Trail Fest 2012 Recap - Pacific Crest Trail Association

Pacific Crest Trail Association’s booth at Trail Fest 2012.

We had a great time in Big Bear July 27 – 29. It was a beautiful place to have our return from hiatus. The trail classes were amazing, and we shared a lot of great information.

It started with Friday night’s readings from The Pacific Crest Trailside Reader. The contributors’ stories and their readings were moving and entertaining.

Saturday came bright and cheery. The day was packed with great information and classes. We had quite a range of topics covered in our Trail Classes, including: GPS usage, Wilderness First Aid, Photography and Geology of the PCT. The agency-sponsored classes were informative. It’s great to hear what the PCTA and our agency partners have accomplished and what we continue to work on. The afternoon volunteer awards ceremony was a great tribute to the PCT, PCTA, our agency partners and our volunteers that maintain the trail for all to enjoy. Without them, the PCT wouldn’t exist as it does now.The evening’s banquet dinner included keynote speaker, Justin “Trauma” Lichter, an extraordinary thru-hiker sponsored by Granite Gear. He told us all about the challenges, triumphs and nightmares of hiking The Great Himalaya Trail. It was funny and captivating, and just made you want to go out and hike despite the mind-boggling logistics. We ended the night with National Geographic’s Pacific Crest Trailfilm and an impromptu session of trail stories led by Greg “Strider” Hummel.

The weekend ended with our Sunday outings – a maintenance crew went out early and a group of hikers went for a sojourn on the PCT later that morning. It was nice to be outside on the PCT after a day of classes and discussion. It was a great capper to a great weekend. We can’t wait to do this again.

A BIG THANK YOU

to all the people and companies who helped to make this event a success –especially our volunteers, speakers and agency partners. We couldn’t have done it without you!