[pct-l] 2011 PCT photos up -- and thank you!!

[Elisabeth M. Chaplin]

Good morning to the lovely list! I've finished uploading my 2011 thru hike
photos to Flickr, though I have yet to finish labeling them. But for those
of you feeling cabin fever, I invite you to peruse them :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elisabitch/collections/72157627865203564/

These photos represent a huge personal accomplishment, to which I owe
countless thanks to the people who supported, encouraged, and went out of
their way for me and my fellow hikers. I was in such amazing company during
my hike, and I still feel emotional when I think about the kindnesses
granted us.

To the many angels who opened up their homes/showers/washing machines to
us, for the coolers left besides the trail, to the strangers who stopped to
pick us up on the side of the road and always told us we didn't smell that
bad (we know that we really did), to the postal workers who regularly
worked miracles for us (especially Jonathon in Stehekin! my hero) and
handed over the Priority tape, for the day and section hikers on the trail
-- the looks on your faces when you figured out what we were doing out
there were so fun!, to AsABat for the water report and HalfMile for his
wonderful maps, to the woman without a name in the ER who paid our cab fare
in Snoqualmie as we found out that MeowMeow and Funyan had gone and made
themselves a trail baby, and to Bill and Helen Thayer for your amazing
stories (read her book called Polar Dreams!) that made me consider how I
could build a life of adventure once I was finished with my adventure of a
lifetime, THANK YOU SO MUCH.

And to my fellow Class of 2011 hikers, thank you for the company and the
camaraderie -- I started the trail on my own, and I finished with a big
hiker family :)

This trail was so much less about the wilderness experience than I
anticipated, and so much more about our humanity -- an experience that has
fundamentally changed my life and how I see this world.

With all that said, I'm excited to see what this year holds for our next
group of lucky hikers. Best of luck to the Class of 2012!!

Cheers, Liz.
Class of 2011.