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[pct-l] Music on the trail



The trouble with carrying a mini radio on the PCT is a matter of reception.
All day long the PCT wanders among hillsides, in and out of dusty horse-poop
gullies, and every gully it seems offers up a different radio station. First
it's two minutes of Sammy Hagar on KLOS, then an enveloping static sends us
channel surfing; we get a minute and 30 seconds of Vegas show tunes via Palm
Desert, before more static pushes us to the AM dial and talk radio from an
absurdly distant Salt Lake City, Utah. Finally, returning to Frequency
Modulation, we crest a ridge and at once receive every station broadcasting
within a 200 mile radius. One particular decimal point on the radio dial
offers us two stations in perfect overlay, each competing equally for
attention, but as our trail dips off the ridge this way and that, one or the
other tune temporarily wins the war. Will it be Kenny G or Metallica? Who
can say? One thing's certain, though. Well, two things, at least along the
PCT in California. The stations affording the best reception invariably are
the ones playing the Mariachi music, and the worst station ever to broadcast
so singularly clearly in the mountains north of Donner Pass must be Cabin 99
FM.

I say bring on the horns and sombreros. And leave that channel surfing for
the gringos down in the valley.

- blisterfree