[pct-l] Can you do it in 4 ?

[philp at cse.unsw.edu.au (Philip James Byrnes-Preston)]

Hi

Since Ceanothus has given my guilty conscious a prick, I'd though I'd add my
own experience of 'doing it in 4'.

I took exactly 4 months in 2002.  I claim that I had a deadline of having to
return to Australia but probably admit to pushing too far and too fast
partly due to male ego, partly due to fear of middle age, partly due to
great good fortune.

With the help of another hiker I was able to get through the snowy Sierras
early in 2002 .  And then I was too, too alone.  This put me about 2 weeks
ahead of the main bunch and all the people I had known before the Sierras I
almost never saw again.  This was a big loss.  I came to regret it later as
I hiked alone through much of northern California

(I remember the 1st of June.  I had not seen anyone for two days. Looking
down from the top of Forester Pass into trackless snow and wilderness as a
storm threatened me, thinking "Australia is a desert country, what the heck
have I got myself into ??")

Going fast and getting ahead of the bunch can be good, and suits many people
due to time constraints of time, personal drive, or just plain cussedness. 
But hiking on and off with friends is so, so much better.  I enjoyed my hike
much more from mid-Oregon on when I actually started hiking frequently with
people - much more pleasurable.

If I had my druthers, and was time pressed, I'd take it slower and spend
more time smelling the flowers, hunting for huckleberrys, whistling at
marmots, chasing trout, laughing with friends.  4 months of slower travel
would see less distance and more pleasure

Was it ChuckieV who said "first one to Canada loses" ?

But I have to go - I should not be dreaming of other places when I'm
supposed to be working (behind a desk, in a big city).

cheers
phil

-- 
Phil Preston, 
Donk, Class of 2002