[pct-l] October "Backpacker" magazine

[Mike Saenz]

Yeah, I saw it too.
I was hoping for far more details.

The speculation, on the articles part, that Donovan almost summited San
Jac was odd. How do they know this? And if he did, he'd have walked
right past the hut where he could have had better shelter than some
motel rooms I've been at...
And the part about him not finding the Devil's Slide trail to Idyllwild
and then being lured by the brighter lights of Palm Springs...
That's a pretty long walk in bad weather to get to point where he'd even
get a glimpse of Palm Springs.

To me, the idea that Donovan was seen near Saddle J, then walked to Long
Valley is simply inconceivable. Of course, he did it, but what was he
thinking??? That's a 4-5 hour walk in good conditions, with better
run-outs along the way to lower elevations...

And it's tragic that he was closer to the tramway and the ranger station
at the head of Long Valley than to the point he ultimately was stopped
by terrain. This would suggest he came from Saddle Junction via Willow
Creek (as the article states), but again, how do they know this? And if
he did, he would have been far from San Jac summit! If Donovan wrote
this in his journal, he must have known where he was! And if he knew he
was at Willow Creek, then he had to know he was close to the tramway
when he began descending into the lower Long Valley gorge.


I was hoping his journal would shed some light on this.



Michael Saenz ,  Associate Partner
McLarand    Vasquez    Emsiek   &   Partners,   Inc.
A r c h i t e c t u r e  |  P l a n n i n g  |  I n t e r i o r s
MVE          MVE    Institutional         MVE    S t u d i o
w  w  w   .   m  v  e   -   a  r  c  h  i  t  e  c  t  s   .   c  o m

-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net
[mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net] On Behalf Of yogi
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 12:14 PM
To: pct-l at mailman.backcountry.net
Subject: [pct-l] October "Backpacker" magazine

I finally read the feature article on John Donovan. 
Not sure how accuate the facts in the article are.  It even implies the
possibility that John killed himself (that's the first time I've heard
that idea).

There's also stories of 10 Survival Epics --- and our own Jim Stoltz is
#3!  His guitar did the work of an ice axe and stopped a possibly fatal
slide.  Pretty interesting.

yogi
www.pcthandbook.com
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