and back to Chama to 
wait weeks for the snow depth to decrease. While we were there, the owner of 
the resort, an avid shooter and re-loader took us on our breaks (we paid for 
our lodging by working on all the cabins!) out to the town dump to shoot at 
cans (New Mexico, baby!).

I was an award-winning target shooter from my youth, but I hadn't shot 
anything in years! Needless to say, I couldn't hit the proverbial "broad 
side of a barn door." Besides, I was a hiker and hikers don't know nothin' 
'bout guns! The pivotal moment came when he said, casually, one day as we 
were walking between cabins beneath the towering cottonwoods alongside the 
river, "Your gonna need a gun for the bears ahead, if not the crazy people!"

It really was the farthest thing from my mind. I just didn't think like 
that. I had a mild notion that there might be grizzly and wolves in Wyoming 
and Montana, but I had hiked the Crest and didn't have a problem, had hiked 
all my 24 years up to that point in the Sierra and never had an incident, so 
why should it be different here? He was a quiet-spoken man who, it was 
clear, loved his wife more than life and he never, in the few weeks we were 
there, pushed any biases upon us. So when he began to describe what really 
happens in the mountains of Southern Colorado, having hunted and guided 
there for most of his 50 or 60 years, I began to take him seriously. I had 
come to know and respect the man. I didn't really think that I would come 
upon a situation where I would have to use a weapon, but according to his 
experience, the possibility remained.

He sold me a .41 mag. Ruger revolver and a box of shells with the condition 
that, should I not want to keep it, I sell it back to him as it was one of 
his favorites. It weighed a ton, based on my standards of cutting my 
toothbrush in half to save weight, but I was strong at that point in my hike 
and I didn't notice the difference once the pack was on. I loaded the thing 
and strapped it on top of my tent on the very top of my Kelty pack such that 
I could reach it while hiking. As I would hike along later that summer 
through the many ghost towns in Colorado, I would find huge piles of rusting 
tin cans somewhere amidst the roofless old buildings-and you know what tin 
cans are for? I would drop my pack there at the edge of "town," line up the 
cans on the nearest cabin wall, and plink away at them, hoping to maybe hit 
one. No such luck. I was a novice with a cannon, but it sure was a lot of 
fun! I'm not a hunter, just love target practice! (Still working at it...)

I never made it into Wyoming to see the grizzly or wolf. I got severe 
Achilles tendonitis just outside of Steamboat Springs, fell way behind 
schedule to make it to Canada, and hobbled off the trail right there. What I 
learned is to be aware of the possible, expect the probable, and plan as 
desired. Some say it's stupid to carry a satellite phone into the canyons of 
the Sierra, but I value my life (and yours if you need help!) over the 
discomfort of its weight. Carrying a weapon is no different. Chances are 
you'll never need it. Without it you're the next victim, whether phone or 
weapon in an emergency. How you view the odds and prioritize the weight is 
your choice.

At least get all the advice on the realities of the journey before you go. 
We should not with hold such, especially on this forum, because it only 
happened to one person or to no one, yet, at all. Are weapons really needed 
on the Crest Trail? No, until something happens that raises the chances it 
may again. I say this only because the populations of lions in the south and 
grizzly and wolf in the north are statistically increasing the likelihood of 
human/animal encounters. Most American Black bears only want your food, and 
those only near the Parks, but they can reach weights up to 350 pounds (one 
was just caught in Carson City, not far from me, just wandering through the 
houses) and don't just eat ants and plants. Marion D. relayed a personal 
account of hers with her llamas in SEKI a while back where she heard on the 
trail that a bear had killed and eaten a llama. She witnessed another 
watching and waiting a short distance from her own tied string of llamas one 
evening.

Know what's going on out there, that's all. You may never have a problem or 
incident in your lifetime, but be advised and aware and choose as you see 
fit for you.

Now, as the Hill Street Blues sergeant used to say, "Be Careful Out There!"

Mtnned
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <jeff.singewald at comcast.net>
To: "AsABat" <AsABat at 4Jeffrey.Net>
Cc: "PCT MailingList" <pct-l at backcountry.net>; "Paul Magnanti" 
<pmags at yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 21, 2009 9:39 AM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Rather funny.. :)

>
>
> Asabat,
>
>
>
> I am thankful for the volunteers that provide the forum and moderate, but 
> with that said, the topic of guns is WAY more pertinent to the PCT than 
> many of the sexist threads and jokes that certain old timers on this list 
> frequently submit. There have been many requests to put a stop to these 
> topics but they seem to persist.
>
>
>
> Frankly, the topic that Ned started was far my interesting in my opinion 
> than all that other crap that Switchback and Reinhold submit.
>
>
>
>
>
> Elevator
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "AsABat" <AsABat at 4Jeffrey.Net>
> To: "Paul Magnanti" <pmags at yahoo.com>, "PCT MailingList" 
> <pct-l at backcountry.net>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 10:12:38 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Rather funny.. :)
>
>
>> Ryan said:
>> > Okay, both sides have weighed in on the gun issue. Let's drop it
>> > there. -Ryan
>> And Kerry replied:
>>
>>
>> >>if you don't like lively comments on important current events, just
>> delete
>> >>those emails. Don't tell others to stop thinking and debating
> because it
>> >>gives YOU a headache.
>>
>> Well, since Ryan is gracious enough to run the PCT-L, CDT-L and AT-L
>> mailing lists, provide the servers they run on and any bandwidth
>> we use for FREE..I think it it his right to tell us to STFU about the
>> issue. :-)
>
>
> And since Brick moderates this particular list, he can do the same.
>
> Thank you Ryan and Brick for providing this wonderful forum and for
> keeping us on topic.
>
> AsABat
>
>
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