[pct-l] PCT Cheer

[Ernie Castillo]

About PCT Cheer.

I thought I would post this because of previous discussion threads about trail songs.

I came up with PCT Cheer, if my rusty memory serves me right, after getting back on the trail following trudging several miles along Northern California highways travelled extensively by logging trucks. I don't know about the trail today, but in 1980 there were several sections where hikers shared the road with loggers.

 

YOHO was a call I had belted out throughout the trail, starting at Campo. If the Grinch could hear all the Whos in Whoville singing from his mountain top, then I figured any nearby PCTers could hear  me as well. 

 

Except when I was drowned out by the logging trucks, of course.

 

YOHO became the calling card, if you will, of the group known as Revolving Ramen. (Double entender: Revolving Raw Men) Certainly, when I forged ahead of my  hiking buddies, it was a way to tell them all was swell.

 

I especially enjoyed belting out YOHO in canyons, waiting for an echo replay. I also used it as a test of my pulminary functions after climbs. 

 

When I "re-engineered" myself post-PCT, I used it for a while to warm up for vocal classes until my voice teacher convinced me to switch to something more classical. So Kyrie Elison eventually replaced the octave jump from YO to HO, even though it was with pure tone and full volume.

 

I discovered this while rummaging through a plastic bag filled with my hand-written journals after my older daughter interviewed me for a school project.

 

My daughter is still recovering from the shock of seeing her dad with skinny legs, scarcely any meet on his bones, and this huge -- I mean huge -- pack strapped to his back.

 

Pre-ultra light days of course.

Ernie Castillo
erniec01 at hotmail.com
248 884 5201



 
> From: erniec01 at hotmail.com
> To: pct-l at backcountry.net
> Date: Thu, 4 Feb 2010 20:44:51 -0500
> Subject: [pct-l] PCT Cheer
> 
> 
> PCT Cheer
> By Ernie Castillo
> (With apologies to Country Joe and the Fish)
> Gimme a Y.
> Y.
> Gimme an O.
> O.
> Gimme an H.
> H.
> Gimme another O.
> O.
> What’s that spell?
> YOHO!!
> What’s that spell?
> YOHO!!
> What’s that spell?
> YOHO!!!
> Now come on all of you hikin’ men
> The PCT is trail again
> Gotta climb as fast as you kin
> Cuz the next campground is nearly 10
> So tighten your boots
> Hitch up your pants
> We’re gonna crush a whole lot of ants.
> AND it’s 1 – 2 – 3
> What are we hikin’ for
> Don’t ask me I ‘ve forgotten when
> We’re hittin’ Oregon
> And it’s 5 – 6 – 7
> Remember all the gorp we ate
> Well I ain’t got time to sit and daze
> Whoopee we’re all in a maze.
> 
> Ernie Castillo
> erniec01 at hotmail.com
> 248 884 5201 
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