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[pct-l] (no subject)



Hello all you sage thru-hikers and PCT gurus,
	I?m a novice through hiker planning a PCT thru-hike for 2004.  Of course
I have a million question but there are two in particular that stand as
planning barriers right now.  The first is the question of a hiking
partner.  I currently don?t have one (I?m a college student and it?s not
easy to find friends in college who are willing to give up a whole summer
and take off a semester to hike) and I am wondering about the possibility
of going solo.  I?m not especially worried about getting lonely on the
trail as I am concerned about safety.  I have been hiking and backpacking
ever since I was born and in general feel very comfortable going out by
myself.  My concern is that the vast majority of my outdoorsing has been
on the east coast (i.e. no deserts and nothing above 7000 ft.) so I will
be unfamiliar with much of the terrain I will be hiking on.  This, of
course, always increases the risk of any hike.  My questions are: how
populated is the trail in general?  Are other thru-hikers generally a
constant presence?  Are there many stream crossings etc. that are
difficult to pull off solo?  The other issue is that hiking solo would
mean a slightly heavier pack.  Have people who have done the trail solo
found this to be a great problem?
	The second issue concerns scheduling.  Sadly, Cornell university does not
plan final exams with PCT thru-hikers in mind, so I wouldn?t be getting
on the trail until around the 20th of May.  I?m fully aware that I simply
cannot start in Campo so I am wondering whereabouts I should start.  At
what point are most thru-hiker at that time?  I was thinking of starting
at the crossing of highway 15 (beginning of section D).  It needs to be
somewhere where I could get on public transportation from San Diego or
another airport.  What suggestions do you have for a good place to start?
 This e-mail is getting a bit long so I?ll stop with my multitude of
questions.  Thanks a million to all who can offer advice.
Happy trails,
Becky Selling