[pct-l] at the "edge"

[Diane Soini]

I have a rep for being "ultralight", but on my last trip I had a few  
luxuries, such as my 1lb musical instrument (a strumstick, look them  
up, they're really fun to play.)

This summer I had the privilege of hiking with Yoshihiro, aka Low  
Gear. Man he's strong! He can power up those mountains with triple  
the weight on his back as mine. His pack is really comfortable for  
such a big heavy pack, too. The food he cooks is great! I learned a  
lot from him this summer. I've got all kinds of dried greens now for  
my "Yoshihiro soup" and I found some flattened rice similar to what  
he brings. I now even have a Japanese pocket bidet (thank you for  
sending it to me.) His pack had really cool front pockets. So big you  
could put a full-sized SLR camera with a big lens in one side and  
still have room for more, but it was not in your way. I want to try  
to attach something like that to my own pack.

One nice thing about our trip is we hiked somewhat more leisurely  
than a thru-hike, but not nearly enough. Low Gear would try to  
interject a little civilized backpacking into us to little avail. But  
the afternoons ought to have a coffee break and nobody should rush  
away from a spot with a great view. It's hard to undo the after- 
effects of distance hiking, but we're learning...

On Sep 13, 2013, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> From: Jeffrey Olson <jjolson60 at centurylink.net>
>
>
> The reason I'm writing this is that I followed Anish on facebook -
> minorly - and totally rooted for her and am so in awe of her attitude
> and her ability to do 40s day after day.
>
> I contrast that to this fellow I met 20 years ago who was not only on
> his own edge, but the edge of what long distance backpacking is all
> about.