[pct-l] shoes, sandals, ursacks, sneering Ultralighters, and Uncle Lorenzo

[mark v]

Most debatable items on the PCT seem to reach a thru-hiker consensus, for better or for worse.  The shoe/sandal/water crossing issue doesn't seem to though.  So trust your past experiences and preferences.  Part of the equation is how wet of a year and what time of year you go.  I did the slog through and deal with wet shoes method in '08.  I did most of the Sierra with Emma who actually used (gasp!) goretex.  She swears she actually stayed DRY by using them for everything except the non-hoppable river crossings.  For those, she (and me too) just went barefoot.  I'm sure there are conditions where this wouldn't work.  It did for her.

No critters will get in your food in SoCal.  But the Ursack could be very useful in Washington.  Mice abound, and the occasional rumored grizzly too.

If the sneering ultralighter really got the Independence Chevron to stock enough hiker food for Sierra resupply, he can sneer all he wants, and i'll be ok with him anyway.

I was told 2nd-hand that Uncle Lorenzo finished in late September.  The last i saw of him was Sierra City, but i kept hearing he wasn't far behind me.