[pct-l] Of Barbershops and hitching...

[pmags at yahoo.com (Paul Magnanti)]

Not sure of the availability of barbershops along the
trail. I susepct most larger towns (Big Bear City,
Ashland, Cascade Locks, South Lake Tahoe, etc.)
probably have some kind of hair cut place. 

I did get a hair cut on the trail at the Saufley's!
They had (Donna can tell you if they still have them!)
a pair of clippers in the hostel.

I have never had really long hair. In 2001, I started
to notice my hairline was reeceding. Figure '02 would
be the last chance to grow my hair long before it
looked to0 odd! So received my last haircut in
late-Feb '02 and started to let is go shaggy...

Well, tell you what. Longish hair in the desert is no
fun! And it was greasy in town beore taking a shower.
Decided time to buzz my hair. As I had a buzz cut most
of my adult life, it was not too radical for me.
Received a fashionable do courtesy of Scooter and
sported my new haircut in one of the fine dining
establishments around Agua Dulce. (In fact, Tangent
took a picture of me getting my hair buzzed.)Lemme
tell ya, 1/8" hair was great! Nice and cool, easy to
take care of. More than a few women on the trail went
this route, too.
(And two years later, with hair that is thinning even
more...the buzz cut is mandatory! :D)

To sum up this half of the rambling post, any
thru-hikers to be may want to consicer a buzz cut!
Cool in the desert, easy to take care of, and your
hair is "normal" length by the end of the thru-hike!

As for hitching, I've ALWAYS had bad luck hitching.
Hiking mainly solo, tend to wind up at roads by
myself, too.  Seems that a young male, hiking solo,
has the worse luck of any group of hitchikers. Two
guys together? Looks like two buddies out for an
adventure.
Guy hitching solo! Crazy man! :-)
Plus, if anyone has looked at my online PCT photos, my
appearence is um, interesting, after months on the
trail..even more so than most thru-hikers. :-)


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The true harvest of my life is intangible.... a little stardust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched
--Thoreau