[pct-l] Grandma Gatewood, the original ultralight

["Brett Tucker" <blisterfree@hotmail.com>]

Recently, we've heard the claim that Grandma Gatewood would have failed 
miserably had she attempted to hike the PCT:

>>If Gramma Gatewood would have brought her laudry bag and sneekers over to 
>>the
PCT, they would have have found her frozen at the base of forrester pass.

The assertion, based mostly on ego, is that the PCT is a harder trail than 
the AT; Grandma is just one example of many (made up as we go along) proving 
this assertion.

Obviously if someone wants to believe that the PCT is harder, then it is. 
And that's fine. But let's give Grandma a break. And her due respect.

Monte said:
>>First of all, I would not waste 5 months to thru-hike the AT.

Grandma Gatewood thru-hiked the AT twice, and the second time she did it in 
4 1/2 months, with no days off, just before turning 70. She also section 
hiked the entire AT, hiked other eastern trails including the Long Trail, 
and yes, made her way out west, following the route of the 2,000 mile Oregon 
Trail in less time than the pioneers had taken. [Jardine, Beyond 
Backpacking]

The truth is, Grandma didn't accomplish all of this in spite of using a 
laundry bag for a backpack, or sneakers instead of boots. Rather, she was 
able to do it because of this approach. By traveling ultralight, back in the 
days of heavy, awkward equipment, she basically dusted her contemporaries. 
And if a "little old lady" was able to accomplish so much by adopting a 
lightweight approach back then, it stands to reason that younger hikers 
today should be able to follow suit, and to similar effect. Which of course, 
they do. The average packweight among long distance hikers is lower than 
ever, and the success rate, across all trails, is way up.

So if the PCT is truly harder - harder than Grandma's eastern and western 
"cakewalks" - then that only implies that it calls for lightweight methods 
all the more.

Monte said:
>>Gramma Gatewood kept her distance from the PCT  and kept redoing and
redoing the AT.

I think the real reason Grandma didn't thru-hike the PCT had something to do 
with the fact that no one had thru-hiked it in her day, because the trail 
wasn't complete yet. She died in 1975, after a number of year's reprieve 
from hiking.

But let's pretend Grandma were to set out for a PCT thru-hike, on today's 
tread. Grandma averaged around 15 miles a day on the prodigiously 
up-and-down AT. Monte conceded that the PCT is far flatter, and we already 
know that lightweight methods should work equally well on both trails. So 
maybe Grandma would average 20 miles a day on the PCT. This means she'd 
finish in around 130 days, or just over 4 months. By golly, that's a short 
hike, and one that should allow her to time things in accordance with 
favorable weather and trail conditions. Perhaps like any number of us Y2K 
hikers this year, Grandma would begin her journey in early May at the 
Mexican border, reaching Kennedy Meadows in mid-June, proceeding through the 
Sierra under sunny skies, over minimal snowpack requiring only an ice axe 
and a steady companion, and on to Canada before the early season snows.

>>If Gramma Gatewood would have brought her laudry bag and sneekers over to 
>>the
PCT, they would have have found her frozen at the base of forrester pass.

Grandma Gatewood, the original ultralight hiker, proved that age, physical 
stamina, and mountaineering savvy, are entirely secondary to the load on 
your back and your ability to hike the trails under favorable conditions. 
Grandma couldn't change the steep grades of the AT, so she changed her 
approach to backpacking instead. And she wouldn't have been able to change 
the seasonal extremes of the PCT, so she might have instead changed the 
season in which she hiked it.

Myself, I'd rather carry a laundry bag through the Sierra in June, than an 
old Army-surplus external frame full of winter gear in April.

Looks like Grandma knew best, after all.

- Blisterfree
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