[pct-l] Where you at?

[joel01 at ekit.com]

For hiking in Europe you might want to refer to the site for the European Ramblers, 
http://www.era-ewv-ferp.org/

If you look under their Long Distance Paths section you will see the amazing network of 
routes that criss-cross the continent. I used this as a starting point for a walk I did in 
2004.

For the Alps, I came along a route that covers the length of  Austria called the 
Nordalpenweg, it goes from the Hungarian to the Swiss border, connecting with other 
trails in those 2 countries. 

Also I learned of a newer route that intersected my path for a way called, Via Alpina. It 
goes from Slovenia (part of the old Yugoslavia) and loops around through Italy, Austria, 
Switzerland, France and Monaco. I only know the section where it merged with 
Nordalpenweg, but I am sure there is info in English for it on the web.

I highly recommend the trails in Bulgaria. Either the Rila and Pirin mountains down south 
or the northerly Kom-Emine trail along the spine of the Stara Planina mountains from the 
Black Sea to the Serbian border. And yes, it's safe to travel there.

Oh, and I am in Washington state, for all of a week now. Just flew in from Europe, having 
been out of the US for some time.

Joel





Quoting Ben Gunderson <gunderdawg at gmail.com>:

>I got to thinking about how some of the posts on
>this forum come from
>all corners of the country, and in some cases, as
>far away as Europe.
>It seems like the majority of the PCT-l users are,
>as expected, from
>areas closer to the trail.  But nevertheless,
>support and love for
>trail are widespread and it always amazes me how
>focused and
>preoccupied some of us are for a trail so many miles
>away.  For me,
>coming from MI and only touching the surface of the
>trail on a work
>crew many summers ago, it's almost as if the trail
>is an idea, or a
>symbol of a lifestyle that attracts me, more so than
>the reality of a
>physical trail.  Just a little rant before I get to
>a question that's
>been on my mind..
>
>Is there, or rather, how many people on here are
>from the midwest or
>east coast?  Out of the countless people that i've
>talked to about my
>summer plans of thru-hiking the PCT, only a few have
>ever heard of it
>before.  (Don't worry, I am not advertising the
>PCT!!  If they don't
>know what it is then I pull a Peter Griffin and walk
>away, backwards,
>slowly, until i'm out of the scene.)
>
>I know of 3 other people from Michigan who are
>thru-hiking this
>summer- so including my brother and I, that makes 5
>of us.  Not a bad
>showing from the Great Lakes State.
>
>I'm hoping that I can get a few responses from
>people who live
>furthest from the PCT- and i'm curious as to how
>they found out about
>it.
>
>Also, if anyone has any information on long trails
>in Europe,
>particularly the Alps, I would appreciate any
>information you have ( I
>know nothing about hiking in Europe.)
>
>
>Ben Gunderson
>
>ps I'm glad I didn't read any of the April Fools
>emails, what a
>debacle it looks like.
>
>
>
>--
>Ben Jackson Gunderson
>
>(734) 216-2182
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