[pct-l] sage advice

[Caballero Sin zapatos]

Now on the PCT at Warner Springs, I would join the former thru-hikers who help resolve the anxiety of those planning to start their hike this year by their reality based counsel.  If the contributors to this digest, and the advisors at ADZPCTKO this weekend would minimize the hype about the dangers, and instead emphasize that panic and anxiety disappears with the first step north at Campo, many pre-hike crises could be resolved.  I don't know much after 110 miles, but I do know that this is about the safest activity a person can do.  My panic about my preparedness and safety disappeared on April 18 when I stepped onto the trail.  To those like me with panic attacks and mental health issues, let me reassure that you should push yourself to start your hike against all the arguments of your mind, and hopefully you also will find the superb mental health benefits that PCT thru-hiking provides.  And please stop listening to the other hysterical
 voices about cougars, and rattlesnakes, and bears, and water and other sensationalist threads on this digest.  I am Bipolar, both a diagnosis and a trail name.  
 
Bipolar