[pct-l] the subjectiveness of a thru-hike

[Bighummel@aol.com (Bighummel@aol.com)]

When I hiked the trail, my hiking partner and I chose, for scheduling
purposes to make it back to college for the fall quarter, to take a short cut
straight up interstate 5 from Castle Crags area and tie into the PCT just
across the border.  We felt bad about cutting a section of the trail out and
have thought about going back to complete this section for many years (maybe
we'll actually get around to it someday).

I have felt some uneasiness over claiming that I "thru-hiked" the PCT until
recently.  What changed my attitude was in reading Clinton C. Clarke's "The
Pacific Crest Trailway" (see: www.pctplanner.com/pcttrailway/) wherein he
describes the original course of the PCT and provides hand drawn maps.  I
found that the trail originally was specified to track from Lassen north and
to the east of Mt. Shasta and then on into Oregon and the Skyline Trail.
Thus I, in some twisted way, can now claim that I was attempting to stay, in
some rough way, to the original course of the PCT!!!!

How's that for twisted justification!

Greg "Strider" Hummel