Zero Days, by Barbara Egbert, the story of a mother, a father, and their ten year old daughter who through-hiked the entire Pacific Crest Trail in one season. The weak link in the trio, BTW, turned out to be the mother, who had to drop out a couple hundred miles before the end of the trail because her knees totally disintegrated. The kid was fine -- was by the end of the trail hauling a larger percentage of her weight than the adults were, yet was spending half her time yelling "Come on, slowpokes, keep up!".
I'm not ever going to hike the entire Pacific Crest Trail in a season. I know my limits, and spending that much time away from my beloved books and kittehs isn't happening, not to mention that I like my comfort. The occasional three-or-four-day backpacking trip along portions of the PCT is all I'm interested in, enough to let me see some of the best scenery, but also enough to know that civilization is underrated (especially that part of civilization called HOT SHOWERS). But here's two flippers up for those few brave fools who do this trip. If we had more such fools doing senseless things like through-hiking the PCT, and fewer fools doing senseless things like shooting federal judges, bombing civil rights parades, and disrupting town hall meetings with shouts of "Keep your government hands off my Medicare!", the world would be a much nicer place...
-- Badtux the Appreciative Penguin
