Hiker dies on Museum Trail, Palm Springs 5/11/13

[Carl F]

OK so if two Mark Alexander's died a Year apart it's going to be really weird. Meanwhile I think the next horror movie should be titled

"ATTACK OF THE SWITCHBACKS"

[Hikin_Jim]

Whoa! Don't get named "Mark Alexander" around here.

HJ

[zippetydude]

Provincial: Seeing one's point of view as being universal, all pervasive, urgent, and crucial to the well-being of humanity or some other vitally important entity.

Rational: Sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm wrong. I'm probably a little over 50% right over time.

People, we're talking about shortcuts here, not the Nazi invasion of the Sudetenland, not the Loss of 800,000 people in the Tutsi/Hutu conflict, not even the number of fatalities on American Highways in 2013. We're discussing some erosion. An unsightly braiding of trails. It honestly doesn't even belong on the thread with the topic of a person's death. We don't know the cause of the person's passing, and Scree has even posted that no controversy was intended. (Thanks for that Scree.) If you honestly feel that multiple trails on Skyline is one of the greatest conflicts confronting humanity at this time, I think a separate thread would be appropriate. Either way, maybe a return to investigating the cause of this good person's passing and suggestions as to how to conduct ourselves in a safer manner as a result of the new understanding might be warranted.

I'm old school. I don't mind conflicts. I just feel a thread considering, even honoring a person who has passed should be clear, concise and humble. For my part above helping to hijack the thread I apologize.

z

[bluerail]

Good point zip.

[halhiker]

I don't think anyone intends to dishonor the memory of the dead but I have to agree with those who think the severely degraded nature of this trail contributed in some way to this man's death. The pervasive shortcuts and erosion make hiking down this trail one of my least favorite trails to hike down—and I've hiked down some nasty stuff over the years. It's to the point where it's scrambling and no longer hiking sometimes.

Twenty years ago was about the time the shortcuts started but they were only used by a couple of hikers. Now, with the amount of traffic on the trail and with people more interested in the numbers game than enjoying the mountain or the condition of the trail it's denigrated to the point where some serious trail reconstruction needs to be done on the lower section.

I teach my kids and new hikers I go out with not to cut trails. It's one thing to travel cross country and quite another to destroy and established trail in order to improve one's time. It's a shame to me that experienced hikers can't adhere to the ideals of treading lightly on the land.

There may have been several reasons that contributed to this gentleman's untimely demise. Unfortunately, the terrible condition of this trail was probably one of them.

[Ed]

I'm firmly in the anti-shortcut group, but agnostic on whether shortcuts and erosion contributed to this poor soul's death. There are places on the well-engineered original trail, too rocky to suffer much from erosion - such as where the trail is a firm ledge with a sharp dropoff on one side, or where a big stepdown is required - where an unsteady person suffering from sickness, heat, fatigue or whatever could keel over and take a fatal fall.

[cynthia23]

Agree with Ed that I"m 'agnostic' about whether the erosion/shortcuts contributed to this hiker's death, but firmly with Hal about the disturbing trashing of the trail. I don't really understand Zip why you act like this is all a big joke--how is the severe degradation of the trail environment (not to mention Alexander's tragic death) funny? I'm sorry but I think that your attitude is inappropriate. No one is comparing it to a nuclear meltdown, but for the creatures who live there, it's life altering, and we're seeing real environmental damage being done. As far as braiding further up the trail (post picnic tables), with all due respect Steve, perhaps you haven't seen it because you never take the original trail! I assure you there's braiding all over it, especially in the shady slope and the ridge above.

I do hear you, though, that people want a challenge (be it a PR or whateve you want to call it), and we can't go back in time. Lately I've been thinking one solution might be to actually create two fixed trails: one to be "Original Trail" for us slowpokes, and another to be "Racer's Trail", to be designed by the fast folks like Speedy Steve. Once in place, though, these routes need to be FIXED. The one thing that's clear is that this delicate and now heavily traveled route cannot take any more cross-country travel--i.e. shortcuts.

[Carl F]

Wow is there something in the water in Palm Springs there that makes people crazy? i'm glad I live in Bangladesh. Seems like some people don't know when to stop spewing nonsense.

[Screerider]

While respecting the dead we can till protect the living. I offer only one scenario that may have played a part. I have no agenda, only the insight of a novice. While we may never know the truth, there are obvious dangers that should be addressed, the switchbacks being but one. Lack of pre planning is probably the most common. Letting a member of your party who is disorientated wander off alone is another. While getting stuck on one scenario may be a disservice, dismissing it altogether is total blind sight. Mixing tourists with steep shortcuts is a recipe for disaster and there's not much we can do about the tourists. I've tried. They keep coming.

[bluerail]

Stairs are very dangerous also, many deaths there. We all need to be careful.