Teddi Boston: ‘Pacific Crest Trails Firsts’

On Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016 the San Gorgonio Chapter of the Sierra Club will have its monthly meeting at the San Bernardino County Museum, in Redlands, CA at 7:30 p.m. Guests are invited to visit the club as Teddi Boston, the first female thru-hiker to complete the Pacific Crest Trail, presents a program of stories and photographs titled: “Pacific Crest Trail Firsts.”

In 1976 at the age of 49, Teddi was the first female thru-hiker to complete the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) traveling north to south. She started at the Canadian border and ended at the Mexican Border saying she did it the reverse to the usual direction because she was told it was impossible.

Teddi started backpacking in the San Bernardino Mountains in the 1960s when two of her daughters were in Girl Scouts.

In 1972 she took eight girls on a full John Muir Trail hike (a 215-mile trail from Yosemite to Mount Whitney). During that trip she met her first PCT thru-hiker and started planning her hike once she returned home. Saving up sick time and taking a leave from work she started her hike on May 1, 1976.

The first few weeks of her hike were spent walking on the frozen crust of snow until mid-morning when she had to shift to snowshoes. A compass and map guided her for the first month because snow covered all of the trail markers.

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