Why?

In 1999, after an easy hike to the top of Little Belknap Crater, I met a young woman named Laura Buhl who was hiking the entire 2,650 miles of the PCT from Mexico to Canada. She did it. And I wrote about her in my Register-Guard column. I was fascinated by the Idea of hiking the PCT, idealistic enough to want to try it, realistic enough to know I had neither the time, stamina or danger gene to do the whole thing. But last summer I decided to go for the Oregon portion after my brother-in-law, Dr. Glenn Petersen of Albany, wouldn’t be talked out of it. We leave July 22 for the first two weeks and Aug. 26 for the final two weeks.