[pct-l] Restop

[matt_ripperton at yahoo.com (Matt Ripperton)]

First, in response to the original post, I wanted to say that I don't see the need for these Restop bags on the PCT, but I'm glad someone came up with the idea.  Maybe the long distance trails will one day become so heavily used that these would be necessary.  They do make a lot of sense in some high use areas, or for mountaineering, where "packing it out" is really the only good option.
 
And in response to horse discussion, I say AMEN.  I undertand horses bring great joy to a lot of people, and I would not want to deny anyone that.  And I don't dislike them in most situations.  But I have seen otherwise stunning scenic areas (the Weminuche Wilderness in Colorado comes to mind) where the trails were at times completely devastated by horse overuse and the resulting erosion.  If I were in charge (don't worry, there's not much chance of this happening), horses would not be allowed in designated wilderness areas.  I don't see them as compatible with the wilderness act, the point of which was to keep those areas untrammeled by man and preserved in their natural condition.
 
And I have always thought it non-sensical the notion that we have to be so concious of LNT (and rightfully so), but that no one picks up after their horses, or at least scoops it off the trails.  The stink, the flies, the tiptoe dance we do to avoid the land mines are all annoying enough, but what may bother me the most is when I see horse poop in a dusty section, I wonder how much of that dust I'm breathing is actually dried and pulverized poop.  Yuk.
 
I would never do this, of course, but it has driven me so mad on occasion that I wished I could find a "horses only" trail somewhere and take a big dump right in the middle of it, and wait to see the reaction.
 
Ajax
 
-----------------------------------------------

>>>If it's OK for a 1000 lb. horse to crap on the trail, it's  OK for 
me to 
bury it in the woods.>>>


Right on!!!  And further...  If it's ok, why is it ok for a horse  to 
crap on 
the trail?  I had a discussion with a horseman on the PCT this  summer.  
He 
said it was "natural."  I'm thinking that horses have been  on this 
continent 
for 400 years and man has been here for 15 or so thousand  years, 
shouldn't it 
be more "natural," and hence, OK for me to crap on  the trail?  He also 
said 
it didn't smell bad.  I got news for horse  people... it does.  Why 
can't 
horsepeople carry a small shovel and just get  off their horses and 
throw it to the 
side of the trail?
 
I know, I know.... horse people do a lot of trail maintenance.  I  
thank them 
for that!  But.. given a choice, I'd rather walk through 15  Section 
O's than 
stumble along a trail, swatting flies, holding my nose, dancing  to 
avoid the 
piles, and swearing and swearing and swearing.  I'll carry a  Restop 
bag when 
horsemen do.
 
And I mean that in the nicest possible way to my horse-loving friends  
:C)
 
"No Way Ray"  Echols



		
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