[pct-l 49] Re: time waits for no old man

[Susan Virnig]

Dear PCT hikers,

Thank you ALL for the help and information over the decades!

I’m a section hiker, having started in WA in 1977 and finished the state in
1983.  I took off 20 years to have our daughter and go to graduate school,
then started again.  Now I’ve done 2300 miles and have 360 left.

Flying down to Bakersfield from Spokane on Saturday to hike Section F
southbound Walker Pass to Tehachapi Pass.  Wish me luck and flowing streams!

At 75 I’m nearing the end of my long distance backpacking, but still hoping
to finish Section F this time, then I have Paradise Valley Cafe to Cabazon
left, plus mile 800 north to Sonora Pass.  Hope I can finish the whole
thing, but safety is most important to me.  So if I have to bail at some
point, so be it.

Happy trails and happy memories of the PCT to you all,
Susan from Spokane/Sunshine

On April 18, 2024 at 8:26:17 AM, David Hough reading PCT-L (
pctl at oakapple.net) wrote:


It looks like mailman.backcountry.net is still an internet host that
pings at 50.59.47.102, but there's no response at
http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo
and seems to have been shut down for about a year. It was a good and
useful service while it lasted, with a higher signal-to-noise ratio
than most social media.

One of my backburner
projects has been to set up a searchable database of all of its postings,
but so far I haven't really pursued it.

However
http://mailman.oakapple.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
is still live, should anybody want to use it.

Time moves on for hikers as well as websites, and I got out for just a
couple of days last year, scouting out a potential locale in section L
for my ashes when that time comes, as it must sooner or, hopefully, later.
And trying to fill some of the gaps in my rehike.

I did hike the whole PCT over 2001-2013 and hoped to rehike as much as
possible, but five day backpacks are no longer in the cards for me.
So now my ambitions are limited to rehiking, day hiking wherever possible,
as much as possible of the PCT in California,
where I'm missing a big chunk from Pedro Fages Monument to Mill Creek
Summit,
two pieces of section Q, and 14 miles of section N along Chips Creek where
it always seems to be either flooding or burning. This weekend I'll see
how far east I can get from Mill Creek Summit.

After all the rain and snow and wind in California this winter, it's not a
year that I would choose for a through hike, even if I were young and fit.
Icy slopes and piles of down tree have lost their allure for me.

Of course with the lottery, you get whatever starting date you get and
make the best of it. I wonder if any of the ten or so remaining
subscribers to this list are on or planning a through hike this year.
Perhaps like me, many are spending more time looking backward then planning
forward these days.

I'm also hoping to finish the Tahoe Rim Trail soon. I'm just lacking
five miles around Marlette Peak, which is no longer a feasible dayhike
for me - the campsite/water source in the middle is 9 miles from the
nearest parking. A three day backpack might suffice.

So over the years I finished the PCT, JMT, and the Camino Frances in Spain.
I have been working on the Tahoe-Yosemite Trail off and on since 1972, but
I'm mostly lacking and unlike to attempt the remaining gaps between Lake
Alpine and the TYT-PCT junction in northern Yosemite. At least I have
the original TYT guidebook!

David Hough
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