[pct-l] Mountaineering skills/ southern section ramblings

[gregray8 at yahoo.com (Greg Ray)]

Thanks for all the helpful replies. 
Perhaps I'll never get to fully use these skills, but when the thermometer reaches 120f, and the humidity is 80%, a trip anywhere else sounds great!
 
Also, not to start any renewed bloodshed over the "water cache" thread.....
 
On a historical note, the Kamia Indians, (desert Kumeyaay) along with other tribes in the region, used water cahing extensively along the trails across the desert floor east of the PCT. (Of course, these were hidden caches, in the form of buried/hidden clay vessels on waterless strecthes, and some as large as 50 gallons)
 
It is said that trail runners, in sequence, could traverse the desert from Yuma Arizona to the coastal tribes in San Diego in one day! 
 
There sections of a pre-Cambrian indian trail intact in some of the remote areas of the Colorado desert, and obsidian from Inyo county has been found in digs near the Mexican border in Otay lakes. (southeast San Diego) These settlements where the artifacts were found date back to at least 10,000 years. 
 
A while back, I read a posting by someone questioning the validity of the historical significance of the PCT"s southern section, and it's relativity to a need to traverse the entire length of Canada to Mexico. 
 
Considering the range of the mountains themselves, and the vast network of foot travel by the Kumeyaay, and other related tribes, the route actually could be longer in a historical sense. The range of the Kumeyaay alone penetrates miles further into Mexico, and being another link in indian trade routes, is not historically insignificant. 
 
I really ought to dig up the post, but the point was made that the southern section was not rooted in history, and might only be included to make the PCT a longer trail than the AT, or others. 
 
The seasonal travel between the Lagunas, Cuyamacas,Volcan, Santa Rosas...etc to the lower elevations in Borrego and beyond by the most recent inhabitents and the pre-historical link of trade to areas well north, means that the PCT in section A, and B..etc is not just an add on to the better documented trails up north. It is more aptly just a highlight of the range traversed by humans on foot on a north-south line in terms of elevation at some point or another. 
 
Sadly, much of the history of the Kumeyaay, and other tribes inhabiting Southern Ca. has been lost. The identity of the tribes themselves has been a question mark since Spanish mission life absorbed them. 
 
Greg
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

		
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