[BULK] - Re: [pct-l] Re: Scott Williamson? Done?

[msaenz at mve-architects.com (Mike Saenz)]

As a wise, old, PCT hiker once told me: "...There's no right way to hike
the PCT..."  (you KNOW who you are!)

So, I do the sections as I can. I'm more of a "past-mid-and-climbing"
career and professional...and very happy for it!

Billy Goat and Yogi, Scott and the other perennial thru hikers have
their lifestyle, and I have mine. It's all about what gives your life
meaning. I have my mortgage (which, BTW, is now a lot less than monthly
rent on most, if not all apartments!) and my car payments. And all the
financial trimmings of life "off the trail". And when I'm hiking along
the PCT, I fantasize sometimes about what it would be like to pitch tent
wherever I feel like, instead of having to make it to a particular point
or to my truck to get back to civilization... But, as I'm writing right
now, I get back to my office and pursue my other passion and look
forward to the next task at hand the same way I look forward to peeking
over the next ridge on the trail.

I think an encounter I had with a thru hiker at 3rd Gate cache last
spring most accurately reflects the lifestyle differences:

As Bill and I were settling down to camp at 3rd Gate, a couple thru
hiker groups hiked thru. I asked how they were doing and how long it
took them to get to that point. One guy looked up at me and asked: "what
day is it?". At that moment, I SO wanted to be that guy!

Priceless...


M i c h a e l   S a e n z
McLarand Vasquez Emsiek & Partners, Inc.
A r c h i t e c t u r e    P l a n n i n g    I n t e r i o r s
w  w  w  .  m  v  e  -  a  r  c  h  i  t  e  c  t  s  .  c  o  m


-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces@mailman.backcountry.net
[mailto:pct-l-bounces@mailman.backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Jeffrey
Zimmerman
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2004 5:54 PM
To: PCT-L
Subject: [BULK] - Re: [pct-l] Re: Scott Williamson? Done?

On Mon, 15 Nov 2004 17:08:25 -0800, Tom Griffin
<griffin@u.washington.edu>
wrote:

> ... I can hardly find the time to do a measly section hike.

Common problem.  I wonder how many (few?) PCT-ers are mid-career
professionals.
I know that recently I had the devil of a time recruiting a companion
for just the JMT, three weeks at my anticipated desk-jocky pace of ten
miles a day (ended up doing a lot better, thanks Steve and Jan and
Saskia!).  Scott
*expected* to
do 30+ miles a day and still needed seven months.  I ended up muttering
to myself the Tennessee Ernie Ford song, about how everyone had "sold
his soul to the company store"; of course THAT just proved what an O.F.
I am.


--
Jeffrey Neil Zimmerman
Sonoma County, The Left Coast
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