[pct-l] The Desert

[Scott Williams]

Great stuff Jackass!  I agree with it all, and yes Melanie, he's the
rattlesnake guy, and a guru, cookin', hikin' fool (of the best kind.)  I
never could figure the name?  As he's hardly a jackass on trail.

I strongly concur with you on the training.  The more training you can get
in, the better your chances of finishing.  Gear can change over the course
of the hike, and your fitness will improve as well, but most of the folks
that fell out during the desert mountains just simply found the hike too
hard.  Some of the "city feet" hikers did make it, but alot did not.  Train,
train and train some more, with a pack, on a trail if at all possible.
 Especially if you're a geezer like me.

There's several months to go, and lots of it should be spent walking if you
can manage it.  Little Engine, who was living in Brooklyn and working in
Manhattan before her last years thru hike, walked to work as often as she
could, which I think she said was 6 miles one way, for her training.  She
couldn't quit early, but got the training in whenever she could, and she
really was the "Little Engine That Could."  She and her guy, Plain Slice,
would truck up a steep trail at a great clip, and looked like engine and
caboose.  I always expected to see smoke coming out of her hat, and hear a
long train whistle.

Shroomer