Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Round trip of entire PCT completed

Interesting reading:

Santa Cruz man believed to be first to complete roundtrip hike of Pacific
Crest Trail

LOS ANGELES (AP) … A self-employed tree trimmer from Santa Cruz is believed
to be the first person to complete a roundtrip hike of the Pacific Crest Trail
connecting Mexico with Canada, one of the longest continuous backpacking
routes in the United States.

Scott Williamson, 32, completed the 5,300-mile hike on Saturday after 6
months in the wilderness, he said Tuesday in a phone interview from a friend's
San Diego home. The trail, 2,650 miles in one direction, stretches from the
Mexican border to the Canadian border.

"It's very satisfying. My goal wasn't to become the first person, it was to
achieve a personal goal," he said. "I'm sort of still living in the twilight
zone because I've been living in the woods for the past 6 months."

Angela Bassett, publications manager for the Pacific Crest Trail
Association, said as far as the association knows Williamson is the first
person to complete the roundtrip hike … also called a yo-yo.

Bassett, who herself wrote a romantic comedy about hiking 2,300 miles of
the trail with her husband, said Williamson's time of 6 months is
extraordinary … but also the key to his success.

"It's important for someone trying to do a yo-yo to go fast because on the
way back down (from Canada) you have to be concerned with early snow in the
Sierra Nevada Mountains," she said.

Williamson wore running shoes during his trek and restocked his lightweight
pack by picking up 42 pre-packed boxes his father mailed to post offices along
the route.

Williamson had made three attempts at the roundtrip hike in the past eight
years. Two times early snow forced him to give up and a third time he arrived
at the Canadian border too late in the season to turn around. This time he
started in Mexico on April 22.

"I feel better than I've felt in my life physically," said Williamson, who
added that he didn't lose any weight. "I wish I could keep it that way, but I
know as I slide back into my workaday life I'll lose that feeling."

Pacific Crest Trail Association: http://www.pcta.org

That's pretty amazing, especially since most thru-hikers take around five months to do it just going south-to-north!

CaT

I suspect this may be a commercial for the web site that fed the information to the AP, which, by experience with dealing with them, I know may not be the truth. AP tends to run with a rumor without actually talking to anyone other than the person who did it and the company that sponsored them.

You can do your own work on this if you like. I personally don't see it as truth.

Meanwhile, unlike Bob R. I will not quit, I will continue to post once or twice a quarter.

I met Scott in passing during his first attempt in 2000, I think, near the Mexican border. I know several people who know him well, having met him several times along the way, and can vouch for his achievement. A group of my friends were at the border when he finished.

Doubt it if you wish, but if Scott Williamson did NOT complete his yo-yo hike as he claimed then he has pulled off a world class hoax that would be of equal difficulty. I have been following nearly all published web journals of 2004 PCT thru-hikers this summer on www.trailjournals.com and elsewhere. I also follow the PCT-L mailing list where his journey has been mentioned many times, though Scott has never checked in with a message of his own. Although Scott, himself, has published no journal, made no claims and sought no publicity, he is mentioned frequently in the journals of other thru-hikers. Via the journal entries of hikers who do not appear to be in contact with each other you can track Williamson's progress through the spring, summer and fall. He even had a friend with him, Patti Haskins, a well-known ultra runner, during the Mexico to Canada leg, so she'd have to be in on the hoax as well. The posts on the PCT-L list indicate that Scott did not alert the media to his hike and that he was ambivilent about the idea that media outlets might take an interest in his finish. Finally, this is apparently Scott's third attempt at a yo-yo hike. If he were going to fake it, why not the first time? Sorry, doubters, this has the ring of truth to it and its a little disappointing to see people dismissing it with a mere two syllable scatological reference.

I ran into Scott on the PCT on Mt.Pacifico in the San Gabriels in mid October. We talked about 15 minutes about his trip and he said that he would be at the Mexican border around the first week of November. We hiked together for a few hundred feet
but he left me in the dust. The guy could move fast.

5300 miles in 180 days is about 30 miles/day.

I could do that!

For a day or two.