[pct-l] News from the Trail: Goforth

["Karen Elder" <wild_mind@earthlink.net>]

Joanne "Goforth" Lennox is sending me reports of her thru-hike for me to
post here with news about trail conditions for this year's hikers and a
glimpse of our beloved PCT for the rest of us.

Karen Elder

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May 31, 1999
Monday

Dear Folks,

        A week after the initial onslaught of the Giardia, I was struck down
with food poisoning. I have never felt so sick and finally ended up going to
the emergency room - beyond 2 liters of saline to get me rehydrated, they
were not very helpful. 2 days later I still feel dizzy when I stand and am
trying to drink as much as I can. Eating and walking are difficult. I moved
from the Motel 6 where there was nobody that I knew to the Fire Station,
where at least I don't feel so alone.

        I am extremely weak and quite discouraged. Somehow I always thought
that the low point would be out on the trail, but I can now see that it can
be off the trail as easy as on.

        The day that I got sick I went hiking with a day pack to try to
cover part of the trail and also to see if "I had my legs underneath me"
yet. The "zoo" at Cienaga has black panthers, mountain lions, African lions,
leopards, Bengal tigers, grizzlies, black bear, wolves, and even a white
Bengal tiger. The trail in the Big Bear area is very beautiful and past
Cienaga Seca is fairly flat + dotted with some immense incense cedars. Even
the Apache plume which in most other parts is a shoulder high scrub here is
a tree -- many must be very old + I wonder if any had been dated by coring
for tree rings. Somehow this area seems to have escaped fire -- miraculous
when you consider how often there must be thunderstorms (there was one 4
days ago).

        Ran into many members of the TRMC (Riverside Telescope Makers
Conference - ~ 1000 attendees). A guy who had all of his 40" telescope
stuffed into a Ford Fiesta, decided to use a hitchhiker (me) as a model
standing next to his achievement (probably more for scale than beauty).

        Lest you think that the numbers of long distance hikers have tapered
off, at the register at the Fire Station here (not a PCT register), there
have bee 32 signatures in the last week, although there were 58 the week
before, and 54 the 2 weeks previous to that. Everybody that I have met
recently that are thruhikers seem very young -- youth makes it look so easy,
which can also be discouraging.

Sincerely,
Goforth

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