I STOPPED HIKING THE PCT BECAUSE OF TOXIC MA

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Cross Country
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Re: I STOPPED HIKING THE PCT BECAUSE OF TOXIC MA

Post by Cross Country »

My experience is that the large majority of backpackers are the good guys. Molehills into mountains is bad but saying this means nothing to those who do this. Virtually all of them will deny doing this even when they are extreem. I can get as angry, but I don't remember ever being angry at another backpacker. We're the good guys.
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Re: I STOPPED HIKING THE PCT BECAUSE OF TOXIC MA

Post by Shhsgirl »

I've never thru-hiked the PCT, but if it's like the rest of the Sierra, I generally enjoy the people who stop to talk. The more eccentric, the better, in my view! I not only can take different kinds of people and outlooks, I like them! This may be because I am old enough now to enjoy stopping to jaw, rather than pushing on to a goal. I can see how I might have, in younger and more hormonal days, been put off by certain types, the author's among them.
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Re: I STOPPED HIKING THE PCT BECAUSE OF TOXIC MA

Post by Shhsgirl »

I've now read more of the complainer's blog. I can only presume that she writes this drivel because her education is too lacking to write anything of consequence. She is a crashing intellectual bore. And her PCT trail handle should have been "Princess."
Last edited by Shhsgirl on Sun Feb 25, 2018 11:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: I STOPPED HIKING THE PCT BECAUSE OF TOXIC MA

Post by rightstar76 »

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Re: I STOPPED HIKING THE PCT BECAUSE OF TOXIC MA

Post by Wandering Daisy »

There may be no going back on the infatuation with social media, but you can limit the numbers. Instead of being surrounded by 50 people on the top of Forrester Pass taking selfies, it can be 5. The future issue will be the details of WHO gets permits. Right now it is "first come" be it quick fingers on the phone when getting a reservation or first in line at the permit station. The fact that PCT hikers are allowed to be outside the current system is counter-productive, given that the PCT/JMT is the most social media prone trail in the Sierra, thus the most impacted.

There were nay-sayers regarding a permit system in the first place; there were naysayers regarding requiring bear cans. Both regulations have improved the backpacking experience. Implementation of a better permit system is possible, we just have to have the legal basis (Wilderness Act) and the poltical will (not there yet). We need to address the entire issue of the impact of technology on wilderness.

Alhtough I hope not, youth in the future may become totally bored with backpacking. Unfortunately It is nearly impossible to get my grandkids off the video games. There is a possibility that in the future that virtual reality may replace actual backpacking for uber-techies.
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Re: I STOPPED HIKING THE PCT BECAUSE OF TOXIC MA

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From 1965 to 1996 permits were quite easy to obtain. It made the BP experience better than from 2003- 2008 and reading here I imagine it is much worse (BAD) now. Thank god I backpacked when I did. The permit stories I read here seem like nightmares.
The permit system is restrictive (NOT liberal) by it's nature and intent.
If there were twice as many permits issued then maybe one would see soot on rocks twice a day in stead of once per day (OH NO!!!). How horrible!!!.
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Re: I STOPPED HIKING THE PCT BECAUSE OF TOXIC MA

Post by Cross Country »

I think a large majority of backpackers are the good guys. Considering the size of the wilderness in the Sierra I think we impact the wilderness very VERY little.
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Re: I STOPPED HIKING THE PCT BECAUSE OF TOXIC MA

Post by Wandering Daisy »

CC- I would have agreed with you until the last 2-3 years, when the PCT/JMT has had an explosion of use. During peak use, it is literally now a zoo. Impact is limited to the trail, but it is significant.

Impact also being seen in off-trail areas. Particulary the HSR, which when I did pieces many years ago, had little or no use-trails, and by 2010, cairns and use-trails began to appear. Most of us may be the "good guys" but who put up all those cairns? Why are Sierra lakes now full of suds? We may be nice guys, but I suspect many do not follow LNT practices. Any of "big-name" off-trail route popularized on the internet, has shown impacts in the last few years.

If you have not been on the more popular routes in the last few years, you may not realize the problem. It is easy to say the permit system sucks, but since we have no experience with the current demand without permits, what is to say it would not be much worse?

As for permits, I have not experienced any "permit hell". In fact, I have found getting permits quite easy if you avoid weekned entry. As long as the FS keeps with the "use-it or loose-it" loss of permit by 11AM on the day of entry, there should be plenty of first-come permits, at least for the solo hiker. I agree that it could be permit hell for larger groups.

I moved to California after decades of climbing and backpacking in areas not requiring permits. I admit, that at first, it was hard to figure out, but once I understood the system I have not had any problems. The only comparison I have for "permit-vs-on permit" is California vs Wind Rivers in Wyoming, which currently does not require permits. It is hit and miss- I have been in popular areas such as Cirque of the Towers with only a handfull of others, and then at times where it was nearly a small town! I have walked the trail to Titcomb Basin, at times passing a few backpackers, more recently, stop counting at 30+ others in a few hours. The CDT passes through the Wind Rivers, but has not had nearly the popularity as the PCT (no stupid movie like "Wild"). It is sort of apples and oranges, because there are fewer big nearby population centers (Salt Lake City the major one).
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Re: I STOPPED HIKING THE PCT BECAUSE OF TOXIC MA

Post by CAMERONM »

There are almost NO CAIRNS on the HSR.
I erased (almost) all of them.
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Re: I STOPPED HIKING THE PCT BECAUSE OF TOXIC MA

Post by Cross Country »

Speaking of cairns, I ducked a tiny part of the route from Laurel Lake to Edith Lake. I belive that everyone who writes here and has been to Edith said it was a really bad hike to Edith. It was relatively easy using my cairns.
The last time I used them and the next to the last time was 8 years apart and was missing only one cairn.
Who knows about the last 25 years.
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