[pct-l] Hitching

[nowhere_man97 at hotmail.com (Philip Hough)]

"Randy Forsland" wrote:

>But you haven't really lived until you ride with Donna Saufley..She drove 
>me
>from the Ranger Station to Agua Dulce last year and was probably averaging
>80+ mph through the twisties...She assured me that she took this route to
>work every day and could drive it blindfolded..That helped to loosen my
>death grip on the door handle a bit..but after a month of hiking at 2-3 
>mph,
>I felt like we had made the jump to light speed..everything was just a
>blur...I noticed that it takes a while to re-adjust to car speeds after you
>return to civilization. I was constantly being flashed by cars behind me to
>speed it up a bit...took a week or so to get back into my normal lead 
>footed
>ways..
>
>Redwood
>

During my thru hike in 1994 I had the pleasure of meeting Milt Kinney in 
Castella, a year or two before he passed away.  He showed up at the Post 
Office no more than five minutes after we arrived, as was his norm. He kept 
a constant vigil, waiting for the thru hikers. One person in our group 
needed new boots. (Pre-Jardine day style of hiking) Milt drove us to a gear 
shop in Shasta.  They knew him well as he came in there all the time with 
hikers.  It was not exactly a "hitch hiked" ride, but could fall in the 
category of "yogi-ing":)  no offense to "yogi."  Milt was in his 80s, wore 
"coke bottle" glasses and drove very slowly down I-5 in order to keep 
between the lines.   The slow speed (and uneven swerving) was more 
frightening than a fast ride, with cars whizzing by and gesturing with some 
of their...... Still I feel fortunate to have met Milt, a PCT legacy.  Our 
friend got her new boots and we got some good restaurant food.  Milt loved 
to sit and talk.

Nowhere Man

Phil

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