Re: Mountain trails and accidents

[mtnriderII@webtv.net (Mary Sutliff)]

Sandy-Thank you for saying this!  So true-accidents do happen and it's
wrong to say the rider could have prevented this incident.  My husband
and I pack our horses in the North Cascades and in the many years we
have been doing this we have been very fortunate to only have been in
one accident and that was when a friends pack horses tumbled off a very
steep section of the VERY POORLY maintained Pacific Crest Trail.  The
direct cause of the accident was faulty info from the USFS-we were three
days from any trailhead, one horse had to be shot-and any rescue was up
to us. Believe me after being in something like this you look at the
trails differently! We were lucky no person was hurt or killed.  I've
had horses trip, boulders roll on to the trail unexpectedly and parts of
trail give way under my horses feet.  It's the real world out there not
some sanitized version.    Mary S. Arlington,Wa.