[pct-l] the wire story on Scott Williamson

[david at emeraldlake.com (David Plotnikoff)]

Here's the AP story that moved yesterday.

BC-WST--Hike Completed,320

Tree-trimmer believed to be first to complete roundtrip hike
of Pacific Crest Trail

   LOS ANGELES (AP) ... A self-employed tree trimmer from Santa
Cruz is believed to be the first person to complete a
roundtrip hike of the Pacific Crest Trail connecting Mexico
with Canada, one of the longest continuous backpacking routes
in the United States.

   Scott Williamson, 32, completed the 5,300-mile hike on
Saturday after 6" months, he said Tuesday in a phone
interview from a friend's San Diego home. The trail, 2,650
miles in one direction, stretches from the Mexican border to
the Canadian border.

   ""It's very satisfying. My goal wasn't to become the first
person, it was to achieve a personal goal,'' he said. ""I'm
sort of still living in the twilight zone because I've been
living in the woods for the past 6" months.''

   Angela Bassett, publications manager for the Pacific Crest
Trail Association, said as far as the association knows
Williamson is the first person to complete the roundtrip hike
... also called a ""yo-yo.''

   Bassett, who herself wrote a romantic comedy about hiking
2,300 miles of the trail with her husband, said Williamson's
time of 6" months is extraordinary ... but also the key to his
success.

   ""It's important for someone trying to do a yo-yo to go
fast because on the way back down (from Canada) you have to
be concerned with early snow in the Sierra Nevada
mountains,'' she said.

   Williamson wore running shoes during his trek and
restocked his lightweight pack by picking up 42 pre-packed
boxes his father mailed to post offices along the route.

   Williamson had made three attempts at the roundtrip hike
in the past eight years. Two times early snow forced him to
give up and a third time he arrived at the Canadian border
too late in the season to turn around. This time he started
in Mexico on April 22.