From: anderson@vax.sonoma.edu
Newsgroups: rec.backcountry
Subject: Backpacker goes Horsepacking
Date: 20 Aug 92 22:40:41 GMT
Organization: Sonoma State University

Greetings, rec. backcountry people!  I read with great interest the items
you contribute to this group on a regular basis, but almost never 
contribute because, well, I'm a computer wimp :(.  I would, however,
like to contribute to the current discussions of horses and 
backpackers in the backcountry.  My comments apply only to my perceived
impact of horses and backpackers in the High Sierra, but first, 
something of a trip report.  Gosh, if I had another six lifetimes, I
*might* even get to know something about this glorious 430 mile range!

So anyway, a couple of years ago my father in law and I decided to try
a horsepacking trip.  We went on a "spot trip" wherein the outfitter 
takes you and your gear to a predetermined location and leaves you there.
You hike out on your own.  We met our packer at the pack station around
6:00 AM on our departure day.  They gave us a brief riding lesson, packed
up our gear and off we rode. Sitting on a horse, I saw many wonderful things
I may have missed if walking up the trail with a full pack. It was a 
pleasant change of pace.  This guy had us to our destination in 7 hours,
a trip that takes us almost 3 days to get to backpacking.  He unloaded
our gear and rode off, literally, in the west.  It was perfect!  Even
the weather cooperated.  Never saw another person. For a few glorious
days we hiked around, explored, fished, (catch and release fly-
fishing...er, except for one meal), and just did everything we would 
do on a normal backpacking trip, except we got an extra few days in the
really high country.  For a few days, we enjoyed fresh foods like
*salads* and exotic things like *beer*.  Fellow backpackers, it was
really weird sitting on my favorite rock overlooking one of our favorite
lakes at 10,500' drinking a nice lake-cooled beer.  When it was the day
to leave, we packed up and left, down hill with light packs, since by 
that timewe were, as planned, down to regular Purina backpacker chow
for our 2 and a half day hike back to the trailhead.

This trip gave me a new perspective as a backpacker.  It was a great 
experience, and I feel innocent as a lamb for having done it once.
Hell, I might even do it again, but first I've got some places I 
want to explore that I *know the horses can't get to*.  I think
there is room enough for both modes of travel in the Sierra.  Sure,
20 something years ago I used to come across camp sites that were
littered with white gas cans, whiskey bottles and garbage only horse
packers could have carried in and I resented them bitterly for it; 
but I see LESS of it now.  The horse packers I talk with say they
are doing their part to clean up the sins of the past, and in fact
I have seem them load up garbage from some camp site and continue
on down the trail:).  Perhaps more people that use these areas now
realize that they have to care for it, or it simply will cease to be
beautiful and precious.  I still don't enjoy the horse manure and 
litter I see on the John Muir Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, etc.
These trails are heavily used, and they are subject to abuse simply
because of the amount of foot and stock traffic they endure.  These
major routes don't seem to have gotten any worse in the last two
decades.  In some areas they are visibly better.  Again due to 
greater awareness and main-trail maintenance?  And all my favorite
alpine meadows are still intact.  John Muir aid the sheep, those
"hooved locusts" decimated many of them, but the sheep are long gone 
and the meadows seem to have recovered, although who knows what plant 
species may be lost forever because of them?  

Am I blindly optimistic, unable to acknowledge the destruction in front
of my face?  I don't think so - I hope not....  I desperately want my
son to continue enjoying these mountains, perhaps remembering and
revisiting some places I first showed him, as my father did for me
so long ago.

clearly, some regulations on back country use need to be in place.  
Once off the beaten path, there is plenty of room to fulfill any 
outdoor persons wilderness expectations.  IMO, horsepackers can be
a valuable ally.  And, as long as they continue to be regulated in
this area, and if we communicate with them, we will find they are, as 
a group, no more or less destructive than are backpackers as a group.

Keep the faith, my friends.

Mark Anderson
Newsgroups: rec.backcountry