[pct-l] The 17-year-old thru hiker

Thu Mar 12 11:58:20 CDT 2009

I started my thru hike of the pct when I was newly 17.

I had been backpacking since I was 8, mostly week-long, summer-camp trips up 
into SEKI.  Places like Poop-Out Pass and Deadman Canyon formed the images 
and experiences that, like a Siren, continued to call me into the mountains 
the rest of my life. It helped that my family was into car-camping and 
fishing before I was 8; I have been told that I liked exploring the 
campgrounds and trails with just my diaper on! They even have a photo of me 
crawling through an old campfire ring and under the rebar grill wearing that 
diaper...

My dad passed away 4 and a half years earlier, so, as a young teen, I threw 
myself into school, springboard diving, photography, and summer hiking. 
After Ryback published his book, I became focused on this new adventure, 
hiking one continuous trail for 6 months, something called the Pacific Crest 
Trail from Mexico to Canada. Then the National Geographic came out with 
their coverage of the trail and I was consumed.

I ordered all the USGS maps (they were only .25/ea!) and would spend hours 
laying them out on the living room floor, drawing in the route as poorly 
described by the USFS, circling lakes mentioned in Ryback's book or the NG 
article, memorizing all the valleys and ridges, and thoroughly dreaming of 
the adventure ahead.

I had a friend that I had been hiking with in High School and he wanted to 
do it, too. So, I thought I was set. I wrote all the Forests along the way 
to get their maps and comments, encouraged 8 corporate outdoor manufacturers 
to sponsor me with equipment, and bumped up my courses so I could graduate 
from HS early (December), facilitating our March 14th start from Campo's 
barbed-wire fence. My mom said that I couldn't do it without a partner.

Then my hiking buddy found out ( in November) that he wouldn't be able to 
graduate early. Heartbreak. The local backpacking store put up a sign during 
the winter of 1974 advertising my desperate need for a partner. Those were 
the days when backpacking fit right in with the hippie and environmental 
movements and was very popular. However, people weren't thinking a 6-month 
hike! Trips of that length were virtual Expeditions that took you to places 
like Antarctica, Everest, or Africa. Long-distance hiking hadn't entered 
into the collective consciousness of the public. Maybe the AT had its 
hikers, but, out west, the idea was foreign. Why would anyone do such a 
thing?

My first snow-camping training trip was that January with the Sierra Club. 
We went up into the Five Lakes Basin between Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows 
Ski Areas near Lake Tahoe. There was 28 feet of snow! I had a blast. Learned 
how to snow-shoe up and down hills and awoke to the incredible beauty of the 
winter landscape.

A 30-year-old factory worker announced that he would be interested in 
joining me. I was relieved. The dream trip was back on! He said that he was 
interested, adding that "If I don't do it now, I never will." I wish that 
I'd had the maturity to understand what that really meant. He had never 
hiked before. No idea what he was getting into. And I desperately needed a 
partner with the trip starting in a 'couple of months. It was a doomed 
relationship of strained communication, disillusion, and disgust. We made it 
as far as the Hat Creek Rim and split up. He continued north but never made 
it to Canada. He didn't have the desire.

I re-tooled gear and food back home for a few days and hit the trail alone, 
continuing up into Oregon to Santiam Pass before another friend from HS 
joined me the rest of the way to the Border.

Synopsis?  The trail is an expedition, a massive adventure of learning who 
you are, what matters to you, and where you fit in the grand scheme of 
things. It is a life-changer. I met my Father, God, out there and have never 
left His side since. The call I felt so many years before, that Siren I 
spoke of, I now knew and held dear. Each of us enters the trail-life with 
"baggage." We all have different reasons and expectations for being there. 
The quest may appear to be an external one, but the bigger, internal, is oft 
unspoken.

The opportunity to live the trail life is one I have encouraged many for all 
these years since. To accomplish such a dream, or even attempt it, for young 
men and women, is formative to their very foundations.

Do It!
Don't Wait!
You'll never forget it.

Mtnned

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sasha Leidman" <sleidman at gmail.com>
To: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 8:49 PM
Subject: [pct-l] The parental aspect of hiking

> Though this may be a bit of a tangent from normal conversation on this 
> email
> list, I was wondering what ages did you start going off and doing multiple
> week hiking trips? Would you let your high school child go on one without
> adult supervision? Has the social standards for hiking ages become more
> liberal or conservative since the time you've started? I'm seventeen and 
> I'm
> hoping to section hike the pct sobo this summer. I've asked an number of 
> my
> friends from all across California if they'd like to join me. While 
> they're
> all avid hikers and are usually thrilled at the idea, I have not been able
> to get parental consent from any of them. What are your opinions? Has this
> impacted you in the past? Thanks.
>
> -- 
> Sasha Leidman
> sleidman at gmail.com
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