[pct-l] apology and idea

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

Okay, I wanted to write something that toned down my statements of last night, but ended up going for a long run/work/etc.
   Thank you Brick, thank you Strider. I have also met Strider, thought he was great, and also have a great deal of respect for someone who
hiked the trail "back in the day," before it was popular or even had a fixed route.
    My own frustration with last year's conditions/hike came out in a negative way: I was following all the rules and then got slammed by a
lot of snow that wasn't supposed to be there (low snow readings, etc.)

I am really glad this topic came up because, aside from insects, I think snow is the greatest danger/hinderance on the trail.
    Idea: I got out all the maps tonight and looked at how small the SoCal desert section is compared to the rest of the trail. Our early
start dates seem to give this small section (a few hundred miles, tops, and that's generous because a lot of those sections are high enough
to keep cool) an oversize amount of attention. What if we would approach our thru-hikes as a long mountain hike with a troublesome desert
section at the beginning that we could skip and come back to -- hitch around the San Filipe hills and the Mojave section and focus on a
proper start date at Kennedy Meadows? Or even work a few extra months, start at Kennedy and then flip back to the border to finish the hot
sections in November?

Mather Pass: It was the closest call I've had on the trail. It's steep, unavoidable, and I fell into a crevasse right near the top. My
backpack got caught on the edge and kept me from falling in. Haven't seen anything else like it on the PCT.

Hey Brick, you mentioned that the last real flame on this site was back in September. Was that when that guy started calling me names and
saying that real, hard core thru-hikers should break off and start their own mailing list?

will

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