Origins of this site
2004-2005 witnessed the sixth snowiest year on record for the Sierra Mountains in California. Also, given the annual speculation as to what the snow conditions were like along the length of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) by fellow hiking enthusiasts, this site was created and debuted on February 2, 2005. But mother nature was just warming up. 2005-2006 was truly a monster snow year.

Since the beginning, additions have been made to the site that I hope have made it even more useful. The PCT Mail Drops page was added as a quick reference for those seeking addresses for the mailing of re-supply packages. While I'm responsible for actually maintaining the page, the community has been very helpful in contributing to and maintaining that information. It's the effort of many and your contributions are required and appreciated by all.

The next major addition was PCTiMap which has since been replaced by Postholer Google Maps. This is an interactive set of maps nearly identical to the guidebook maps. Again, this is for quick reference for the hiker planning a hike or maybe for rainy afternoon armchair hiking.

Closely tied to the oldPCTiMap is the GPS Page. This was one of those little things I really wanted to do from the beginning of postholer. When I found that an actual, reliable set of data existed, it was a done deal from that point.

Next came Forums. This has given trail enthusiasts a place to hang out and chit-chat. Clearly it doesn't have the volume of the PCT-L, but it provides a coherent, long term storage of messages and ideas. Check out Switchbacks forum, Switchback Unchained. He's a wild man. I'm always on the lookout for forum moderators, so if you have an idea for a forum or would like to moderate an existing one, let me know.

The latest feature is Journals. This was truly a time consuming and difficult project. For quite some time I had been 'designing' it in my head. So it was just a matter of time before it became a reality. The center piece of this project is the ability to update your journal via email, including photos. I'm very pleased with the finished product. It truly is a more elegant, functionally superior alternative to TrailJournals. TJ's has a very clunky interface for the journalist and is down right irritating. But hey, maybe that's just my ego talking, so please don't beat me up in email.

Experience with the Pacific Crest Trail
Aside from hikes up in Section P, my first real experience came in 2002 when I hiked from Campo, CA to McKenzie Pass, OR, about 2,000 miles. In 2003 I continued from McKenzie Pass to Stehekin, WA for another 580 miles. In 2005 I did Campo, CA to Cajon Pass, CA sections again for another 350 miles.

Other Journeys
My computer technical experience was gained from my passion for all things computers. During my now defunct career in the industry I worked for places such as Lawerence Livermore National Lab and America OnLine as a Senior UNIX System Administrator. My programming language of choice is 'C' for *nix, PalmOS and Windoze (C++). For CGI programming I use PERL and recently, PHP. That is what this site was developed in. This was a career that I loved, but left it to pursue other aspects of my life, such as hiking.

Since then, I have worked briefly with the California Conservation Corp. Most recently I have started driving a truck as this adheres to my current philosophy, your personal time should be your priority. We'll leave it at that.

Take the time and freely pass on your knowledge.

K. Scott Parks
February 10, 2006
[edited August 24, 2006]