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

[Sean Carey]

Wow. Thank you so much for sharing your story. It has really helped me get
some focus on what I am doing this morning. Everything you said was very
inspiring. More than my words can explain.

Thank you!

Sean C.

On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 9:58 AM, <ned at pacificcrestcustombuilders.com> wrote:

> 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
> > _______________________________________________
> > Pct-l mailing list
> > Pct-l at backcountry.net
> > http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
> >
> > __________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus
> > signature database 3929 (20090311) __________
> >
> > The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.
> >
> > http://www.eset.com
> >
> >
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-l mailing list
> Pct-l at backcountry.net
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>