Bill Goddard, Wayne Martin, Butch Farrand, front, David Odell and Toby Heaton



David Odell (20) planned on thru-hiking the PCT with his former Boy Scout leader, Bill Goddard (51). [Sadly, four months after finishing their hike Bill passed away from a brain tumor.] They were joined by two friends of Bill’s son,Toby Heaton and Butch Farrand, and a solo hiker the group met at the border, Wayne Martin. In addition to a short interview I conducted with David, he kept a journal that I have drawn from for this post: https://www.trailjournals.com/journal/entry/580583

Bill Goddard



Back in 1972 there were no guidebooks, no GPS, no Guthook or Halfmile. David said that he and his fellow hikers gathered Forest Service and National Park maps with the purposed route of the PCT. From these we made up our own mileage data sheet to plan our mileage and mail drops. “When we started we knew that there was going to be a lot of road walking,” recounted David. “Being from Southern California, Bill Goddard and I actually went out and scouted some of the routes up past the Mojave desert. At that time we knew that road walking would be part of the trip. Bill had done a lot of hiking in southern California and was familiar with a lot of our route. In northern California, there was a lot of route finding. Sometimes following logging roads and some cross country, To us it was just part of the journey.”



Kelty Pack helped sponsor their hike. Dick Kelty met them several times when they were in Southern California.

They started on April 1st and completed the trail at the end of the first week of September, 1972. It was a low snow year in the Sierras and they hoped they would have no trouble making it through the Sierras in May. In stark contrast to the contemporary numbers of PCT hikers, these five hikers reported only 9 total successful thru-hikers in 1972.



One of the highlights of the 1972 hike was being in the High Sierras in May. “We carried 17 days worth of food and hiked from Weldon to Mammoth. 1972 was a low snow year, but there was still plenty of snow in May. The Cascades in Washington was another great section of the trail. Hiking for 5 months on the PCT is a highlight in itself. Compared to some of the hikers today, we took it at a leisurely pace. We averaged about 15 miles a day, with plenty of breaks.

I think the whole experience of a long distance hike sticks with you forever. The memories of the hike, and the accomplishment of finishing are what stick with you. I still keep in contact with the 3 others from the hike that are still alive.”



From David’s perspective, “The biggest changes [in the PCT across nearly 40+ years] would be [improvements in the signage] marking trail, guide books, apps, and the amount of people hiking the trail. Now part of the trail is the social aspect of the trail. Nothing wrong with that, it is just different than it was when nobody else was hiking the trail.”

This is the first post of several to be derived from David Odell’s backcountry experience on the PCT in 1972.

Rees Hughes



