[pct-l] Introductions

["Joanne Lennox" <goforth@cio.net>]

I plan to start a thruhike of the PCT next April, so that is my connnection
to the list.  I am still finding navigating the net and computer a bit
daunting (for instance, how many incoming E-mails can you accumulate before
something happens; I don"t want to delete them because I reread them a lot)

My biggest concerns about the thruhike are how well my knees will hold up;
and whether I am just too much of an "explorer" to stick to the PCT for
that long.  I have always preferred mountain climbing and more remote
areas, but  on a month long nepal trek , I enjoyed just walking every day
too.

I started climbing in l969, and have climbed every year since then.  I have
probably climbed something over 400 mountains, a few of them first ascents
and new routes.  In some ways those early climbing days were very special,
but there was very little equipment available and none of it was made for
women. We made a lot of our own equipment, and mostly we learned as we went
along.   As far as lightweight equipment I have made and used everything in
Jardines book before I read it with one exception: I have never carried  an
umbrella while hiking (I always had an ice ax in hand).

I was raised in Holland, Michigan, and did my undergraduate and a Masters
Degree at the University of Michigan, and a PhD at the University of
Washington (Botany, Mycology).  I spent two years as a Peace Corps
Volunteer in San Salvador, El Salvador.  When I moved to Washington in
l968, I knew that it was as much to start climbing and hiking as to
complete studies in Botany.

When I was writing my dissertation I became a night owl ( I am still not a
morning person), hoping to put more structure, and regular physical
training, I starting rowing for the University which involved daily 5am
workouts.  When school let out in June I was dismayed that there would be
no more rowing until fall, so that I put all my nickels into buying a
single scull.(26 feet long, 11 inches wide).  One of the highlights of my
rowing and sculling career was sweeping all 4 National lightweight sculling
titles (Single, single dash,double, and quad) in l978, and then spending a
month at the Olympic training camp at Squaw Valley, rowing out of the old
Kaiser Mansions on Lake Tahoe

.In the meantime, I had began to get serious about shortboard windsurfing,
and had meet my husband, Monty, who shares all the same interests except
Botany.  We meet climbing in the Picket range (North Cascades), and the
connection was so strong that from the moment of meeting we were not apart
for 5 years.   He was a retired USAF fighter pilot, whose plane was shot
down shortly after D-day ; he evaded by living during the day in a brandy
barrel.  That is where he should have stayed because he barely survived 
hand to hand combat with a bunch of Germans.  He was my constant hiking and
climbing companion for more than 20 years.  However, this year he informed
me that his climbing days were done.  At 79, the circulation in his legs is
poor enough that they cramp and he can no longer go uphill much.  After 35
years, he has gone back to his first love - flying and aerobatics.  When I
got my pilots license 3 years ago, he updated his, passed the physical, and
bought an R-V 4 (experimental ,all metal, low wing, tandem, taildragger). 
One day, he showed up with two parachutes; he has had to exit an airplane
twice and informs me that when the time comes to use the parachute, it is a
no-brainer decision.  Even tho I will be hiking the PCT,  Monty will do the
yeomen support , and he is always lurking around these pages , so I thought
you should know him as well.

In l980 I went trekking for a month in Nepal, and then I meditated for a
month in a monastery.  When it was through, I realized that I had actually
gotten much more out of the second month.  I became a buddist, and did a
lot of retreating and meditating. In l987, I decided that I needed to get
"grounded" (hiking works too), and took up Aikido.  Getting thrown to the
gound and/or pinned is a very grounding experience; getting attack by a
bunch of opponents weilding weapons keeps you out of your head. Iado, the
art of sword drawing, has been a added discipline.  It involves inner calm,
and relaxation and concentration inside of explosive action. Eventually, I
was teaching these disciplines as well, and am a nidan in Aikido and a
shodan in Iado.   In the meantime, I have started the difficult task of
integrating buddhism into my christian background.  Even though I talk
about the physical aspects of the PCT thruhike, my goals for the thruhike
are mostly spiritual. 

Four years ago, we moved from the seattle area to Concrete, Washington, and
began building a house.( still far from done). The house is about 2 miles
and 1200 feet above the town, but we are the last house going North for
thirty mile to the Canadian border (some logging roads). Mt Baker is l5
miles NW of us; the North Cascades National Park is to our East and South. 
We usually don't, but we can get snowbound.  It snowed last night on the
ridge above me, and in 5 minutes I can drive there for x-c skiing.  Both
Monty and I wonder what this winter holds; regardless, we both feel that we
live charmed lives.

Peace,
Goforth (Anne Lennox)
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