Author: Robbie Faselt

“In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.” -John Muir

The Pacific Crest in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Source: Creative Commons.

The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is one of the most well-known long-distance hiking trails in the world.

It spans 2,663 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border to the U.S.-Canada border and changes in elevation from just above sea level to over 13,000 feet. While it may not be quite as famous as the Appalachian Trail, it has become more recognizable recently mostly due to Cheryl Strayed’s 2012 memoir, “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail,” which had reached the first position in the New York Times Best Sellers list and been selected for Oprah’s Book Club. The trail will gain more public attention soon when the film adaptation of Strayed’s memoir is released in December of 2014 starring Reese Witherspoon in the lead role.

Despite being part of the Triple Crown of Hiking along with the Appalachian Trail and the Continental Divide Trail, the PCT was officially completed just over 20 years ago in 1993. And even though the trail was completed relatively recently, the PCT has a long and interesting history that starts in the 1930s.

There are many theories as to who the first person was to propose a trail running from Mexico to Canada along the west coast of the United States, but the most believed theory is that a man named, Clinton C. Clarke, proposed the trail. Clarke wanted to link the many already-existing trails into one long-distance trail that would span across the U.S. south to north.

A trail sign on the Pacific Crest Trail. Source: Flickr.

Clarke wanted to connect the John Muir Trail, the Tahoe-Yosemite Trail, the Skyline Trail and the Cascade Crest Trail. In order to promote this proposed trail, Clarke founded the Pacific Crest Trail System Conference in 1932–including hiking and youth groups such as the YMCA, the Sierra Club and the Boy Scouts. Throughout the 1930s, people in these groups, especially the YMCA, scouted a route for the trail figuring out how they could combine the already-existing trails.

By the 1960s, hiking and spending time in the mountains became a lot more popular throughout the United States and as a result of this, President Lyndon B. Johnson wanted there to be a nationwide system of trails that would promote outdoor recreation. In 1968, the National Trails System Act was passed by the U.S. Congress and the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail became the U.S.’s first two national scenic trails.

A hiker heading north on the Pacific Crest Trail. Source: Flickr.

The act also called for a Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail Advisory Council to be formed that would be in charge of the upkeep of the PCT and deal with all sorts of people such as cattle ranchers that use the land that the trail goes through.

In 1992, the council was renamed the Pacific Crest Trail Association and made agreements with the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management. In 1993, the trail was declared complete. But with over 200 miles of the trail running through private lands, the trail is still at risk from urban encroachment, and as a result of this, the trail has seen many changes since it was officially declared complete.

Today, hikers come from throughout the country and the world to complete a thru-hike of the PCT.

A map showing the Pacific Crest Trail spanning from Mexico to Canada. Source: Creative Commons.

This means that they try to complete the whole 2,663 miles in a single trip. According to the Pacific Crest Trail Association, approximately 700-800 people try to complete a thru-hike of the PCT every year but only about 60% accomplish their goal. Thru-hikes usually take five or more months to complete but the fastest person to ever finish the PCT did it in 59 days traveling an average of 45 miles per day.

The first person to complete a PCT thru-hike was Eric Ryback who achieved the feat as an 18-year-old student. Ryback only re-supplied five times on the 2,663-mile trail meaning he traveled most of the time with an 80-pound backpack filled with 40 pounds of food. Even with that much sustenance, Ryback often ran out of food and was forced to forage.

Some people have even begun to hike the trail both northbound and southbound in the same trip hiking a total of 5,300 miles.

Scott Williamson was the first to complete this feat in 2004 on his fourth attempt. His trip lasted 197 days.

Many avid thru-hikers have clearly trekked through the PCT or sections of it. The famous Scottish-American naturalist, John Muir, sums it up perfectly when he explains why people hike and spend time in nature: “In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.”

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[Blog] The Pacific Crest Trail’s History & Rise to Prominence appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9QuQB5TMiM

Ethel Kennedy gives a rare interview about her life and her marriage to Robert F. Kennedy to Brian Williams and her daughter Rory Kennedy, who was making a documentary about her mother. She talks about enjoying her life surrounded by politics and says that while everything came easy to John F. Kennedy, things were much more difficult for her husband. When asked about her husband’s assassination, she refuses to talk about it. Ethel and Bobby Kennedy had 11 children, with her last child, Rory, being born six months after her father’s death. Their large family also had 16 dogs and even a pet sea lion. Today, Kennedy’s life is full of attending events involving her 35 grandchildren.

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Ethel Kennedy Gives Rare Interview appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=filBYa1AJEA

Famous actor Errol Flynn is interviewed about his time spent in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution. Flynn is very supportive of Fidel Castro and his regime and defends Castro when asked about the many executions that the Cuban leader ordered. Flynn met Castro in 1958 when he went to Cuba to film the movie, “Cuban Rebel Girls.” In his last known work as an actor, Flynn narrated a documentary called, “Cuban Story: The Truth About Fidel Castro’s Revolution.” Flynn is most famous for starring in many action-adventure films throughout the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

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Errol Flynn Talks About Visiting Fidel Castro appeared first on Witnify.

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Writer Nancy Stout talks about Celia Sánchez and her impact on the Cuban Revolution. Sánchez played a large role behind the scenes during the revolution and Stout claims that is why not many people outside of Cuba even know who she is. Sánchez was a close friend of Fidel Castro and not only did she make sure his uniform was clean and perform other trivial tasks, but she also played a more important role in the revolution. She was one of the first women to lead a combat squad and was responsible for organizing reinforcements for her squad. She also helped to supply other leaders of the revolution, like Che Guevara, with weapons, food and medical supplies. During the 1960s, Castro named Sánchez the Secretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, a position she held until her death in 1980.

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Celia Sánchez: One of the Most Important Women Behind the Cuban Revolution appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLiWN8Hpnoo

In this footage, Fidel Castro gives a speech to the Cuban people just days after his forces overthrew the government of Fulgencio Batista. He calls the overthrow “the most beautiful victory of our people” and tells the people of Cuba to remember their fallen heroes. Soon after ousting Batista’s regime, Castro made Cuba into a socialist state, which by 1965 became full blown communism. This change of government to communism strained Cuba’s relations with the United States resulting in an embargo against Cuba which still exists to this day.

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Fidel Castro Gives Speech Days After Cuban Revolution Ends appeared first on Witnify.

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Soldiers who fought in the Cuban Revolution are interviewed about what happened during the revolution. They talk about witnessing the many deaths of their fellow soldiers and one soldier recalls the kind of food they were given. He describes sharing one tin can of condensed milk with his whole squad–taking turns with his fellow soldiers on dipping their fingers into the can and licking the milk off their fingers. The Cuban Revolution began in July of 1953, but it took Fidel Castro and his army almost six years to overthrow the Cuban government of Fulgencio Batista. Castro recruited thousands of unhappy working class people from Havana to join “the movement” to overthrow Batista. When Castro finally took power, he turned Cuba into a socialist state, and by 1965, Cuba became completely communist as it remains today.

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Soldiers Remember Their Life During the Cuban Revolution appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlqGj6SsXPo

A miner, who was trapped underground for two months in the Sane José Copper-Gold Mine in Copiapó, Chile in 2010, gives his first interview after being rescued. Nicknamed “Super Mario” after coming out of the mine very energized and presenting gifts of rocks to his rescuers, Mario Sepulveda talks about reconnecting with his family after the 69 days he spent underground with 32 other miners. He describes how he wrote a letter to his children in which he wrote that he lived a happy life and that their mother would take care of them. Many of “Los 33,” as they were called, thought that they would not make it out of the collapsed mineshaft alive, but in the end, each of the 33 trapped miners was rescued successfully. Sepulveda describes the sight of the drill poking into the cave in which they were located as a miracle and said that the miners “cried and thanked God” when it happened.

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Chilean Miner Gives Interview After Being Rescued appeared first on Witnify.

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In a news segment following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, thousands of Pakistanis are seen mourning their former prime minister’s death in the streets of the cities of the country. Benazir Bhutto was the 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan and served two terms: 1988-1990 and 1993-1996. Bhutto went into exile in Dubai in 1999 after corruption charges were brought against her and her government in 1996. After nine years in exile, Bhutto returned to Pakistan in 2007 after the corruption charges were dropped, but was assassinated later that year at a political rally where she was preparing to run for prime minister again.

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Thousands Mourn Benazir Bhutto appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EelNSO9FqMU

Larry King talks to Richard Merryman, who conducted the last interview with Marilyn Monroe before she died in 1962. Merryman describes Monroe talking with much “gusto” and “vitality,” but at the same time he got a sense that she was struggling with her fame and her personal life. Monroe, whose real name was Norma Jeane Mortenson, was an actress and singer during the 1950s, who became famous as a national sex symbol. She starred in such films as, “The Seven Year Itch” and “Some Like It Hot.” Monroe died of an apparent suicide on April 15, 1962 from an overdose on barbiturates.

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The Last Interview of Marilyn Monroe appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6NxVjxUutc

Survivors of the Bataan Death March describe what they went through when they were forcibly transferred from Mariveles to San Fernando in the Philippines during World War II. These American soldiers describe walking many miles each day in the blistering heat, while some days they would just sit in the heat for the entirety of the day. They describe being the victims of many forms of physical abuse performed by the Imperial Japanese Army. One survivor describes spending long periods of times without food or water and another instance where water was forced into his lungs. The Bataan Death March began on April 9, 1942 and included the transfer of 80,000 American and Filipino soldiers over the length of 80 miles. Thousands of these soldiers died before the march was over and later, after the war, the march was judged to be a Japanese war crime.

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The Horrors of the Bataan Death March appeared first on Witnify.