[pct-l] 4th ADZPCTKO

[Bighummel@aol.com (Bighummel@aol.com)]

More info on the goings on and general event:

240 people confirmed attended, probably 250 total.  Made up of (approximate 
numbers) 120 aspiring thru-hikers(!), 30 past thru-hikers, 30 aspiring future 
thru-hikers, 10 trail angels (as in live on the trail and assist hikers as 
opposed to the huge number of trail angels that help out at the ADZ), 40 
section hikers, 10 curious/supporter/government, 6 girlfriends, 4 moms and 
three dogs and two llamas!

Liz Bergeron, the Executive Director of the PCTA attended with Eric Weinnman, 
Joe Sobinovsky, Henry Shires, Laraine and Paul Downer, all from the PCTA 
also.  They gave a short speech to the crowd on the focus of the PCTA and 
were successful in signing up several new members and sold a lot of shirts 
and PCT cool stuff.

Tim Stone, the NFS Manager of the PCT also attended and kept a pretty low 
profile.  He said that he liked getting into the feel of the trail community 
and hearing the concerns and issues of the hikers.  

In addition to Tom Reynold's bear canister packing demonstration already 
described, Monte Dodge gave his clinic on pop can stove making and gave away 
many to the aspiring thru-hikers.  A number of cat food can stoves were also 
given away.  Monte also brought a large roll of tyvek and could be seen 
mobbed by a crowd of hikers for about two hours, measuring it out and cutting 
it off, measuring it out and cutting it off.  $1/ft.  Thanks Monte and Tom!

Meadow Ed sat at the end of the food line on Friday night and Saturday night 
with the list of registered attendees and checked off names and wrote down 
the names of those that we didn't have.  This list provided the most accurate 
count of attendance that we have ever had.   Thanks Ed!

Saturday evening as it was beginning to grow dark I was approached by a hiker 
who said they had passed a hiker south of Hauser Canyon who didn't look like 
he would be able to make it to Lake Morena by dark and didn't have shelter 
with him.    Reynolds and I mobilized to the locked gate at Hauser Canyon to 
see if he might be there, but found no one and nothing.   

We enlisted the help of the rangers and mobilized some volunteers and 
supplies to help look for him.  We found him just up the trail a bit, 
severely dehydrated, deeply exhausted and no working flashlight.  We helped 
him back and fed him dinner and he was fine.  He (to remain unnamed for 
obvious reasons) underestimated his conditioning, the distance, brought the 
wrong kind of food, etc., etc.  He learned some good leasons though!  

A real big Thanks to Tripod, Paul Hacker, As A Bat and Yosemite for helping 
to find him.  Next year we'll be a bit better prepared for something like 
this.

Two banjos, a guitar, a set of bongos and several beautiful voices around the 
fire Saturday night under a full moon.

Thanks to Christine Kudija for making up name tags that gave the trail name, 
real name and status, all pre-printed from the website register.  Adorned 
with the PCT logo and "4th ADZPCTKO" these will certainly become collectors 
items in the future.

Thanks to Norm Switzer (one of the Kelty Kids, 1977) for bringing a 15 or so 
watermellons.  

Thanks to Anne Reidman who, with her husband Jim, not only stash water at 
Scissors Crossing and the Lucky 5 site, but also made a huge, huge macaroni 
salad.  How fast it was consumed was a testament to how good it was.

Many other contributions both big and small were made to the event by many, 
many individuals.  There are many that I am certain that I don't even know 
about.  Thank you to all of you.  

All of you who contributed to the cost of running this event subsidized the 
feeding of approximately 120 thru-hikers!  Jack Coughlin couldn't attend but 
sent in a donation to help anyway.  

About 10 to 12 - 2001 thru-hikers were in attendance, thank you for coming 
back to help the 2002'ers!  9(!) thru-hikers from 1977 came, only second to 
the 2001'ers in attendance for any year.

Special recognition of Charlie Jone's efforts must be made known.   He has 
directed and executed the initial stashing of 68 (!) gallons of water on top 
of the San Felipe Hills.  This is done by hiking the water in!  The access to 
the stash site is a mile from the trail but several hundred feet of elevation 
below. 3 gallons are put in a backpack and a gallon in each hand (calculate 5 
gallons x 8 lbs./gallon = 40 pounds).  68 divided by 5 is 14 trips.  He was 
helped by several members of the Sierra Club who carried much of the water to 
the edge of the steeper part.  Charlie did the rest.  Yesterday he re-stocked 
the stash with ten more gallons and picked up the empties and carried them 
out.  I hope those that use this water will read this and understand just 
what it takes to provide that water.

I can't wait for next year's!

Greg "Strider" Hummel