yea, but then you get a nanny state mentality, and the result is hikers that go super minimal and have the survival skills, get shut out of those hiking areas because "they dont have the gear".
Only time a ranger is going to be checking my pack out is if i let them, and the answer to that is a pleasant "mind yer own beeswax ranger!".
Actually, it wasn't a policing action. More of a counseling, and they let everyone go ahead. They looked in my pack and
talked to me, and the whole thing took about 3 minutes. I was really nervous as I was thinking that if I didn't pass muster they wouldn't let me go. As long as they felt like you at least read the park brochure and had an idea of what you were doing, they were fine.
Yosemite is big enough and has such different altitudes in its trails and paths that the park has its own weather system. They really wanted to see (for example) that if you were going to hike up Mt. Vogelsang (11,500') as a leg of your hike that you at least had a windbreaker if bad weather moved in. Here's a typical day towards the end of the summer on the HSL trail:
http://gordonye.com/vogel_en.html
They wanted the most modest of water systems and first aid. They asked if you had done this kind of thing before, etc., then told you NOT feed the bears. Then you were off.
I was so jazzed about being out on my own for 7 days, I didn't care.
In their defense, they have something like 6 people a year die in the park (including motorcycle and traffic accidents) and the rest being slips and falls, drowning, exposure, etc. Rescue is far away, and sometimes through the passes it is too windy for them to try. I was in the park or 10 days, and it was unusually bad as they had one death (slip and fall off a trail) and one air rescue.
So I understand they would rather use their limited resources on something like park improvements or firefighting rather than rescuing someone that didn't take the most simple of precautions.
Here in Texas it is completely different. If you go to a state park, you pay or show your pass, and get going. As long as you have clothes on, you are fine. I like that. They expect you to be responsible for yourself, so you see all manner of folks and gear (or lack of) along the trail that reflect their own style. I like that, too. I have been doing this plenty long enough to know what works for me.
If I was told what to wear, what kind of gear to bring, given a list of restricted activities, etc., I wouldn't go.
Robert
