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Re: [at-l] GSMNP Proposed Itenerary redux



--- Coosa <coosa@fox21.net> wrote: you all know my adage "Take No Unnecessary
> Risks and There are No Necessary Risks" about says it all.
### sloetoe teases the Coosa with:
I need help here, Coosa: it's a risk driving to the backcountry, it's a risk
to set foot on the trail, it's a risk to camp, it's a risk to... so just
where do you draw the line between what *you*choose* to recognize as a risk,
and what you don't? Take water as an example....

> Must be a "touron" (oooh, put down) and we kindly Educate them in LNT and
> why you can't drink directly from the streams and ...
### Can't drink directly from the streams? Remember history, Grandma Coosa.
Out of the 51 years of throughhiking (counting Earl's '48 as numero uno) or
even the roughly 65 years of section hiking, filters have only been "required
equipment" for 5-10. (I don't think more than a couple places even CARRIED
them 15 years ago, and those mostly catering to trekkers headed overseas.)
Filters come at us from the same people that sell us the 6-8 pound backpacks.
And we buy 'em. They can't keep 'em in stock.
### Was it Rolly Muesser's book that recorded that of AT throughhikers
reporting giardiasis, 50% filtered their water and 50% didn't? So you gain
trouble and loose time EVERY time you get water, you gain a reliable 1-2
pounds in your pack every moment of every day, and by the time you get to
Maine, it's provided you with ... nothing?


> There are risks in this sport. What you choose to carry is in direct
> proportion to how much risk you are willing to take.
> > Paddler
> AT Class of 1999 GA>ME
### Every time I hear this, I smile at its coolness.

### BTW, on my throughhike, I carried 3 500ml flaskes, and generally left a
water source with at least 2 (one liter) filled. I also picked up a
half-gallon jug of OJ in Front Royal VA, which weighed next-to-nothing. I
used it as a campsite water source each nite, and would hike with it (up to 5
miles once) full if I anticipated no water (as for mountain tops). Before
Front Royal, I used to fill up Ziploc bags and hike verrrryyyyy verrrrrryyyyy
gently, though I never had one leak.

Reporting from the dinosaur
AT Class of 1979 GA>ME, I am

=====
Sloetoe


   "I strive to be the man my children think I am."

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