Date: Mon, 08 Mar 1999 12:00:40 -0500 From: Jim Greenwood To: robert bedichek Subject: PCT Kind of exciting reading your pages on the PCT. This marriage stuff is very good, and I have a wonderful wife, but revisiting the PCT in part or whole has an allure as well. But I think I've lead a reasonably charmed life, having gotten to do most of what I've wanted to do. I think getting married at 49 was about perfect! My back will never let me run a marathon, which was long on my life list. McKinley would have been nice to climb. I'd still like to do Rainier. I wish they'd had the MSR black beans when Richard and I hiked. We used to talk about good black beans. And I like the idea of tomato paste. We tried various dried tomato products, but weren't enamored of any. Looks vegetarian. Are you? My brother is, so we went all vegie, though I find that at home or hiking that my diet is pretty much all vegie by default anyway. I've heard that at higher elevations that butane is ok, because of the reduced air pressure, and it's at the higher elevations that you could expect the biggest problems with the cold. I recall something about butane being the fuel of choice on Everest! But don't quote me. I'm thrilled to see you using such light hiking shoes. I suspect that Richard and I would both agree that our biggest mistake was using the heavy leather hiking boots fashionable at the time. For the AT Richard then had a shoe maker put Vibram soles on some leather running shoes, a product that is now readily available, but that was novel at the time. I went to a lighter leather hiking boot than I had on the PCT and it was STILL more boot than I needed. The other mistake I suspect we'd agree to was too few food pickups. I think maybe you said you knew of Eric Ryback who I think was the first to through-hike the PCT and he did it in five three-week segments, which sounded romantic and logical - until we passed a little country grocery later on, lugging full packs! When we did the AT two years later we had NO food shipped to us, and purchased it all on the way. If I did the PCT again, I would combine mail drops with local purchases. You sound like you have a wonderfully light pack. How many food drops are you doing, and what's the greatest time between drops? What are the Sulfate tablets? I SO agree about the weight of containers. I think containers are an interesting thing to ponder in general. For instance, at home the main thing that fills up our trash cans is containers. Now, does that make a lot of sense? I hate using trash bags especially, because it seems like you buy a box of trash bags - for what? - so you can THROW THEM AWAY!!! What else in the world do we buy that we then turn right around and discard? I didn't notice mention of hanging your food from bears. We did that in a number of sections I recall, especially the Sierras. We had a light cord that we tied to a rock then threw over a branch, then a heavier cord tied to the lighter cord that we tied sturdy stuffsacks to, then we covered all that with a garbage bag to keep out the rain, then we pulled it all over a limb. I don't know if we were being paranoid or not. Trowel: I would cast my vote with the naysayers. I always tried to walk well away from anywhere that anyone else was likely to go, then either kick a good hole in the duff or use a stick if necessary. But like you said, much equipment can be traded or jettisoned as you go. Snowfields and ice ax: I shouldn't comment, because when R and I did the trail it had been a very heavy snow year and we expected that the Sierras would be for us the highlight of the trip (my mother's family had a cabin on Rt. 88 near Carson Pass for many years, and she introduced us to the wonders of the Sierras), so didn't want to pass through them when they were hidden under ten feet of snow. So when we got to Welden we hitched into Bakersfield, took a bus to Ashland, then continued north to Canada, then rode buses back to Welden to complete the trip. It was artificial, and not something that I would recommend in general, but that particular year it served us well. We encountered a good deal of snow in Oregon, but WA and CA were wonderful. We had not planned to do that, so had snowshoes waiting for us in Welden, which you might want to consider. What kind of snow year have the Sierras had? You had mentioned a Stephenson tent, but appear to have changed your mind. Richard and I tried a tarp for part of the AT and just never got too accustomed to it. What's your experience with bivy sacks? I have none and so like a cozy little tent that I don't know that I'd ever give a bivy sack a fair chance. I trust that in any case you will have mosquito protection? They weren't real bad, but after a buggy day it sure was nice to have a refuge. Alright, you can see you got me excited. I'll be in CA in May, but not for too long, just long enough to have a nice visit with my mother in Carmel, and I will see my nephew who got his undergrad degree from CMU last year and is at Epiphany in Palo Alto, and my niece who is finishing her first year at Berkeley. SB will probably join me for only every other annual CA trip, so that we can make better use of her limited vacations. Maybe we can see pictures next year --- or back east? Just got back from a Dartmouth weekend, where we enjoyed watching a foot of snow fall on us. JG. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 07:40:37 -0500 From: Jim Greenwood To: Rob Bedichek Subject: Bon voyage I'm glad you felt like posting my letter. AMAZING changes since 1980. Having to decide on a cell phone or not. Being able to download trail info right into a spreadsheet. Being able to contact other hikers. That may be one of the biggest differences in certain respects: that for people who want to, they can start building community before they even jump on the trail. Some of this is not obviously change for the better, to me, but once on the trail I think the differences between life 20 years ago and life today no doubt melt right away. We will be writing and looking forward to postings from Annie, I hope? JG.