Friends on the PCT

 

People on the PCT:

This year there were around 700 thur hiker permits and 300 section hiker permits, so there is bound to be some really cool people on the trail and some not cool people on the trail, I choose to talk about the people on the trail that made my last section hike of the trail, one of the best sections so far.  All these hikers have different backgrounds and are from all over the US and the world; they have all come to see if they too can do the walk to Canada from Mexico.   Some of the people I will be talking about are good friends now and will be forever, and others have made an impact on me in other ways, some of them I know there real names and some just there trail names, some have pictures of them and some will just be in my memory.

Twist (Kristin) and Tailgate (Seth)

            I met these two back on April 19^th, on the backside of san Jacinto, this is where I got my trail name “Lifeboat.”  I ran into them on the way back from getting caught in the snow and having to snow camp, this last section I did, I happened to run into them again, and ended up hiking and camping with them the whole time, then staying with them in Lone pine for two days as well.  They are wonderful, generous people, they are married, and both from California, twist is from Escondido, and tailgate is from Susanville, northern CA.  Twist got her name from falling all over the trail, always twisting her ankles, even if there is nothing to twist them on, and Tailgate got his name from twist when they had been cooped up in a trailer during a storm for three days, and when they left he was so excited to be going he kept running into the back of twist, so he got his name tailgate.  They have been my favorite two on the trail so far, and will now be friends forever.  I love them both, and have had fun traveling with them. 

 Doc and Blue Jay and Super Girl

            These two were a cool couple, I met them at toms place, they are a couple that is threw hiking, two fun people with lots of stories, doc was also hiking with his best friend on this trip, his name was Super Girl, the reason he had this name, was that he was volunteering and one of the old men he was helping out, told him that he was super man, but the guy said there is already a super man, so he will go with super girl.  He was telling another story just to fool people on the trail, he was saying that he was bring awareness to the transsexual population, then he would tell people that he was a transsexual.  Then watch your reaction, and then tell us the truth, that he was just messing with us.  Doc. asked Blue Jay to marry him on the trail, on the way to VVR, a ranch that is one spot to get food. 

 

Neal, 2 Little Pigs

Neal, he is in the plaid, he was someone I met, at Warner Springs, then much better in Idyllwild, he was a nice guy, he is still on the PCT he has made it to Washington, he was a very fast hiker. 

The 3 Little Pigs, well they started with three, but at this point there was only two, I met them on the first day, the man to the right of Neal, was named Robo Cop, and the guy to the left of Twist was Happy Pants, the third one got off a couple days before this.  The three little pigs got there names from, all three of them were retired Cops.  They leap frogged me the first day, and then I never sawed them in till Idyllwild and figured out they got a hitch to there and showed up before me. 

Camshaft (Cameron)

I met camshaft at Toms Place in Kennedy Meadows, then hiked with him for a couple days, and ended up shearing a motel room with him and Twist and Tailgate in Lone Pine, he was from Washington, and he was working for NOAA doing some environmental fishing counting or something like that.  He was a fast hiker, but really nice and fun. 

Clutch

This was a hiker I met on the second night of my last section by myself and I ended up traveling with them for quit a distance, he was funny, he kept saying that he was going to go further, but he kept making the mistake of having safety meetings in the morning, and then not making it out of camp till later, and only making it the miles that we all were doing, but he was a nice guy, don’t know much about him, but that we liked him.

  

Lil Bear (Georgia Swan)

This was a sweet girl, decided to do the trail, because she was between stages of life.  Like most people on the trail.  I am not going to say much about her so hopefully you will go check out her blog: georgia’sbigwalk@blogspot.com.  She has a good story like the rest of us. 

Day-Man (Tommy Royer)

Day man I didn’t get to know till my last day on the trail, and I feel bad that I didn’t because when I started to talk to him he was very interesting, he wanted to know all about sailing, he was from Washington, he was a fast hiker, but stayed back because he had a crush on Lil Bear, and she was getting fed up with it, but it made for interesting trail drama. 

Buster (Collen)

I ran into buster, right before the big hill before Kennedy Meadows.  We where hanging out by the water source, and here he comes up, kind of startled us, he had a mo-halk, that he had gotten at some trail angles house, he ended up being the nicest guy.  We had dinner with him and my mom in Lone pine, he had gone and did his laundry and stolen some cloths just for a while, while his cloths were getting cleaned, he was walking around with ice cream.  Check him out as well at: bearingnorthpct2012@blogspot.com, this is a shared site with a hiking companion that we didn’t meet, grit’s. 

Bryan

We met Bryan, on our way up kearsarge pass, he was up for a day hike, and we passed him and his friend a bunch of times, he was a really nice guy, from Ridgecrest, he is a mechanical engineer student, and works for the base out there, he had told this older guy from work about hiking and this was the first time the other man had been out to the mountains, and he was struggling with the altitude.  But he was hooked; Bryan is now our friend on FB. 

Becky, And Whitney

We met these two girls on our way up to the top of Bishop Pass, we ended up spending the night with them, at the lakes at the top, they were both students at Fresno University, both in the masters program one doing archaeology, and the other doing history.  They were doing a 7 day backpacking trip and this was there day going out, so were had a fun night with them.