[pct-l] Lessons from the Trail. 50 miles with the Class of 2006, Edition 1

[Ned Tibbits]

Kennedy Meadows to Cottonwood Pass, June 19 - 24, 2006

First, a heartfelt "thank you, Meadow Ed" for hosting a most sincere Memorial Service for No Way Ray on June 19 in the campground at KMdws.!  I was so glad I made it.  With about 50 thru hikers,  young & old, current & past, gathered around the memorial table while Meadow Ed eulogized, we remembered why we so love to hike these mountains as No Way did.

Many of the thrus had been on-trail for the past 6 weeks and already looked the part, but the smiles on their faces told a different story, one of accomplishment, exhaustion, joy at being done with the desert, and the thrill of finally entering the Sierra!  A few I remembered from the Kick Off; some of the rest I would have the rare pleasure of knowing while living and hiking with them along the Pacific Crest Trail in the days to come.

They come from all around the world these days to hike this trail.  I believe between 300 and 500 people start from the Mexican border with only 25% fully completing the journey to Canada before being stopped by Winter.  Thirty-two years ago I made this same successful voyage, had great triumphs and near-death experiences, hiked with a few, saw nearly no one, and had a ball! The lifestyle demanded by this trail changes those who travel it.  My life was changed forever and I knew it, but I didn't know then where it would lead me in life. By teaching aspiring hikers how to become prepared for this, deciding what clothing, equipment, and logistics work for them and training them in the needed safety skills like creek crossing and ice axe use, I hope everyone who sets forth from Mexico will go all the way, have fun, and find what they're looking for.

Names like Wild Thing, Hot Sister, Detour, Loper, Sunset, Moose & Popsicle, Chaiguy, Cache, Karma, Squatch, Meadow Ed, Billy Goat, and Chef all have unique stories to tell of their experiences along the trail this year, how they got their names, what keeps them on the trail - or not.  I hope I can begin to impart to those reading this a feeling of what life was like hiking for five days and fifty miles with these rare individuals, men and women alike.

Kennedy Meadows, its General Store and trailhead campground, is a fantastic oasis-amid-the-scrub-and-pine as I've ever experienced!  For the trail-weary hiker, it offers two outdoor shower stalls (for two bucks, you get a towel; the shampoo and soap are already there!) where you can wash off your tan while watching the weather, an outdoor amphitheater that shows movies on Saturday nights (you can, also, pitch your tent around the perimeter and stay a while, if you please!), a public phone out front that comes with a bench so you can talk as long as you want, a well-equipped General Store where, with your credit card, you can buy anything they've got (from fish hooks to tee shirts to killer BBQ Veggie Burgers out on the side porch!) and run up a tab, and last, but not least, trail camaraderie and merriment that causes even old fishermen to listen in!  Spend an hour on the deck between June 1st and 30th and you'll likely meet 5 to 25 thru hikers in various stages of preparation for their next trail section while eating heartily, laughing loudly, swapping stories, and fixing their feet.  The local old-timers claim a corner of the porch or a bench or just gather off to the side and watch the swarm. You might even meet a celebrated 45-miler on his way through, slowing down for a brief bite to eat before driving on up the trail another 10 or 20!  There is so much civilization here as to cause even the most dedicated hiker to feel homesick and think about leaving the trail for awhile (or maybe just for a little while, so the snow can melt some more?). Some do.

This is a staging area, no doubt about it.  Pick up your boxes, snowshoes, ice axe, and bear vault at the Store.  Restock the pack.  Prep the Bounce Box.  Wash the clothes and body.  Catch up with friends who have been ahead or behind.  Eat, drink, and be merry. Move on when you're ready.  Just another Hiker Oasis....  Leaving Southern California.  Entering the Sierra Nevada!

Wild Thing stayed a week.



KM to Monache Mdws next.  Lessons in stream crossing, cramps, dehydration, dedication, and Advil.

Mtnned

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