AP Photo CADP102
By MICHELLE MORGANTE
Associated Press
BORDER FIELD STATE PARK, Calif. (AP) - A pair of hiking pioneers
touched the rusting fence at the U.S.-Mexico border Tuesday just as the
sun was sinking toward the Pacific Ocean, completing the first known
continuous trek of the 1,800-mile trail down the nation's Pacific coast.
Nate Olive and Sarah Janes, ecologists from the University of Georgia,
held hands and kissed as they reached the end of the so-called West Coast
Trail, a path running from northwestern Washington state to this point in
the southwestern corner of San Diego County.
``We didn't know it was going to be possible just four or five months
ago ... and now the West Coast Trail is reality,'' Olive said. ``It's hard
to put into words. This is amazing that we're done.''
Janes said, ``Now more people are going to be coming to hike it.''
Mexican men and children pressed their faces up to the fence separating
the two countries and shook hands with the couple, who stuck their feet
through the gaps in the barrier to touch Mexican soil.
Olive, 28, of Atlanta, and Janes, 23, of Slidell, La., began their
journey at Washington's Cape Flattery on June 8.
Averaging nearly 20 miles a day, the pair have threaded their way
across beaches, rainforests and farm country. They marched around, and
sometimes through, military bases. In mostly urbanized Southern
California, they had to clamber over sea walls and jetties, many erected
by homeowners trying to curb erosion, as well as dodge sewage-contaminated
rivers.
Their path and schedule largely were set by the moon, which shaped the
tidal fluctuations that allowed them either to walk across dry sand or
forced them to wade.
With the moon in its full phase Tuesday, the pair crossed their final
waterway, the Tijuana River at low tide. The border fence separating the
United States from Tijuana, Mexico, lay a short distance to the south.
The pair aimed to promote and mark the West Coast Trail, parts of which
are not yet linked, for the Portland, Ore.-based National Coast Trail
Association. About 190 of 200 miles of the trail are marked in Washington;
350 of 400 miles in Oregon; and half of the 1,200 miles in California.
They also documented the trip online, and Olive is writing a book,
``Dancing the Tidal Line.''
Al LePage, the association's executive director, has walked the trail
in three separate legs, but knows of no other hikers to finish the journey
in one trip. It's unlikely that American Indians, or even early day
explorers, did so because the route was not practical for food collection
and other reasons, according to LePage. A solo hiker attempting the feat
is about two months behind Olive and Janes.
``They made history today,'' LePage said Tuesday. ``For years and years
forever, these people will be remembered as the first thru-hikers on the
West Coast Trail.''
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On the Net:
National Coast Trail Association: http://www.coasttrails.org
Nate Olive's trail journals and photos:
http://www.trailjournals.com/westcoast/
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