High Sierra Topix

Last year spent most of the season in and out of Tuolumne. On countless occasions I hung with the PCTers and saw the constant resupply process going on...(On the two picnic tables...Pre-sent boxes from home picked up from the Tuolumne store...Rangers milling about...food stuffed right into packs...no cans used)... and even asked a Ranger why no cans seen/needed/required by these thru hikers?
Response - "We just leave them be."

Sigh...A double standard?

Doesn't this tempt one to simply procure a thru-hike permit each season and break the rules? Many thru-hikers drop out early anyway and who is going to make you prove you are on a thru-hike?

Inconsistent enforcement of rules definitely breeds contempt of rules. I realize the park service is not staffed enough to chase down all rule breakers, but to just sit there watch and do nothing?

I have always felt that Tuolumne needs an equivelent to Camp 4 - a walk in group site that is not tied to backpacking permits. That would leave the backpakcer's campground to true backpackers.

Camp Curry showers are open to the public, you just have to pay if you are not a registered guest. The showers are now located at the swimming pool and include use of it. So, bring a swim suit too! What the Camp Curry staff frowns upon is you sneaking into the shower without paying.

I always carry some money in dollar bills to cover these small fees. When I used the "free" shower at Tuolumne Lodge I simply gave the tip to the fellow who was on site cleaning. There are no amenites, so I had to dry off with my bandana! If you go to the regular pay shower, you can get a towel. In the big picutre, it is a small price to get that priceless hot shower.

BTW, when in Bishop the cheapest shower is to simply go to the public swimming pool, as long as you do not mind group showering. I usually just put on a bikini and wash up. The fee includes swimming, and it is also really fun to swim for a few minutes too.

I never wear a bikini when showering...:^)

In 2008 I was asked for my permit at the Tuolumne BPr's campground. Just happened that I was at the fee tube the same time as a ranger. My permit got a double look...it was handwritten as the power was out when I got it.

Alas the showers in Tuolumne were closed that year, too.

Balzacomm,

I did not need that image!

mike

"We just leave them be."

Trail Magic!!

I don't think it's too bad to just let them be in Yosemite because the journey through Yosemite for a typical PCT thru hiker is only one or two nights in the back country.

RoguePhotonic wrote:I don't think it's too bad to just let them be in Yosemite because the journey through Yosemite for a typical PCT thru hiker is only one or two nights in the back country.

Unfortunately, the Sierra’s “Bear can required areas” include many more trail miles than the few day spent crossing Yosemite.
http://sierrawild.gov/bears/food-storage-map" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Regulations also mandate having cans for parts of the Whitney Zone, large sections of SEKI, and all the trails around Reds Meadow…maybe 80 miles out of the JMT’s 210 mile total.

I too believe that the current “Trail Magic…Let them be” attitude now being used works, but there is a double standard in place.

It is a bit two-faced for on one hand, the hiker's association is sueing the NP for not enforcing the same regulations for commercial horse packers vs backpackers. This is the topic of an ongoing thread on this forum. Now, if a small contingent of backpackers (thru-hikers) feel they are entitled to waiver from regulations, is not that being a bit hypocritical? We are beginning to sound like all the polititians! Regulations are for everyone but us!

There are also lockers along the JMT at regular intervals - and the JMT happens to overlap the PCT quite a lot, and also it is the corridor where the bears are at their worst.

Which is not to say I'm terribly happy about the double standard, or that PCTers use the lockers religiously.

I do think that better and consistent food storage is the only way to go and hope the thrus are actually making use of the lockers.