[pct-l 70] Re: not the easiest year for a through hike

[David Hough reading PCT-L]

Actually I have been wondering whether pct-l still serves a useful purpose.
It doesn't take much effort to keep it running - all I do is filter out
the spam emails from e-bike sellers.    The spam vastly outnumbers the 
legitimate contributions, just as it eventually did on another list I ran,
gocamino, which faded away into Facebook.

So if pct-l still serves a useful purpose as a backup communication channel
that is not controlled by a billionaire, I'm willing to keep it going as
long as I can.

Many of the posts last year were by me, but old age is gaining on me
and I can no longer dayhike far enough to gather useful information on
current trail conditions.   So any further content of that sort will have
to be provided by others.

In retrospect I wonder if I should have started the trail in April 1977
like I planned in graduate school, but when that time came I was busy getting
on with my thesis defense, first job, and generally following the 
conventional path toward professional development, home ownership, and starting
a family.

But if I had taken six months off for a through hike, I would have been part
of the historic class of 1977, though I might never have caught up with them.
That was the first year that there were enough hikers to be called a class,
I think.   I think the second edition of the Wilderness Press guides was
published that year, which had vastly better maps and trail descriptions than
the first edition.    But trail junction leads to trail junction, and

You must pick up one or the other
Though neither of them are to be what they claim

I always had a direction home, though sometimes I was momentarily confused.

It might be that nobody will ever be able to do a continuous through hike
on the official trail any more, between wind and fire and Federal neglect.
Not to mention Canada withdrawing the option of crossing the border at
Monument 78.

So I missed my chance, but I was able to do the whole trail in bits and
pieces over 2001-2013, without getting fired from my job or arrested for 
felony child neglect.   Or deported by ICE.

And section hiking has the advantage that you can
visit each section at its best time of year - and if your plans are on fire,
you can choose a different section and come back another year.    But it was
only possible because of the many trail angels that volunteered to help
with car shuttles.   I am a diffident hitchhiker, but I always was able to
get a ride when I needed it.

I suppose most of the survivors on this pct-l are more or less in the same
boat, some paddling stronger than others.   Good luck to all!

David Hough