This article originally appeared in the April/May 2007 issue of the PCTA Communicator Magazine
By Barney 'Scout' Mann
While dropping off an early thru-hiker at the border on April 1st, I chanced upon an unusual sight. At home, I was not surprised to find the following on the newswire.
STILT WALKER ATTEMPTS 2,600-MILE HIKE
April 1, 2007, Campo, California: Sunrise brought the rhythmic clatter of wood striking hardpan soil as Luke “Highwalker” set off on stilts for a first-ever “stilts” thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). Normally six feet tall, Highwalker stood closer to the ten-foot mark as he embarked, perched high on a pair of home-built, green and white striped stilts.
Campo is a sleepy berg in the sparse outer reaches of eastern San Diego County. Known, if at all, for its sprawling Border Patrol complex, train museum, and juvenile detention camp, Campo in spring has one more measure of distinction: an annual influx of Pacific Crest Trail thru-hikers.
Highwalker is one such intrepid soul, but a very different intrepid soul. He proposes to hike the entire length of the PCT on stilts. “I got the idea last fall,” Highwalker says, “from another PCT hiker’s Web journal. Sharon Allen joked about hiking the first 20-mile day on stilts. To me it wasn’t a joke. I was hooked the moment I read it. ‘I can do that,’ I thought.”
Many pre-trail problems had to be overcome. “I modified snowshoes with special fittings. I had custom crampons designed, too,” says Highwalker. In June he expects to successfully negotiate the PCT’s highest point, snowbound 13,200-foot Forester Pass, deep in California’s Sierra Nevada. He says he practiced back home on Mount Moosilauke in New Hampshire’s White Mountains and is ready to take his game out West. “I’ve got it mastered,” he explains, while flashing a hip covered in fading bruises.
I’ve camped out around 1,000 nights. The vast majority of which was backpacking and I’ve never had a problem with camping alone. But, I counted the number of nights I’ve slept out by myself. It’s six. Total. Why am I pondering this? My wife will only be hiking half the CDT with me. Long before I get out of New Mexico, I’ll double my total nights of solo camping. What will that be like?
For days I have been saying, “four hit the trail,” or “ two hit the trail,” or “six,” “five,” “three,” and even once, “one.” But it never was the “One.” This afternoon, at 3:17pm pacific daylight time, reliable sources report that Sandy Mann hit the trail.
