[pct-l] A bit much

[losthiker at sisqtel.net (Deems)]

Section hikers outnumber thru-hikers 100 or 1,000 to 1.  
Thus, you are in the majority in the PCT community and should be equally proud of 
your accomplishments and appreciation for the PCT as any thru-hiker.  



I've been a PCT section hiker since 1976. In all that time the trail has been moved, rerouted, and renamed in dozens of places. In those 29 years, probably well over a hundred thruhikers have been born and their treks completed. However, I'm still out there hiking new sections of the PCT still dreaming of finishing it in my lifetime.  I keep getting sidetracked by all the other nonPCT wilderness adventures I've found. I can spot a thruhiker instantly when I see them locally on the trail, and I congratulate them all.  If I totalled all the backtracking, and overlapping hikes I've done on the PCT, I'd be finished with the 2600 miles. Just being out there in the wilderness is why I hike. There are no classes or clicks of PCT hikers, section or thruhikers or otherwise, we're all just hikers.  Some hiked the fastest, some the slowest, some hiked the farthest, and some hiked as the oldest or youngest, but most never finish. The ADZ and the ALDHA-(West and East) gatherings are a new thing for hikers to get together as a group and share and learn the trail lifestyle together. It reminds me of the Green River mountain man rendezvous of the 1840s where the trappers gathered to trade, teach, and party. So feel free to go, or hike anywhere or anyway you choose.  I must admit tho, that the PCT thruhiker has accomplished something rare and special, and I admire their spirit.