[pct-l] 1980 Thru-Hikers

[kborski at yahoo.com (Karen Borski)]

At my family Christmas party this year, I talked to a
distant cousin of mine from California.  I don't often
see her and learned that she thru-hiked the PCT on her
own in 1980 at the age of 20.  Her first name is
Marlis; I forgot to ask her if she had a trailname. 
She started with two young guys, but one of them had
to quit due to a foot injury early on.  She finished
the trail with the other.

I told her, since she is not in touch with the trail
community at all any longer, that I would send an
email to the PCT-L asking whether there are any '80
thru-hikers here.......

Her stories about hiking in '80 were fascinating,
since it was the year that Mt. St. Helens erupted and
caused closure of much of the PCT north of Cascade
Locks.  She said that she spent most of her time in
Washington roadwalking to the Canadian border.  I
kinda sorta understood, in some remote fashion, since
I was on the PCT near St. Helens when it began to vent
this year.

Thru-hikers also tended to leave Campo a lot earlier
in those days....she started in late March.  That
caused them to battle snow in the San Jacintos (she
said it was chest deep there), throughout the
Wrightwood area and, of course, she found that she had
to bail off the PCT into Lone Pine, walk down Hwy 395
to Independence, try to get back on there, only to
fail and have to walk to Bishop on the road (they were
purists) before they could get back on in the High
Sierra.

If you are an '80 hiker or know one, please email me. 
I will put you in touch with my cousin, or vice versa.

Nocona


		
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