Skyline rescue in progress 8/2/13

[scotts]

If there was just a way to relate past experience into the present. Information like: "This is what happened to me. It was 'f'ing miserable, the worst day of my life, then I lost my mind and almost died." A place for friends relatives of deceased to offer their valuable, appropriate thoughts.

The way things are done now is inhuman and unnatural. Like an active cleansing. It's as if we've lost the ability to connect, memorialize, create a lore, for places to have memories, or even to offer warning. Kind or ironic that the trailhead is up the hill from a museum

[Hikin_Jim]

Perhaps a more "organic" approach would be effective?


HJ

[towbradley]

Gnarly, but should have a great effect.

[scotts]

Welcome hikers!

Meet your Skyline Trail host, Ranger Biodegradability.

[Perry]

I've always thought just an informative sign at the top of the shady slope... "You've climbed ____ feet and traveled ___ miles from the Museum. You have ____ feet and ____ miles to reach the Tram. It's deceptive because the tram looks so close at that point, and many hikers don't like to be preached to or bossed around.

[scotts]

Basic signage. Distance. Elevation. On a desert trail, cautionary takes on temperature and water are certainly in order.

In a country without its head up its ass, it would be done.

[pdforeme]

Having been warned and failed to summit (and suffered in the heat), the only sign I've ever seen that rang true/might help is one like this at Grand Canyon (sort of "are you healthier than a marathon runner?)

http://www.robbiesenbach.com/wp-content ... g_1495.jpg

[cynthia23]

I like that sign. People are inherently interested in stories; they work better than cold hard facts. We need something like that.

Sad story though. But it captures the essence of a lot of rescue stories on Skyline--basically, an urban runner/cyclist mindset, in which there is a failure to consider that if you get too tired or sick to continue, you can't just sit down on the curb and wait for the support van to pick you up. Again and again there is a failure to understand the commitment trails like these impose. Maybe it's because so few people spend any time in non-urban environments.

[Hikin_Jim]

http://www.robbiesenbach.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/img_1495.jpg

That's the best I've seen. It puts a name and a face on things. It becomes real. And it makes you think without over doing it. If people think you're just trying to scare them, they'll blow you off.

HJ

[scotts]

I like that sign. People are inherently interested in stories; they work better than cold hard facts. We need something like that.

Sad story though. But it captures the essence of a lot of rescue stories on Skyline--basically, an urban runner/cyclist mindset, in which there is a failure to consider that if you get too tired or sick to continue, you can't just sit down on the curb and wait for the support van to pick you up. Again and again there is a failure to understand the commitment trails like these impose. Maybe it's because so few people spend any time in non-urban environments.

Yeah. That the trail begins in essentially a city setting and ends at the tram probably contributes to this lack of seriousness. Many inexperienced hikers, those who have never hit the wall, probably assume that they can tough it out for 3-4 miles under any conditions. The cool and comfortable tram complex awaits.

In any case, the lack of basic signage fits the ideological program we suffer under. A thin veneer of rugged individualism masks the real (and successful ) drive to feed the public sphere into private profit centers for immediate liquidation. If people think signage and marked trails are heavy handed, wait until exxon/mobile takes over.