[pct-l] What is a "Thru Hike?"

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good evening, Deems,



Your historical perspective of the PCT is entirely correct, at least
according to all I have read and learned over time.  I see my error as this:
My signature tag line I should read, “Hiking the Pct since before it was the
PCT – 1965”.   For the many years you note, the Pct (Pacific crest trail –
lower case) was only an idea, a proposal, a dream, a goal, which – however
laudable -- did not have legal stature.  Uppercase PCT infers a name -- a
legal entity -- finally created in ’68.



Most important to me at the time was this:  I was a hiker, not a historian,
politician, or agency professional.  I hiked on what all my operational
maps, and what all the signage, said was the OST.  I worked as an
instrumentman on a Chemult District engineering crew in the summer of ’65
between college years and no one ever referred to the section north of
Crater Lake as anything but OST.  That’s where I began my “Pct” hiking.



Interestingly I have a USFS map of Mt. Jefferson Primitive Area issued by
the Deschutes, Mt. Hood and Willamette NFs in 1968 that continues to show
the trail as OST.  In the trail mileage chart on the back it lists, “Oregon
Skyline Trail No. 2000”.   That brings up an interesting question:  Was the
“Trail No. 2000” designation shown as a precursor to its being part of the
PCT or did the PCT eventually inherit the designation from OST?  I have no
idea.



I don’t really remember when I first saw a PCT sign on the trail.  It could
have been several years after ’68.  With all the high-profile logging
operations going on in Oregon at the time I suspect re-signing 450 miles of
trail would probably have been seen as a pain to be avoided.



Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT -- 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye


On Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 5:19 PM, Deems <losthiker at sisqtel.net> wrote:

> Steel Eye,
> I must inject a little PCT history in between your signature timeline.  The
> PCT was stamped official by Congress in Oct 2, 1968 and signed by LBJ. This
> meant that the trail received recognition as a federally funded National
> Scenic Trail with an intended construction route and reroute along the CCT,
> OST, and California.  The PCT has been a recognized USFS trail as early as
> 1939 via my maps and as early as 1935 via my books. I have a pair of maps
> in
> my hand titled: 1939 USFS Map for the Cascade Crest Trail and Pacific Crest
> Trail System in Washington, and a 1952 USFS Map of the Oregon Skyline Trail
> and Pacific Crest Trail System in Oregon.  The 1939 map was carried and
> signed by Joe G. Harris.  Clinton Clarke, Warren Rogers, and many others
> hiked and mapped the trail from Mexico to Canada from 1935-1938 and is
> documented in the historical limited edition 1968 PCT Relay Book. My 1945
> Pacific Crest Trailways guide book maps and describes the route from Mexico
> to Canada.  Your years upon the PCT are enviable, incredible, highly
> respectable, and with due respect, I must say your dusty old 1965 foot
> prints don't predate the PCT.   I love those old OST and CCT sections too!
>
> a lowly, not-thru with the PCT, section hiker since -- 1976
> ~~~^^~~^^~~
> Good afternoon, Monte,
>
> I also like some of the sections of the old Oregon Skyline Trail (OST)
> which
> substantially became the PCT through most of Oregon.  I hiked the Mt.
> Jefferson Primitive Area quite a bit in the mid-'60s, and I particularly
> enjoyed the OST section beginning north of Three-Fingered-Jack, past Marion
> Lake, Hunts Cove, and on to Milk Creek north of Pamelia Lake.
>
> At that time before the backpacking craze of the early '70s hit, I could
> hike all weekend in that area and probably never see another person except
> right at Marion and Pamelia Lakes.  Later I sort of gave up on the area
> because there seemed to be so many people that I had to carry my own rock
> to
> sit on for a break.
>
> Steel-Eye
>
> Hiking the PCT since before it was the PCT -- 1965
>
>
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