[pct-l] Introduction

[ukstoveman at hotmail.com (Stoveman uk)]

Hi all,

I've decided after a good year or so of learning some great stuff from this 
list that its time to stop lurking and say hi & thanks for everything I've 
picked up. We've learnt a lot about the trail that isn't found in the 
guidebooks, and bought a lot of new gear!

My wife Michele and I (Dave) are planning a thru-hike next year (2005). 
We've hiked & mountaineered a fair bit before but never more than a couple 
of weeks at a stretch so this will be our first long hike & we're really 
looking forward to it. We did the Tour Du Mont Blanc earlier this year (105 
mile alpine hike) to test our gear out and found the lightweight approach 
was fantastic.

A couple of rather random questions that are probably seem rather simple, 
but to someone from this side of the pond are hard to figure out:
1) How do you pronounce 'Idyllwild', 'Agua Dulce' and "tuolumne'. most of 
the others I can figure out, but I is idyllwild idle or idyllic?! (After 
discovering Calais was pronounced callous in the US I've found I can't rely 
on European pronunciation)
2) We're contemplating a canister stove for some sections (carrying a .3oz 
alcohol stove as well in case we can't get fuel) - the increased fuel 
efficiency of a canister stove mean that for 2 people we find it lighter if 
its more than 7 days between refuelling.  Do the small handheld blowtorch 
cylinders in the US have the same coupling as canister stoves?  (over here 
in europe they're all the same EN417 coupling so our blowtorch canisters 
will fit a pocket rocket making it much easier to resupply from a hardware 
store).

Thanks in advance for any help on these.

Dave

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