[pct-l] G'day mates!

[christinpruett@xxxxxxxxxxx (christin pruett)]

Hi, how bizarre to hear those names again.  I met Max, Stu, and Alf on my
1993 AT thru-hike.  That was the year that Alf almost kicked the bucket with
hanta virus.  As far as I know that is the only case of that ailment in AT
history.  Good to know that they are all doing well.  Good luck on your PCT
adventure!
Christy


>From: "Mara Factor" <m_factor@hotmail.com>
>To: at-l@mailman.backcountry.net,
>pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net,BackpackingLight@yahoogroups.com,
>BackpackGearTest@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [pct-l] G'day mates!
>Date: Sun, 06 Apr 2003 00:22:45 -0500
>
>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
>
>_______________________________________________
>PCT-L mailing list
>PCT-L@mailman.backcountry.net
>http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l


_________________________________________________________________
STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE*
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail