[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[pct-l] G'day mates!



Hi all,

(Please pardon the cross post and limit replies as appropriate...  :-)

I'm just back from three amazing months of traveling and hiking in Australia
and New Zealand.  FYI...  Australia is not all flat and red but does have an
amazing abundance of wildlife.  New Zealand on the other hand, is not all
lush and green and has some amazing birds, but with so few native animals,
scat was rare and even I didn't treat a lot of my water while there.  Not
surprisingly, three months was not enough, but with PCT plans in the offing,
I'm not going to complain.
:-)

I'll be back on line for just a couple of weeks before I head off for the
PCT.

To make this relevant to all the lists I've posted to...

While hiking the Overland Track, I stopped to talk to one hiker going the
other way.  Usually, you just say "g'day" or "how ya going" and you pass
each other and just keep walking.  For some reason, I actually stopped and
had a conversation with one hiker.  It didn't take too long to realize that
we were both AT thruhikers.  Who would have thought I would meet another
thruhiker while hiking in Tasmania?  Anybody know El Chasqui from the trail?

I also spent time with Mad Max (AT) and Alf (AT and PCT) who both live in
Hobart.

My hiking partner in NZ also had AT connections in that she's good friends
with both Heavy (AT01) and Peanut Butter (AT98).

I managed to meet up with a couple of hikers from the BPL and BGT lists.  I
didn't get to see any of Mark's gear in Melbourne, but he got to see some of
mine.  When I got to New Zealand, Stu gave me some great hiking
recommendations.  We met again when I was on my way out of the country and
managed to do a little gear show and tell for each other.  I got to see some
of the gear he's tested and some of the homemade stuff he has.  It was great
to meet someone else who didn't think it was weird to talk about the details
of gear that most find boring.  It was also nice to meet his family and
realize that there's a lot more to the people on the lists than what they
necessarily talk about in their emails.

At this point, I've got just two week to plan my entire PCT hike.  For the
most part, I think I'll be winging it and mostly doing self-resupply along
the way, but I expect to have a few questions in the next couple of weeks.
It's nice to be back where I know there's people with plenty of friendly
(and good) advice.  Looks like the current snow reports have the west coast
below normal so I hope that translates into easier snow sections...
thoughts?  Ice axe? kahtoola crampons? both?  Neither?

It's good to be back...

Mara

P.S.  I'm looking for ways to get my PCT journal on-line while I'm hiking.
I'm considering a pocketmail device but really prefer to hand write my
journal.  If there's anyone out there who would be interested in
transcribing all or some of a journal, please get in touch with me.  No html
knowledge required as it'll just need to be emailed to my TravelsAndTrails
yahoo egroup: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TravelsAndTrails/

_________________________________________________________________
Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*.
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail