Re[4]: [at-l] Snow-Fitness

[RoksnRoots@xxxxxxx (RoksnRoots@xxxxxxx)]

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In a message dated 4/9/2003 4:52:05 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
daveh@psknet.com writes:


> To be sure, "pointless" comes to a hiker's mind when the trail goes
> up-down-up-down... on a very artificial path when it could just as easily
> have been built more to the individual hiker's idea of what would have been
> "good."
>
> On the one hand, I too have know of places where the trail was routed (or
> more often re-routed) off the contour for no good reason, which I can
> fathom.
>


         ***     PUD's are more an annoyance to through-hikers than any other
type of Trail user. This is because through-hikers start getting attuned to
the rhythms of the terrain. One thing I and other hikers noticed on our
through-hikes' was that we were starting to become woodsmen. We felt attuned
to the mountains.

      The annoyance is universal. After going through a serious effort to
build a series of waterbars on a brand new relocation, the next year we saw
signs hikers were going around them. Even when it was easier to go over. I
watched one busy day and found, to my surprise, through-hikers were detouring
around the water diversion devices as well. The effort of one step up wasn't
worth it for hikers unconsciously looking for the path of least resistance.
Long distance walking leads to a fast-thinking, fast-paced economy of
footsteps and movement.

       This holds true for PUD's (a pointless climb up and down a hillside
where it could have gone around). PUD's are not all attributable to hiker
crankiness. There are places where the Trail veered off to do a difficult
climb, with no real reward, only to return at or near the same point a
better-built trail would have gone. Through-hikers are more sensitive to
these joyless jaunts because they tend to calculate effort on a much more
calibrated scale. Having to make a tough climb for no view becomes less
valuable to the overall day and hike.

       The reasons for these seemingly senseless climbs can involve the
planning technicalities outlined by Chainsaw, but most likely they are merely
the result of a local club planning the route in a wandering fashion. The
route they marked was good enough and a second scouting trip wasn't in the
cards.

      As I've seen on AT-L before, someone posted that there should be a
second type of "PUD". One for a section that not only goes up and down
unnecessarily, but bypasses a much better location to do so. Gulf Hagas comes
to mind.

      The real scientific evidence of PUD-sensitivity are deer paths. Many a
time I've scouted a relocation only to find a deer path already in place down
its middle. Deer also have a keen sense of ease-of-contour.

      If you find a PUD that annoys you to wits try to cite its location and
send a complaint to the maintaining club and ATC...