Backpacker Mag -- Hiker-Slang, Sea-to-Sea, Bonny Doon
Here are some notes inspired by the August 2005 issue of Backpacker magazine.
There's a very amusingly-written article about hikers' slang -- "The Unofficial, Unabridged, Slick-talking, Fast-walking Hiker's Glossary". The article is unattributed, but it sure reminds me a lot of the Dictionary of MTB Slang that I edited a decade ago, and that Jim Frost has been maintaining ever since. (I'm not suggesting plagiarism -- the article is original and quite well-done. I just wonder whether the unmentioned author had read the MTB Slang page -- the styles are quite similar, IMHO.)
The article is illustrated with cool, retro-cartoon style drawings that also rung a bell -- this time, a wine label bell. My wife and I are members of DEWN, the wine club for Bonny Doon Vineyards. Their early-release wines always have distinctive and interesting labels, and it turns out that some of my favorite labels (e.g., the DEWN Freisa) were indeed
created by Gary Taxali, the illustrator of this month's Backpacker article. Cool.
The other article that caught my interest was about the
Sea-to-Sea trail, from the mouth of the St Lawrence, to the
northwest corner of Washington State. I mentioned that trail and the Pacific Northwest Trail in my long trails in North America article. (Aside: check out this search.)
This month's related Backpacker article highlighted Andrew Skurka, who by next month may complete the journey that makes him the first person to "hike the entire 7,700-mile Sea-to-Sea Route (C2C)".
Further mention of the Range Creek Ruins will have to wait.
11:47:12 PM
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