[pct-l] After trip thoughts

[inaki.diazdeetura at atosorigin.com (Inaki Diaz de Etura)]

Hi all,

I'm just back home from the pct. home is Europe so I do feel far away :)
and though the timing could match, no, I didn't thru-hike, just a one
month section in northern Washington but I feel nevertheless prompted to
share some thoughts here.

The trip was wonderful, everything I could expect and more. We felt
overwhelmed, in a positive sense, by the all the help we got every time
we needed it and by how welcoming and friendly everybody was to us. A
huge highlight for us has been the wonderful atmosphere while on the
trail, it was a real pleasure to chat with anybody we met. It was like
everybody seemed to belong there, which is a great feeling. This is
important and it's the basic reason why we chose the pct and why we
chose northern Washington and why it's been our fourth year in a row
visiting North America in our holidays... in Europe, the backcountry is
so much more easily acessible it's quite easy to meet people that just
simply don't belong there, I guess you know what I mean, and that
somehow spoil the whole backcountry experience. We are so glad it never
happened while on the pct. I particularly recall moments like when after
three days of non-stop rain we met somebody who offered us a smile and
some funny comments about enjoying the weather and suddenly the rain
didn't matter that much and the pack didn't feel so heavy. I can just
hope we contributed equally to keep the good vibes.

So I want to send a big thank you to everybody out there who made this
so special, even if they're not reading this. That goes too to all the
people from the list that helped/cared/whatever.

On a more practical note, and as I haven't seen this mentioned in any
guidebook or info source, I hope it's not too obvious: you can easily
ressuply in Stehekin by phoning a supermarket in Chelan and ordering
from them. I think they're called Good Apple (or something similar) and
their number is at the phone booth in Stehekin. If you order before 3 pm
you'll have the goods delivered on the Lady Express next morning just on
time for the mid-morning shuttle bus ride, 04 schedule.

Inaki
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