FYI - Hiker Heaven closing

[sbhikes]

The thing about that section is there are a lot of places to stay. Starting with Wrightwood, which is only a day and a half away from the Best Western at Cajon Pass, you sleep outside about 2 nights and then you get to the KOA. Then 10 more miles and there's Auga Dulce. Then maybe a day's worth of hiking to the Anderson's. Then maybe you have to sleep one more night outside before Hikertown, which has become quite a big hangout compared to the hanta virus infested windowless trailer I experienced in 2008. Then you sleep one night in the desert, and you're in Tehachapi/Mojave. One fewer place to stay in that section isn't really going to hurt anyone's chances of success.

My mother has been a trail angel in the half-way portion of the trail. That is another section with too much trail angeling. She didn't do it last summer because she went on a trip in her RV. She was so worried there would be nobody to help the hikers, but I don't think anyone really noticed her absence. I mean, from Belden all the way to at least Burney Falls it was almost a trail angel or hot meal every night. That's just too much. Plus I think others sort of took her place while she was gone.

I think actually that trail angels shouldn't let themselves become institutions. Bad things seem to happen when that happens. The trail experience works out just fine for people whether all that help is there or not. It's certainly appreciated but it's not crucial for a successful or enjoyable hike.

There does seem to be some kind of personality disaster going on out there. I have had bad experiences personality-wise with both people, but particularly with one of them. I do not belong to the facebook groups and I quit the pct-l because of that one person, because she seems to also have friends who are just as acerbic and mean-spirited. I also don't like the whole pct rockstar thing. I decided I don't need **** like that in my life so I no longer let it in.

[5th]

As far as Hiker Heaven is concerned, taking into account the then current policy of number of hikers and nights allowed to stay (2014), X come in and X go out. Mathematically you cannot show this stopping point as a cause for a bottleneck of hikers further up the trail. The numbers are what they are regardless of where they stop for the night.

This.

Clearly those who are arguing that HH was causing a bottleneck have never worked with the FIFO concept. If you think the Saufleys are causing a bottleneck I challenge you to demonstrate mathematically how that would happen. The truth is you can't, because the bottleneck only occurs if people arriving at different times leave together. And if you limit people to 2 nights anyway, the only thing that can result is that two days' travelers get clumped together. However, since people essentially arrive randomly, and they "group up" randomly, even that bottleneck is only applicable for a day or three. Over the course of the season, HH would un-group nearly as many hikers as it would group, with the difference being the consensual choice of the hikers themselves.

I'm sorry Yogi - I have respect for what you do, but the kickoff demonstrably causes a huge bubble, whereas Hiker Heaven demonstrably does not.

This result is a travesty, and I blame Yogi. Pot, kettle, black.

[royalusa]

HH does not cause the bottleneck. If there were true, how would one explain the fact that on May 8th (2014), 98 hikers stopped at Ziggy and The Bear’s, which is 245 miles BEFORE HH.

[Malto]

This.

Clearly those who are arguing that HH was causing a bottleneck have never worked with the FIFO concept. If you think the Saufleys are causing a bottleneck I challenge you to demonstrate mathematically how that would happen. The truth is you can't, because the bottleneck only occurs if people arriving at different times leave together. And if you limit people to 2 nights anyway, the only thing that can result is that two days' travelers get clumped together. However, since people essentially arrive randomly, and they "group up" randomly, even that bottleneck is only applicable for a day or three. Over the course of the season, HH would un-group nearly as many hikers as it would group, with the difference being the consensual choice of the hikers themselves.

I'm sorry Yogi - I have respect for what you do, but the kickoff demonstrably causes a huge bubble, whereas Hiker Heaven demonstrably does not.

This result is a travesty, and I blame Yogi. Pot, kettle, black.

Lets go the other direction. the Anderson's will bottle up the hikers just as much.

I have ave a sneaking suspicion that HH will be in action this year. Could be wrong but I suspect after everyone calms down they will be back "in business". Haven't seen the HH website make any announcement, it is business as usual.

[Sly]

HH does not cause the bottleneck. If there were true, how would one explain the fact that on May 8th (2014), 98 hikers stopped at Ziggy and The Bear’s, which is 245 miles BEFORE HH.

I think part of the problem there was relo/detour in/around the San Jacinto

[jawnzee]

Donna update:

Attention PCT Hikers: The Acton KOA has graciously offered to accept packages for hikers instead of Hiker Heaven in Agua Dulce. All packages will be forwarded to the KOA. They can accept all carriers (USPS, FedEx, DHL, UPS). Packages and letters should be sent to:
YOUR NAME, PCT Hiker
c/o Acton KOA
7601 Soledad Canyon Road
Acton, CA 93510
The KOA offers showers, laundry, camping, and has a small store. The town of Acton is nearby with two grocery stores, several restaurants, and a US Post Office http://koa.com/campgrounds/acton/
https://tools.usps.com/go/POLocatorAction.action

[RED-DOG]

Just realized that the Acton KOA is just 0.3 mile off trail. But it doesn't appear to accept mail drops and the PO is a 5.7 mile hitch to town. The KOA does get restaurant food delivery from Acton which is great and has $5 sites for PCT thru hikers according to Yogi's book. Looks like a good spot for a nero.

yeap that's what i was thinking and i can do the hitch into town to the PO.

[RED-DOG]

Donna update:

great know i can take it easy take a nero and get a package right their cool.

[takethisbread]

The biggest cause of "The Herd," to whatever degree it exists on the PCT, is the relatively narrow weather window on the trail. The Kick-off was scheduled to coincide with the most common starting dates, not the the other way around.

I went to the Kick-off and really enjoyed it. I hiked out the evening of the 2010 Kick-off ended. It was fun meeting the other hikers until things thinned out. I camped alone every single night that I wanted to all summer. I often camped with friends, too.

If someone is a "people person" they can attend things like the Kick-Off or visit popular Trail Angels. If they don't, they can do just the opposite and by avoiding these events they can see less people than they would have if those events didn't exist.

Hiker Heaven was awesome but the PCT will live on. This year's hikers will have just as much fun as in prior years, even with the changes.

Agua Dulce had a great grocery store when I was there.

It will live on of course, but I sense there is a great feeling of resentment from past Thruhikers of the growing popularity of the trails. It appears that someone of great influence popped off on something they shouldn't have been commenting on, and without really any facts. It was stupid.
I am sad because I have been hearing about HH from my friends for years and I won't get that experience now that it's my time. Truly sad, but new experiences will avail themselves to me and I'm glad for that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JJJay]

Good news!!!

"To all our friends far and wide, old and new, and those yet to be met: Hiker Heaven will re-open in April 2016. We will be hosting hikers, accepting packages, and providing the same array of services as in years past (pretty much the exact same format). We’re going to need help from the hiking community to start back up again since we gave almost everything away to other hosting venues along the trail. What we didn’t give away or lose was our love for hosting hikers.We want to start a fundraising effort to replace and/or repair what was given away or is falling apart, and could use some direction on how best to do that (GoFundMe or Kickstarter, for example). Also, there are some physical things that will need replacement (i.e., laptops, bikes, loaner clothes etc.). And, of course, we’ll need our beloved volunteers to help make it happen once more – because it can’t happen without their help and support.
We enjoyed the break we had this year, as it has helped us look forward to hosting again with renewed enthusiasm. We can hardly wait for the 2016 season to get underway!"

https://www.facebook.com/donna.saufl...nf&pnref=story

[Coffee]

Great news for 2016 hikers! I thought that Agua Dulce would have made a nice extended town stop but lacking a place to (legally) stay, I moved on after a couple of hours. I bet the local businesses are thrilled about this news maybe even more than the class of 2016!