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Re: [pct-l] '97-Northbound headcount?

>Date: Sun, 11 Jan 1998 20:11:04 EST
>From: Charcholla <Charcholla@aol.com>
>Subject: Re: [pct-l]

>Estimates are good, but does anyone know how many thru-hikers signed the PCT
>Register at the northern terminus? I can't imagine anyone hiking 2,683 miles
>and not signing the register when it's finished.

What joy I felt when I finally saw that straight line of clearcut running
from one horizon to the other and then switchbacked down to the monument
itself and to reach my goal. The marker is a miniature obelisk. The top
comes off (it IS heavy!) and inside is the register, a thin spiral
notebook. So I was slightly disappointed when I found that it was
completely full with entries from 95-96. A few loose pages flopped around
inside the baggie so I signed one of those but it wasn't quite the same as
adding my name to that glorious roll call that I had imagined for so long.

The problem of course is that the northern terminus is fairly inaccessible,
visited only by through hikers for the most part. Another seven miles of
hiking is required to truly be finished. There is another register at the
Manning Park Visitors Center but I doubt if it is located there by every
hiker. It is of the official variety though and perhaps where the PCTA
draws it's figures from. Thus the slightly arbitrary final figure. But it
doesn't really matter because it's a personal thing anyway and, hey, you
know what you did.

If someone this year wants to do a good deed and pack up a fat new notebook
up from Stehekin for the next few years of use, I'm sure it would be a
worth a few cosmic brownie points in the grand scheme of things.

			Andyman


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