[pct-l] The Devil's Own

["William M. Stenzel" <manjovin@jps.net>]

A personal record for me: I got five heated responses to my post in twelve hours. Okay...whoa, dudes! I feel the need to represent all the sides of a long distance PCT hike to those interested in embarking such an adventure. There are a lot of people who have a great time out there -- even if they don't hike 2600 miles. But there are others who get depressed, get injured, go crazy, or just leave the trail highly embittered. I admit that I've only followed the PCT and some of the people around it for shy of three years, but I've
heard and seen some crazy things:
    I met a guy in Washington who said he was hiking along and found a complete abandoned campsite. The tent was still erect (but in tatters) and all the stuff had been thrown around by animals. What happened to the hikers? Two days later, this guy disappeared from the trail without a trace. He had planned his hike for a year, hiked a few hundred miles south from Manning, and then took off without saying goodbye to anyone on the trail or leaving any note in a register.
    Also in Washington, I found a huge duffel bag of food and equipment that had been abandoned by a European PCT group. No one knew where the group had gone: home. The stuff in the bag was probably worth three hundred bucks at least.
    A friend of mine (and pct-list lurker) was pulled aside by a fellow thru-hiker who let him know that his girlfriend skipping part of the trail was a very bad thing. She shouldn't do it -- don't you know it's not a thru-hike any more? On the same tip, I was told by people that since I walked the road into Warner Springs, I was selling out and could no longer call myself a thru-hiker. It wasn't advice -- it was a judgment. I was no longer as good as they were.
    In 1998, I saw several people so scared by a storm in the San Jacintos that they went straight home. This was a hundred miles from Mexico!

I think the PCT is a unique experience -- such a long wilderness experience jazzed up with some really weird vestiges of civilization along the way. I don't think people should bash me when I say, "This trail can be extremely boring!" It's not a generalization that a lot of hikers book it through Oregon with their eyes on their boots. A lot of hikers do this. The rangers in Snoqualamie will be glad to tell you of wild-eyed, emaciated hikers racing north, unwilling to stop even for information on the conditions. A woman who has
lived near Donner pass for several years told me, "The PCT hikers are strange. You'd think that they'd want to talk to someone after so much time in the woods, but they seem bent on getting right back on the trail." They've got to make 24 miles that day. No time for social interaction or sightseeing!

So this is my last negative post for this year. My computer doesn't have enough memory for the responses. I'm just tired of the yearly "making the whole trail is 90% mental toughness" argument. I've run marathons, done a lot of rock climbing and a lot of other tough-guy stuff. And putting the PCT in perspective with these other difficult endeavors, I just don't think it's valid to say that people fail to hike the whole thing because they're not mentally tough or focused, or to paraphrase a recent post, they're too involved in a
"T.V. cutlure" of instant gratification. I think a lot of people think that they're going to find one thing on the trail (a 2600 mile JMT, a big social scene like the AT) and end up hiking through a lot of people's backyards with huge blisters and sore shoulders (even with the latest in lightweight gear).
    I fiercely believe anyone considering a long distance hike on the PCT should come see the PCT first and hike a few sections of it to see what they're getting into.

Light pack/heavy pack: If we are indeed heading into another California drought period, then ultralight packs will become practical and popular. I don't much enjoy fleeing the trail for fear of hypothermia or death when it snows, so I tend to carry a bit more gear than an ultralight hiker. Some people like carrying more, some people like carrying less. I really don't think it affects how many miles you hike; for me, daylight hours are more of a limitation than pack weight.

will

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