[pct-l] Search and Seizure

[DAVCATDAV at aol.com (DAVCATDAV@aol.com)]

Well..this is sure to cause a storm...
 
My own attitude is that my access to public lands is a form of  
entertainment.  No more noble than going to the movies...attending a public  
lecture...going to a porn site on the Internet.  I do not have the calculus  that allows me 
to quantify my hiking as any more objectively noble than any  of these other 
activities. I am not so wise that I feel comfortable  asserting my own joy is 
anymore worthwhile than your garden variety heroin  addict's.  When not on the 
trail I can often be found obscenely fondling my  hiking equipment..a sickness 
that does no one but myself any harm.  
 
The issue of bear canisters...and the arbitrary bureaucratic rules of the  
various agencies that administer forest and grass lands...that seems to  vent so 
many spleens in this chat room...I gotta wonder if your living rewarding  and 
self fulfilling lives.  So it's dumb to add 2 1/2 pounds to my  backpack, and 
Ms Ranger..the Fifth says you can't check on my baggy of  gorp...this is a 
battle worth all  the effort I've seen here?
 
So I carry a bear canister where required, or even when it's suggested...I  
purchase the forest passes used here in the Northwest...(I hike from car to  
car...picking up the one when I finish and going back to my starting point to  
pick up the other...I gotta buy two passes...at $60 a shot...for both  cars?  
The man says yup...(but then am I environmentally correct..two  cars...one a 
Suburban...the other a Jeep...this vast use of foreign oil..do I  deserve the 
joy?))
 
I guess what I'm saying is that I can see, certainly, that you can argue  
that the sundry and various administrative rules enacted by the men and women in  
green may be wrong..or right..and that the money collected by them for my 
access  to wilderness areas may be misused.  Myself..if they say I gotta wear  a 
bearbox covered with Victoria Secrets best..so be it.  I have trust  that 
their hearts are in the right place no matter how silly it may seem to me  at the 
time.  And when I'm asked if I am carrying a bear canister...I smile  and say 
yes ma'am...it's right here.  Or when asked if I have my forest  pass..I smile 
and say yes sir, it's right here.  It may indeed be  silly...or even 
stupid..but I remember good people can disagree, and that this  is not a moral 
battle...just a disagreement over administrative policy...and  that I've been wrong 
before.
 
Folks..it's a good thing to fight the good fight... this world is filled  
with troubles enough to keep us all occupied for more than this one life...but  
you'll all have to forgive me...if you wanta draw the line at bear  
boxes...access fees to public lands...to these sort of matters...and are unable  to just 
stand with a smile on your face and say...well...on this tiny  matter...I'm 
gonna compromise a little..well...I'll buy you a beer at that trail  town we 
both get to...but you're gonna have to forgive me smiling at you kinda  funny...