[pct-l] Teddy Boston 1976 PCT sobosolo

[losthiker at sisqtel.net (Deems)]

When I met Teddy Boston at the old Devil's Peak Lookout above Seiad Valley on June 22, 1976 I was stunned to hear her say she started at Manning on May 1, 1976. It was day one of my Seiad to Canada hike. Meeting her was one of those once in a lifetime moments in retrospect, and I was just as stunned to see her name in the PCT guidebooks later. She mentioned that there was alot of snow that year, Crater Lake was still socked in by snow,  and she had snowshoed quite a bit of the route. She was on layover days waiting for her family to arrive into the Seiad area and was dayhiking along the Siskiyou crest from Cook and Green pass where she and I camped. She was 49 then and would be 77 today. If she is out there, it would be great to know how she's doing and wish her well! On Page 5 of the Vol 1:Calif(2000), The Pacific Crest Trail Guide it states "In 1976, one who made it all the way was Teddy Boston, the first woman to solo the trail, so far as we know. Teddy, then a 49-year-old mother of four, like Eric made the trek the hard way, north to south." Eric Ryback's PCT sobosolo trek was 1970, AT1969, and CDT1972.  Wilderness Press weighs in on the side of Teddy pretty heavily, but not Eric. They both were great mentors for us olden days PCT hikers, got us motivated to hike it against all odds, and I am very fortunate to have met her during that first solo hike. I was 21 and amazed that a woman the age of my mother was hiking the PCT, and she succeeded...I didn't. Now I'm 49 and still hiking new miles on the PCT, and will be for many more years.   There is some discussion on who was the first woman to thru-hike the PCT (I 
recognize that you say "solo").  Jean Beck claims to be the first in 1974 with 
her husband (?) so not solo.  However, I have the names of Jo & Mugs Knezacek 
having hiked in the same year, 1971, as Eric Ryback, but have no information 
on them at all.  I'm not even sure if one of them is a woman, but assume so.

Anyone out there know anything about the Knezaceks?

Greg "Strider" Hummel

losthiker at sisqtel.net writes:
I met Glory, and in 1976 I met Teddy Boston on the trail, the first woman to 
hike the PCT solo and sobo.