[pct-l] Thruhiking

[Owen <jrowen@ibm.net>]

Some time ago I started a series of posts on at-l about  "Preparing for
a thruhike".  Then I got sidetracked by "LIFE".  Now it's time to get
back to that series because there are people, including Ginny and me,
who are getting ready for thruhikes next year. I don't intend to put the
whole thing on pct-l, but if anyone wants it, let me know and I'll add
you to the mailing list.  If you're on cdt-l, you don't get the choice -
you'll get it.  But  I'll start the title of each post with the word
"Thruhiking" so if you don't care and/or don't want it, you can set your
filter to delete without reading. :-)

The purpose of the series is partly to help others prepare for their
thruhikes.  But it's also partly to organize our thoughts about
preparation for our own 1999 thruhike, so there'll be a large component
that's personal and immediate.  It's written for, by and about
"thruhikers" and "thruhiking".   If you're a section hiker or a day
hiker or - whatever - and you can learn something from it, that's cool. 
But that's not the main purpose.  

The first post in the series will be some preliminaries - specifically,
my ground rules and definitions.  After that we'll get into questions -
lots of questions. And maybe even a few answers.  

Since my ties are to the AT and the CDT right now, I'm writing it
specifically for those trails.  There will be some useful information
for PCT planning, but that's not the main purpose here, so you'll have
to cull what doesn't apply to you.  But you should be doing that anyway. 

The first 'installment' will go out next Monday (Dec 7) and the others
will follow a couple days apart.  Maybe that's appropriate - starting it
on Pearl Harbor Day.

Walk softly,
Jim
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