[pct-l] San Diego Hiker Host 2015

[Robert E. Riess]

   My name is Bob Riess,  your humble trailhead hiker host, pioneer of the concept in 1999.  I will once again be hosting hikers in San Diego for the 2015 season.  I will pick up hikers at the airport, train station or bus terminal, house them for as long as they need, make runs to REI, post office and grocery stores, and get them out to the trailhead for a start at first light. During the height of the season, say, the last week before the ADZPCTKO, there will be some social events with the other San Diego trailhead hosts as well.  I will attend the ADZPCTKO as a volunteer, so there will be no airport runs from Friday morning till Sunday afternoon, April 24-26.  In order that I may get my organization together, please post me your complete arrival information, ie, airline, flight number, departure city and arrival time, desired start date, and any other needs such as fuel, and look for a confirmation from me that your data has been received. I will receive packages from hikers or venders. Once scheduled with me, you will have my address and phone number. 

    There are just a couple of details hikers need to follow. First, I would prefer to correspond with hikers only, in other words, no third parties, and the correspondence should be email. Phone calls are lost and forgotten, but emails leave a record.  I have never lost a hiker, at least not for very long, and it is the emails that help me keep things straight.  If you are part of a group traveling together, only one person needs to make contact, but I would like to have all the names.   If your hiking group is meeting in San Diego, then I need data for each one who I am meeting.  BTW, we use NAMES, not trailnames or email logons. I need to see your NAME in every email, best in the subject line.  Second, I can’t host smokers, and that is a hard requirement, even if you don’t smoke in my house or vehicle.  I was sick for 4 days when a smoker spent 48 hours with me, despite not smoking in the house or vehicle. The smoke on his clothes was enough.  

    2015 section- or thru-hikers are enthusiastically welcome here.  Hikers and host always have a great time.  I have hosted over 600 hikers, some of them multiple times.  One more thing.  I do not operate a shuttle.  None of the San Diego hiker hosts do.  We host hikers.  Understandably, some hikers might think that just asking for a ride from the airport to the trailhead somehow minimizes the impact on the hosts.  This is contrary to the hiker hosting concept, so please do not ask me to meet you at the airport and run you directly out to the trailhead.  There is public transportation for that.  There are several of us in San Diego who are enthusiastic hiker hosts.  Please do not email each host separately requesting their services, and then confirm with the one you chose.  This leaves the others not knowing what you are doing.  Our worst fear is having a hiker at the airport awaiting pickup and no host there.  Second worst fear is orbiting the airport parking lot for an hour expecting to meet a hiker who has been met by someone else.  As you would expect, all correspondence between us should be off-list.

    2015 is going to be a very special year for many reasons.  Scout and Frodo will be hosting, but not after the ADZPCTKO.  They will be hiking the CDT then.  The esteemed gentleman known by many as Girlscout will not be hosting this year, as he will be hiking the AT beginning April 1.  So, for at least some of the 2015 season, hikers will be stuck with your humble hiker host.  “Wild” is in theaters.  Nobody knows what effect this may have on the number of hikers, section- or thru-.  Probably prudent to plan on more then usual numbers, even following last year, which was probably the all-time record for bodies moving up and down the PCT.  Scout and Frodo hosted over 300 last year.  I am guessing just like everybody else, but my guess is the number of hikers will be very high. 

    Very sadly, this will be our first hiking season since we lost Strider, a hiker whose love of the PCT was exceeded only by his esteem for fellow hikers.  He was the Grand Pooba and Wagonmaster of the ADZPCTKO for many years.  His generosity and creativity just cannot be measured nor adequately described.  His thousands of hours of work helped to make the ADZPCTKO the very finest event of its kind.  For those of us who were fortunate enough to have had Strider for a friend, however briefly, even for a couple of days once or twice a year, he will be missed.  

    Good luck to the Class of 2015, I’ll be seeing you in America’s Finest City or at the ADZPCTKO.  Bob Riess at the Trailhead. San Diego, CA. Hike on!