Lost tapes reveal secrets of Simon and Liz’s PCT trip
Over two decades ago Strontian residents Liz and Simon Willis spent six months hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) which crosses the United States of America, writes Nic Goddard.
The trail is over 2,500 miles from the border with Canada to the border with Mexico and takes hikers through deserts and mountain ranges.
Former BBC Scotland presenter Simon documented the couple’s adventure with a set of audio recordings, covering conversations with fellow travellers, residents in the towns they passed through and snapshot moments including wildlife encounters.
The recordings - held on 11 minidiscs - were tucked away and mislaid for over 20 years until a recent clear-out unearthed them.
They were not just a time capsule of an adventure from two decades ago though, they were also a time capsule of a forgotten technology.
While Liz and Simon had relied on paper maps and a trail description torn out of a guide book, hikers today cover this iconic trail using GPS and taking photographs and video footage on mobile phones.
Modern technology meant Simon was able to appeal on local social media and track down a minidisc player at Ardnamurchan High School which enabled him to digitalise the recordings.
Simon, who produces outdoor adventure videos, told Lochaber Times: “Although I normally work with video, recording just audio is much less intrusive.
“We captured what it’s like to brew tea on the top of the 13,000ft Forrester Pass in the High Sierra and to chat with other hikers around a desert campfire.
“The pictures really are better on the radio.”
Simon continued: “The Pacific Crest Trail is still regarded as one of the world’s best hiking trails. Hiker numbers have soared from fewer than 300 in 2002 to almost 8,000 in 2019, largely due to a book and Hollywood movie called Wild.
“The year Liz and I hiked the trail is now considered to have been the golden era of it and I think these recordings reveal why.”
Inspired by both the leap forward in the popularity of the trail and the changes in technology Simon began to wonder on what has changed 20 years on.
He told us: “It’s so much more than a trip down memory lane for me. It’s a snapshot of lost time on a great trail. It left me wondering, what’s the PCT like now? Has the huge increase in hiker numbers ruined the experience, or just changed it? Might it have brought benefits, increasing awareness of this special, fragile ribbon of land?”
Anyone who lives in a newly popular tourist destination will be familiar with the pros and cons that increased visitor numbers bring, along with the impact of environmental factors such as increased temperatures in the deserts and higher incidents of forest fires.
Blending the rediscovered recordings and new audio footage of interviews with hikers completing the trail 20 years on and catching up with some of the original voices from the 2002 recordings, Simon has created a free podcast entitled Pacific Trail Crest Then and Now.
Available from March 1 wherever you get your podcasts.