[pct-l] Problems on the PCT

James Lott socalbackpackers at outlook.com
Sun Sep 30 15:18:58 CDT 2012


What frustrates me is how people have become so afraid of anything that is not sterile.  We have sanitizers stuck to every wall.  We buy Purell  buy the gallon and OMG if you don't filter your water from running streams 10,000 feet in the mountains.  Now some whack job wants to fence off the PCT from the cattle that roam the open space we hike through.  We are the visitors on the PCT. We hike through neighborhoods, ranch land and the back country that is filled with animals that were there before the PCT ever existed.
Step over it, around it or in it, it is not that big of a deal.  Go out and enjoy nature the way it is and stop trying to change it because animal poop is dirty and disgusting.  

And as far as the Whitney Zone goes, they allow 100 day hikers and 60 backpackers a day in the Whitney Zone during the summer.  Considering that most of us have the intelligence to bag our own waste, you would put that in the same category as animals to just take a dump where ever?  I think in that area, due to the volume of people and animals,  you should pack out any waste you or your animal drops on the trail.

Jim

> To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> From: iaksamit at aol.com
> Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2012 15:07:33 -0400
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Problems on the PCT
> 
> Wow, I'm surprised at all the negative energy directed at Boris, who was just expressing an opinion and providing a suggestion of officials that can be contacted if people so desire, which I personally appreciated. I am completely at peace with the *wild* animals on the trails, who leave interesting droppings every now and then that allow us to try an identify them and what they are eating. That's very different from the numerous piles of stinking, fly-ridden piles of manure that line the JMT and HST. I've hiked on trails throughout the Western U.S., BC, Alaska and the Yukon, and never have my husband and I been so put off as we were when confronted several times a day by such a volume of manure. I've never minded sharing the trail with horses and mules and appreciate their beauty and usefulness, but it's a matter of volume. These are not wild animals, and you must admit that it's ironic that humans have to use wagbags in the Whitney Zone while stepping over large amounts poo
>  p from animals who are there with humans.
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> Inga
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