I’ve been watching this circus for months, but only commenting occasionally. I just got an email from a girl I met on Whitney eight years ago. She encouraged me to “unleash my wisdom”, so here goes:

The problem isn’t the closures, your power-hungry governor, or the local Forest Service employees. It’s the COVID-19 pandemic. In case you haven’t heard, we have enough dead people to reach from the visitor center in Lone Pine to the visitor center in Lee Vining. Some fools don’t care because they think they are invincible. Just open up the economy and give me my Whitney permit. I don’t care how many more people die. But the economy isn’t going to recover until we beat the pandemic. We need testing and contact tracing to do that.

I read a lot of comments about incompetence and lack of leadership. There is plenty of blame to go around, but the real incompetence and lack of leadership begin with the guy who won’t wear a mask and doesn’t want more testing because it makes him look bad. Ignoring the pandemic won’t make it go away.

For too many of you, “leadership” and “competence” mean nothing more than giving you your permit so you can take a selfie holding a “Whitney 14,505” sign. Whitney Portal is an overcrowded zoo every summer. People get hurt or lost all the time. Many people leave their crap bags along the trail for the rangers to carry out. Opening it up while making it safe for everyone is no easy task. You haven’t heard anything from INF for one simple reason: They haven’t made a decision, largely because so many stakeholders haven’t agreed. Actually, you HAVE heard from INF. They posted weeks ago how they would handle all permits except the Whitney Zone. They are giving you the information they have.

Penny, you are definitely part of the problem, not part of the solution. You have posted the most toxic comments and done the most name-calling. You even started a thread for the sole purpose of bashing the Forest Service. Yesterday, Ben asked a question about the rules, and I explained the rules. You responded with “Follow the rules???? What rules????” You seemed too hysterical to see the irony. I see from one of your earlier posts that you want to avoid having to learn how to use crampons or an axe. You have no interest in mountaineering; you just want the selfie. That’s too bad. There are literally hundreds of other worthy peaks in the Sierra. While you were obsessing about your Whitney permit and trashing the Forest Service, I tagged 86 other summits, snagged six wilderness permits, and secured two passes to Yosemite. Maybe you should spend more time hiking and less time posting.

Last edited by bobpickering; 06/19/20 08:13 AM.