[pct-l] Trail History

[Paul Magnanti]

>>The other thing that prompted my search for records is a sense that history
>>is being lost. Some of the hikers from the 70s are dead now, some are in
>>their 90s and their memory isn't what it was. The internet has only been
>>widely available since the 90s, and listservs since about 1985. People
>>didn't have an easy way to tell their stories before that, which brings me
>>to the registers and the PCTA. 
That's the only reason why I'd love to look at the old registers. Seeing the thoughts and words of people who have come before me.

There is a book project going on now for the PCT that is similar to the Appalachian Trail Reader.  

I would love to see stories from past PCT hikers. Now only the "PCT celebs" like Clinton Clarke or Ryback, but Jane Hiker's impressions
of sunrise in the Sierra. Or the thru-hiker who made it to Manning in 1988. Stuff like that.

Should they be open up to just anyone? I honestly don't know. But the (amateur) historian in me would love to read a bit of the hiker past.

When I did the CDT last year, there was a register in Lincoln, MT that went back to the late 1970s.  Very interesting part of the CDT history. The words, the reflections,  the silly and the profound all contained in a simple spiral notebook. I'd hate to see that part of the trail be lost.

This past weekend, I backpacked in the Wind River Range in Wyo. We summited Roberts Mtn. No trail to the peak, pretty isolated and it contained a register that went back to 1972.  Again, I was fascinated and inspired by people who came before  me.

 I suspect the PCT registers have lots of interesting and heart felt stories in them as well.

I don't know about privacy issues or the right or wrong of people seeing them. I'd just hate to see this history go away.