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[pct-l] From Scott Conover, '98 PCT thru-hiker (??)

[Scott wrote this on my computer while visiting.  Roger]:

Well here I am, still sitting in Portland, OR waiting for the weather to
improve  along the PCT.  This crazy weather year really makes me appreciate
what we hikers had in 1994!  My job is still waiting for me if I want it, so
I just might bag it for this year and sock some more money away for now.  I
hear Roger saying "pretty bad-ass weather" as I write this (it is pouring
outside).

My first week from Campo to Warner Springs was exhilarating.  It was good to
be back on the PCT, like coming home to an old friend.  With a relatively
light pack (19lbs w/o food and water), and running shoes, the "trail shock"
was minimal.  It was pretty windy and cold, and I sometimes wondered what
planet I was on.  We joked about the "mind-broiling heat" as described in
the guidebook, while we hiked on in our long pants and fleece.  By the end
of the week the weather had completely broken down, with new snow above 4000
feet and rain everywhere else.  It was like I hadn't left my soggy home
state of Oregon.  Needing to get out of the weather if only for a day and
dry out gear, I was very grateful to yogi a ride from fellow hiker Ryle who
was taking a few days off himself.  

From the tv news at the motel, I learned that the ski areas in southern
Calif. were reopening!  And the forecast wasn't too encouraging either.  I
learned that it snowed in the Lagunas where I had just been a few short days
ago, and that they had caught a drug smuggler near Mt. Laguna and rescued
some other immigrants from freezing to death.  I decided to return home to
wait for warmer, drier weather to kick in across at least southern Calif.
And here I've been for over a week now.  California has been drier but the
temps haven't budged much, and now a new system with cold air is set to move
into California late this week, bringing rain as far south as the Mexican
border and more snow to the Sierra!  We'll see.

Scott Conover
PCT Mex-Can 1994

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