[pct-l] happy holidays and hello from Will

["William M. Stenzel" <manjovin@jps.net>]

Peace on Earth and to the PCTA,

March starts? Electronic topos? Oh, well, I guess it's worth a try.

After two long jaunts on the PCT, I've grown so enamored of the Sierras that
I'm now working about six miles from the path near Donner Pass. If this
snowpack remains this small, this will be the year for lots of successful
thru-hikes. I'll probably take a few weeks off of work to hike north from
Donner to get a few hundred of the miles I've "missed" on the trail.

This summer, I will tenatively be available for rides to and from Soda Springs
for package pickup.

Also see you runners for the Smugglers Run. I will likely cache some water
where I found it helpful last year (along that long section before Walker Pass,
and near Antelope Valley). For those who believe water caching is wrong  -- I
don't. As I said, this may end up being a dry year.

will stenzel

     Longtime visitors of this site may have seen some of my journals at the
n2backpacking site. Much of what I wrote, especially in the high sierra, was
lost in their hands, and I ended up stopping my thru-hike to visit Newfoundand
and the French islands of St. Pierre and Michelon.
    Hiking through the high sierra in June gave me a totally new perspective on
the thru-hike attitute. I was following a typical itinerary and wandered up
there without a clue as to how extreme the early season conditions really are.
Forester Pass was a twenty foot cornice of ice and snow, and my two week
running-shoe mountaineering trip began. The negative: fear, frustration, and
frostbite. The positive: newfound strength, a sterling life experience, an
incredible wilderness journey, and a real respect for the great range of light.


A lot of advice will fly around on this site about start times and worries
about the desert. I have to say, despite the desire to get out there hiking, is
to worry about the northern snowpack first. I'll try to get some of my photos
scanned to make my point.

Have a wonderful holiday, everyone; the brightest moon in 133 years was quite
amazing at 6000 feet -- I think it bodes well for a bright new year.



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