[pct-l] Re: Jack Fair

[cg@amz.com (Craig Giffen)]

Oh man, this is sad.  Meeting Jack was one of the highlights of my PCT
hike.  I got to his place about 3pm, he drove me to the store to get junk
food.  We got back to his place around 3:45pm and we sat down to talk
around 4:00pm.  Six! hours later we stopped talking.  I got out of the
recliner once or twice to get some food.  He seemed to have done
everything and you could never draw up any assumptions about him.  He did
the four corners motorcycle endurance race from San Ysidro, CA -> Blaine,
WA -> somewhere in NE Maine -> Key West, FL in something like 14 days!  I
still have the newspaper article he copied for me.  His woodcarvings were
amazing, I've never seen a freaking chain carved out of a block of wood
without any glue being used.  

We traded stories back and forth.  I told him one story about a couple
dogs I had and he liked it so much he gave me a nickel.  

To make a long story short, there is one moment I've always remembered.
Earlier in the hiking season I met this PCT hiker in 1996 who disliked
Jack and said not to stay with
him. This hiker, frankly was a complete
asshole...so I didn't really feel
that his advice was worthy.  So when I was talking with Jack I knew about
their altercation but I stayed silent on the matter.  About four hours
into our conversation Jack said something like: "yeah, all the hikers have
been really great, been like family, except this one...".  I mentioned the
individual's name to Jack and his eyes got really big and he acted totally
suprised when he heard the name, much as if a naked Cindy Crawford were to
have walked across his living room.  Jack spent about an entergetic hour
talking about his run-in with the individual.  I think the reason the
individual had such a problem with Jack is because Jack didn't put up with
any crap.  Most of the PCT hikers would let stuff slide because we are an
easygoing bunch.


In short though, I really liked Jack because you couldn't pigeonhole him
into any category.  He would tell me the craziest stories about stuff he
had done in his life, and then on the other hand, write
inspirational poetry and give it out to you printed on paper with clouds
in the background.

I'll miss him.

Craig





> 
> --__--__--
> 
> Message: 13
> Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2001 07:02:01 -0600
> From: "Margo J. Chisholm" <margo@tothesummit.com>
> Reply-To: margo@tothesummit.com
> Organization: To The Summit
> To: PCT <pct-l@backcountry.net>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] (Guest Post) Jack Fair longtime PCT hiker's friend passed 
>  away.
> 
> The experience of thruhikers to come will never quite be the same without Jack.
> He was memorable indeed. I will now treasure the copies of several of his
> writing that he was kind enough to bestow on me. An era has ended.
> 
> Namaste, m
> 
> Ron Moak wrote: