[pct-l] Alcohol stoves and fire bans

I Discovered That By Going Out I Had Really Gone In timpnye at gmail.com
Thu Sep 20 14:25:48 CDT 2012


Well said.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

CHUCK CHELIN <steeleye at wildblue.net> wrote:

>Good morning, All,
>
>Here's what happens: Anywhere, in any jurisdiction up and down the length
>of the PCT, some manager who is under pressure to reduce human-caused fires
>comes out of the office one day and dumps a big file on the desk of a
>senior staffer saying, “Do something to make this problem go away!”
>
>After reviewing the file and making appropriate inquiries the staffer
>determines that the problem is not just that one clique of ultra-lite
>long-distance hikers is peeved that the others don’t use the same little
>stove that they do, the problem is that people, in general, are camping in
>areas where there is simultaneously a high surface fuel load – meaning
>sticks, dry brush, and grass, etc. – during periods when the humidity has
>been low and the likelihood of wind is high.  That potentially can apply to
>all of the PCT at some time during the hiking season except for some high,
>barren-rock stretches of the Sierra, and parts of Washington when rain
>rolls in from the Pacific.
>
>The solution can’t include voluminous qualifications, caveats, guidelines,
>advisories, exceptions, rules-of-thumb, or anything requiring on-site
>review, judgment, administration, and enforcement; there is just no time
>and no people to do that.
>
>The apparent answer then becomes the closure of affected areas while the
>unfavorable conditions exist:  That would mean closure for all recreational
>use, not just on the trail, but everywhere and for everyone in the
>jurisdiction; including but not limited to you and me, day-hikers,
>weekenders, anglers and hunters, equestrians, dirt-bikers and off-roaders,
>pot-heads, morons, MIT grads, do-gooders, and Aunt Tilley’s birder group.
>
>Be careful of what you wish for, because you may get it.
>
>Steel-Eye
>
>-Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965
>
>http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
>
>http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/
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