[pct-l] Disrespect of the PCT

[Sean Nordeen]

Trailhacker,

I'm not saying you are wrong, but there are some mistaken assumptions in
your reasoning.

* First it's 5/21 and almost no 'real' thru-hikers should be anywhere near
the High Sierra, much less Kearsarge Pass, especially with the weather it's
experiencing recently.

Actually, there are some.  I know of two who entered back in mid May.  So I
have to assume that there are even more considering the number of thru-hikers
I met on sections hikes in SoCal in March alone.



 * The note states "We are back-packing the PCT" not we are thru-hiking.
While this seems to be a play on words, back to point one (thru's shouldn't
be anywhere near Kearsarge Pass). During our conversation, Ms. Schweizer
repeatedly expressed her reservations about the hikers being thru-hikers.
I often used the term Backpacking instead of thru-hiking when talking to
others when I hiked since most people outside of the hiking community don't
know what a thru is.  I know others who did as well.  Backpacking the PCT
while doing resupplys suggests someone doing at least a few sections.
People who are only hiking the High Sierra usually say they are Backpacking
the JMT.  There are few PCT signs or markers while on the JMT portion of the
trail as everything normally just mentions the JMT.


* The note also states "...after resupplying in town we bought too much to
carry.." and after speaking with Ms. Schweizer, the bag was left on the
trail, not the bear box/trash can as pictured. Back to point one, after
thru-hikers having hiked ~788 miles they know about how much to carry and
strip their supplies of packaging before hitting the trail. Ms. Schweizer
confirmed the contents of the trash were mostly empty juice bottles and
empty Pop-Tart boxes. What thru-hiker packs out supplies in boxes after
~788 miles of hiking and resupplying? One can barely fit their supplies in
the pack/bear canister for the High Sierra without the packaging.

I always ended up carrying too much food from every resupply. Usually had
1 to 1.5 days too much food in almost every section. Never did get it
right. Might be the reason I never felt hungry on the trail and only lost
10 lbs for the trip.
I saw plenty of hikers carrying extra crap out of town and looking for
some place to dump it.  Sometimes in the fire ring in the mistaken belief
that it would all burn.  Though I will admit that it was more often beer
cans then juice bottles.  I'll grant you the empty boxes is something more
like a section hiker would do, but I did see some some thrus do that
occasionally when they were in a hurry to get back to the trail after
resupplying.  Especially if they had a ride that was waiting or had a
prearranged time that was near.

So don't assume that every thru-hiker acts like you did.  Then again, we
shouldn't assume that this person was a thru-hiker either as they are more
likely to be a section hiker since they outnumber thru-hikers.  And we
shouldn't assume that this story is made up either because we wish it wasn't
so.  Though my personal opinion is that it was sensationalized a bit.

I got injured early on in my thru and was behind the herd for the most of
the trail.  I got to meet some groups of people partying their way north
that were falling behind everyone else.  Lets just say I could see this
happening based on some of those encounters.


-Miner