[pct-l] Problems on the PCT

Boris Trgovcich btrgovcich at yahoo.com
Sun Sep 30 17:16:58 CDT 2012


I totally agree with you Jim about our society being afraid of anything that is not sterile.  But that was no the point of my message. I have never bought a bottle of drinking water in my life (58 years).  I have not filtered/chemically treated my drinking water on the first 1700 miles of  PCT that I have section- hiked so far.  I have never had any GI problems as a result.  But I also try to be fairly selective where I dip my cup.  Bear pile on the trail is just fine (it and its maker both belong there); cow patty through which water from a cool fresh spring flows does not belong there.

I am simply asking that the government enforces its own regulations designed to protect the wilderness areas.  Take the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon and other Wild and Scenic rivers..  Rafters are required to carry out all the trash and human waste. This is strictly enforced.  As a result, you can pull on any beach in the 220-mile stretch of  the Colorado River  and find it in pristine condition, probably very much like Powell saw it.  Now, imagine turning loose a bunch of cows along the river.




________________________________
 From: James Lott <socalbackpackers at outlook.com>
To: Inga Aksamit <iaksamit at aol.com>; "pct-l at backcountry.net" <pct-l at backcountry.net> 
Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2012 1:18 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Problems on the PCT
 
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 p
oo
>  p from animals who are there with humans.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Inga
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ********
> 
>  
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-L mailing list
> Pct-L at backcountry.net
> To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
> 
> List Archives:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
> All content is copyrighted by the respective authors. 
> Reproduction is prohibited without express permission.
                          
_______________________________________________
Pct-L mailing list
Pct-L at backcountry.net
To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l

List Archives:
http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
All content is copyrighted by the respective authors. 
Reproduction is prohibited without express permission.


More information about the Pct-L mailing list