[pct-l] End of Earth in 2012

[Brick Robbins]

On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 12:19 PM, Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com
<diane at santabarbarahikes.com> wrote:
> Your post is awesome, Louie. You have it exactly right. The trip is
> an escape from fear. It's a journey into Middle Earth. It's a
> wonderful, safe, magical experience.

I'm going to have to disagree with this one, and I've been there.
There are lots of dangers on the PCT, and people do get hurt and die.
It is not Disneyland out there.

The river crossings can be VERY dangerous. Snow bridges can collapse.
The weather can change, and hypothermia is a real danger. You can slip
and fall to your death on one of the passes. The mental and physical
stress of walking day after day is not insignificant.

That being said, the PCT is pretty tame, compared to, say, the CDT.
You are seldom more than a long day's walk from civilization down a
lateral trail, provided you have the right maps, and you didn't get
caught by the weather.

With preparation, training an planning, the trip is safe, but you ARE
out in a wild environment, usually without a whole lot of gear. Go
unprepared, or make a couple of dumb mistakes, and you can be the next
statistic.

If I recall my LOTR correctly, Middle Earth was a pretty dangerous
place too. At least there are no Orcs or Nazgul on the PCT....are
there?

HYOH
Brick
(speaking personally, not as admin....)