[pct-l] Alternate southern approach to the PCT

[ronaldgstrickland at hotmail.com (Ronald Strickland)]

Mike, I love your suggestions (and other posters' recent ones) for a 
possible "alternate PCT" southern route.  In the spirit of Benton MacKaye 
and the Benton MacKaye Trail, I want to challenge y'all to locate and name 
your route and publish it in the Communicator as soon as it is a VIABLE 
proposal.

This will work best if all the dreamers/visionaries get together and 
systematically work out the initial plan from maps, then actually hike all 
the alternatives.  You will need to come up with a kind of mini 
guidebook/planner, complete with GPS points, photos, etc.

Note that the Benton MacKaye Trail in conjunction with the mainline AT makes 
a terrific loop thru-hike.  http://www.bmta.org/BMTRouteMap.pdf

The BMT location was not cooked up in a weekend.  It took a LOT of 
painstaking work.

As the volunteers used to tell me when I was locating the Pacific Northwest 
Trail, "Dr. Ron, keep it high for the views."  This new alternate PCT route 
has the potential to have fabulous views and eventually to be a superb 
addition to the National Trails System.

(I will be out trying to establish the new transcontinental trail, C2C, this 
summer or I would help you.)

Ron "Pathfinder" Strickland
www.sea2seatrail.org
La Jolla, CA