Pika

I am a retired university scientist living in the rural Sonoran Desert of SE Arizona. I started backpacking in 1946 and climbing in 1952. I have hiked and climbed in the western US, western Canada, Alaska, Antarctica, Japan and North Africa (Morocco). I have climbed most of the major peaks in Washington, Oregon and California and some of the major peaks of Alaska and western Canada. My climbing is much less ambitious now; my hands are arthritic and easily prone to cold damage. I through-hiked the John Muir Trail, solo, in early September of 2008 while in my early 70's. This was a reprise of a solo through-hike of the JMT in 1954 when I was a teenager. This past summer at age 75 (2012) I hiked the PCT from Kennedy Meadows to Vidette Meadow averaging 12 miles per day.  I have section-hiked a fair stretch of the PCT; I still have major blanks in southern and northern California.