[pct-l] Re: truth is stranger than fiction

[d111@mail.jps.net (david paulson)]

>Subject: [pct-l] Diamondback Dave
>
>I hiked with WalkOn for about a week or so in Southern
>CA.  Well during this time there were snake sightings,
>but none like the rattler along the San Felipe
>Traverse.  We were hiking early morning to make it to
>Barrel Springs before noon.  WalkOn was in front, me
>in the middle, and Penn. Jeff in the rear.  All of a
>sudden we hear the rattle.  the snake is to our left
>and it is pissed.  We try to go around but this snake
>is mad as hell.  So WalkOn takes off is pack puts it
>in front of him, a barrier from the snake, and walks
>on.  The snake strikes, I can't believe what I am
>seeing, Jeff tries to take a picture, and all the
>while WalkOn just keeps going.  Having only been on
>the trail a week I was impressed.
>
>Jeff and I told the story to a number of hikers as we
>hiked the souther section.  I saw Dave again leaving
>Mt Adams in WA.  I was going North, him South.
>
>Oh those snakes.  They bring back memories.
>
>Keep hiking
>
>Tony "Trail Mix"
>
>

Hi Tony,

   here's another (true) story from last year's hike that you
and the list can chuckle over:
   Sebastian (a section hiker) and Young Dave (thru-hiker from
Florida; me at 43 years old, you can call Old Dave :-)), are
traveling several days behind me when they reach Timberline Lodge
in Oregon. Someone at the Lodge tells them I hiked from Timberline
to Cascade Locks in one day! 49 or 50 miles, if I remember correctly,
taking the Eagle Creek Trail.
   Sebastian and Young Dave decide: if WalkOn can do it, so can we!
Sooo, they spend a sleepless night camped behind a garbage dumpster near
the Lodge, get up at 4:30 am and start hiking. At 9:30pm, they stagger into
Cascade Locks, having successfully matched WalkOn!
   Now, jump forward to the Stehekin bus stop. Sebastian and Young Dave are
just leaving, continuing their trek north, when I come in, heading south.
We exchange greetings, then they proudly tell me how they matched my looong
day into Cascade Locks. You should have seen their jaws drop when
I told them I never did that mileage!! Someone at the Lodge was pulling
their collective legs!!!
   The moral of the story, of course, is that hiking 2000 miles or more can
make
you just a little bit nuts.

Happy hiking,

Dave (WalkOn).