[pct-l] Cheryl Strayed's book

[Douglas Tow]

Good afternoon!

Cheryl Strayed's book makes obvious mention a number of times of the
"Pacific Crest Trail" books by Schaffer, et al.  She also mentions Ray
Jardine, but somewhat indirectly.  Those interested may wish to track the
popularity of these publications on Amazon to get an idea of how great the
traffic is of those taking the logical next step toward considering a
hike.  I hope the PCTA makes mention of how much additional inquiry and
membership activity there has been.

The author suffered mightily from problems stemming from excessive pack
weight and footware and equipment choices.  As the book is more of an
inspirational/recovery story, there is little ink devoted to guidance as to
how a person might make the trail more enjoyable and accessible.  By way of
example, she suffered foot problems wearing too-small Raichle
boots, continued to suffer for various reasons even after sizing up her
boots, and never mentioned that so, so many hikers now wear running shoes
or trail runners.  A casual reader could easily come away with impressions
that the trail is truly dangerous, full of snow, rattlesnakes, privation,
some predatory men, and people that offer passing hikers drugs.

And then there's the reason that 10,000 people don't start a distance hike
on the PCT every year - logistics.  Time, money, physical ability,
relationships, jobs, supply and resupply.  So many that have a neverending
dream of going end up not going, or only going after years of planning and
saving.

We shall see.

Doug