[pct-l] Observations from Ebbetts Pass

[Douglas Tow]

Good morning!

In an earlier post, I mentioned the names of the hikers that came through
last Friday through Sunday at Ebbetts Pass.  Here are some observations,
guaranteed to be imprecise to some degree or other:

Of the 43 PCT hikers I met, about 2/3 were men, 1/3 women.
One hiker (not a thru) had a happy, healthy dog.
About 35 or so were thru-hikers, with few skips or flips in that group.
Oldest hiker admitted to about 70 years old.
About 75% of the thru-hikers began their hike solo, the remainder as
twosomes.
Most common pack brand:  ULA
Well over 80% of thru-hikers were in running shoes or trail runners.
There was one group hiking together (at least at that point) that was eleven
people, another seven people, a couple of fours, a few twosomes, and 3 or 4
people who came in alone.
Most had been lost a time or three north of Tuolomne, maps and compass
skills (imagine!) getting them back on track.
A hankering for South Lake Tahoe buffets seemed to motivate them.

Doug