[pct-l] ADZPCTKO, clumped hikers, wilderness

[highland_cruzr at yahoo.com (David Kasa)]

I met my first PCT thruhikers in the mid-1990s when I was living in northern california. Peak-bagging was my thing then and I used the PCT simply to get to Highland Peak or Raymond Peak or any other nearby highpoint in the Carson Wilderness. I never thought that people were actually hiking the whole trail in one go. 
 
Once I moved down here (San Diego) I thought I might give it a shot myself and started hiking the PCT in pieces. I managed to mark off 900 miles to tuolumne meadows over the last two years, often in the winter months when nobody was on the trail.  Ronin's idea of promoting section hiking would help (Hey Ronin - I enjoyed your PCT and CDT journals, kind of reminds me of Ed Abbey's writing).  
 
A book that was really helpful in finding all the trailheads for section hiking was "Day hikes on the PCT". But if someone really wants a wilderness experience the PCT in Southern California doesn't qualify. And large parts of it aren't worth the effort except for the honor of claiming EFI (Every Fantastic Inch, or...).

 
Id like to suggest an alternative trail starting at Jacumba and then up through Anza-Borrego to Rabbit Peak and Santa Rosa mountain. Or how about starting at the Organ-Pipe NM and cutting thru the Cabeza-Prieta wilderness to the Colorado River Valley and then over the desolate eastern Mojave and into Death Valley. then onward to the Sierras. Why not have these alternative, challenging wilderness paths from Mexico to Canada? We should have a lot more Mex-Canada trails west of Colorado than just this one. Does it take an act of congress?
 
Another starting point for socially-oriented thru-hikers could be Border Field State Park; walk from there to a hostel in SD then on to the San Diego River trail and follow that to Julian and the PCT. 
 
I've never attended the ADZPCTKO but I think its a great idea and I hope it continues on and I hope it inspires other get togethers at other trailheads all over America. One could argue that the existence of the PCT itself is a cause for clumping (too many people on one trail) and it degrades the experience of people who prefer having the entire trail to themselves.
 
If ADZPCTKO motivates people to get out and start hiking it will benefit everyone - more hikers (even clumped hikers) means a larger constituency for wilderness preservation. Rock on ADZPCTKO! 
 
- Highland_Cruzr

		
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