I’m real interested in hiking the PCT but since it is also used by horses I was wondering how much of the dung I will have to suffer. I remember that when I hiked the AT, a portion of the smokies was open to horses and filled with crap and quite unpleasant.
What can I expect in the way of equine fecal matter on the PCT?
Hopfrog
Hey Hopfrog!! Thinking about the next trail, huh? One long hike just wasn’t enough for us, either. Three seems like a good number to be starting with… 
On the PCT, you’ll see some horse manure, but rest assured, it will be NOTHING compared to the cow pies you’ll encounter! Don’t worry about it. You’ll be an expert on dung dodging in no time.
After a while, none of it will bother you, anyway, because you’ll be far more interested in looking at the scenery between those quick glances at the ground.
Go for it. The PCT is an awesome experience.
-Chipper (& Jeff)
Chipper
Thanks for the reply and what a coincidence. I was looking through some other post where people were recommending good PCT journals and yours was mentioned. It was bookmarked for rereading right before this post.
It looks like a go for me on the PCT in either '07 or '08. I hope you won’t be minding me emailing lots of questions in preparation. Looking forward to your CDT journal.
=Hopfrog (give my best to Jeff)
Hopfrog
We’d be more than happy to help any way we can!
Unfortunately, our CDT journal may be a few years in development yet. The bank accounts are complaining, something about wanting to go back to a positive installment plan! :oh
-Chipper & Jeff
Chipper
Funny how those with dogs have to pick up their ****. But horse riders can just let their animals **** right in the middle of the trail for everyone else to step in. *******s.
bingo bob
I was talking with some friends a while back about how you know you’re on the right trail with all the side trails that split off the main one. I replied “Aside from using the maps, you can just look at the trail itself. If you see horse crap and bike tire tracks…You’re on the PCT!”
Little John
You folks remind me of those home buyers who purchase a home next to a long established airport, then bitch about the airplane noise.
The PCT was designed from the start as a joint use hiker / equestrian trail. The long-established rule is that horses have the right of way. Protocol is for hikers to step off the trail to allow horses/mules to pass. You don’t need a spooked horse or mule on a narrow steep trail.
Managing a large pack train on steep sections of the PCT is an interesting challenge. Expecting horse crap to be packaged and removed from the trail is naive and probably an opinion of someone who’s never been there. Hell, conditions are so sparse at PCT altitudes that the soil needs as much fertilizer as it can get.
I’ve never done the horse / mule thing, but all the cowboys I have run into have been great folks who really care about the backcountry.
In the backcountry of Sequoia / Kings Canyon, there aren’t any bikes - and in doing two-week loops on or near the PCT, you can usually count the pieces of trash - candy wrappers, tp, etc - on one hand.
booger
makes for good campfire in lieu of wood! ever see the movie RODIE staring Meatloaf? LOL!:pimp
Big Dee
I think booger missed the point. It has nothing to do with coexisting with horses but with the inconsistency of backcountry rules that allow horse poop but not human or dog poop. How is that any more acceptable? I did a backpack in the Grand Canyon at at the ranger station we were given a big lecture of how feces does not breakdown and we would need to bag our “output” and pack it out with us. Yeah right, like I’m going to walk around with a weeks worth of **** in my backpack. Then you get to the Bright Angel Trail and its covered with inches of mule doo. It stinks and the area is covered in flies.
Big B
Over the years, I’ve hiked many trails that I’ve shared with riders and pack teams wranglers, oh, and the occasional llama. Except in the lowland marshes or expremely wet weather, the leavings of these critters has either dried up or been broken down by ants, beetles or other insects and even some birds, so quickly that the question of poop hopping becomes moot within about 24 hours. (Cow paddies are another issue, but when finally dried all the way through they could possibly become frisbys or “birds” for sharpshooters to practice on as well as the suggestion above, campfire fuel…actually, I think buffalo dung was considered superior to cow, but whatever works for you…)
The point is, up here in NorCal, anyway, horses are not a really big item of concern, there aren’t that many on the trail and horse apples really aren’t a problem. Once dried they kick apart easily, you could,however, break your foot kicking a really dry cow pie off the trail. You need to worry about something else, I think. Mountain bikers comes to mind.
Georgi Heitman
Hi Georgi!
Horse dung is not an issue. It may even be the loveliest of all animal scat. It has no foul smell on the trail, and it even looks like the plants that it’s digested from. Not a big deal. Don’t get upset about sharing the trail with horses. One more thing: at the end of the long trail, when your feet feel like bones, one sweet step into a horse apple feels great. It’s like one little cushion. For one step the ache is replaced with softness–a bit of an oasis if you will. Further, as a person with a degree in soil science, Georgie is right, that stuff is like candy to the fauna and microfauna. It goes fast. Relax and enjoy the scat.
jonabee
Just a comment or 5 on that subject! Horses don’t eat meat, only grasses,it doesn’t smell like dog or human, so no wonder its light and blows away quick.
Second if your worried about dung on the trail…
Horse owners have to feed certified feeds in order to not “drop” any of the wrong plants in the wrong areas. It’s quite costly I might add. Pelleted versions dry up VERY quickly!
Owl barf is a neat thing to disect along the trail it has skulls in it.
Coyote dung looks like nothing but hair.
Deer,rabbit,bear… There’s POOP everywhere.
Enjoy the sights!
Julie Murphy