[pct-l] Amazing section hikers that we met in 2005

[conniedavis at earthlink.net (Connie Davis)]

My son Hugemongous and I never ceased to be amazed by the marvelous 
section hikers we met, particularly while we were southbounding on our 
flip-flop thru-hike last year.

My all time favorite was TOB (Tough Old Broad).  We met her near 
Lookout Rock a day or so south of Belden. TOB recently attended her 
50th high school reunion and has been section hiking the PCT for ten 
years.  She is on a track to finish next year with Mt Whitney.  Her 
hiking partner for part of the summer was Jan.  TOB told us she usually 
does 10 miles a day, and since she hikes slower than her partner, they 
have figured out a system where she leaves camp early and her partner 
(who is learning Vietnamese for an upcoming trip) stays in camp for a 
while, then starts out.  They rendezvous for breaks and repeat.  In the 
evening her hiking partner goes ahead and finds camp.  TOB told us the 
waterless sections were harder for her due to her mileage limitations.  
We had always been able to traverse a waterless stretch in a day or 
less, but TOB needs to carry enough water for 2 or more days on some of 
the stretches she has hiked.  When we left her, I realized I wanted to 
be her when I grow up!

Near Mt. Hood we met Mark and Sarah, one of the few other parent-child 
teams we encountered on the trail.  Mark was hiking from Ashland to 
Cascade Locks with his daughter Sarah, who looked to be about 17.  They 
were real trail pros, having done a similar length of the PCT the 
previous summer.  They were in amazingly good spirits and shared lots 
of useful information for us on the trail ahead.

Near Pilot Rock we met a couple who had section-hiked all of Oregon and 
Washington over the years and now were faced at figuring out how to do 
California in short vacation bits.

At Urich Shelter near Mt Rainier we met the Lees who were serving as 
trail angels on the 4th of July--we ended up with beer and popcorn!  We 
later saw them at McKenzie Pass, where they were section-hiking the 
amazing lava trail.  It was so good to see them again.  Trail Dog and 
Marmot are other section hikers who provided a stupendous meal for the 
southbound wave at Rainy Pass in Washington.

Section hikers are awesome!  As Meadow Ed pointed out to us at the 
ADZPCTKO, section hikers do the first hundred miles every time they set 
out, which takes a lot of gumption.  As we were leaving the trail, I 
also realized section hikers have to get off the trail every year, too, 
which must be wrenching. It was hard enough to leave the trail at the 
end of our hike, but to do that over and over takes a lot of dedication 
in my book!

I will most likely be a section hiker for the rest of my hiking days 
who had the amazing good fortune of being able to thru-hike once.

Happy trails to all who hike any smidgeon of the PCT,
Lookout