Another year, another milestone
Lynn Warren
This year represents an important milestone for those “49’ers” turning 70 so Clare Bangs’ grandson challenged his grandfather to hike 70 miles in seven days to celebrate, which Clare and several others handled easily. Those 70 miles helped Clare reach the lofty milestone of 6,000 miles on March 25, only the fourth in club history to hike as many miles. As is customary, other hikers carried chilled champagne and orange juice on an interesting hike in the Dog Bone area near Buckeye; the group paused to celebrate Clare’s accomplishment near the Chloe’s Charisma memorial for a popular young bicyclist who was tragically killed by a distracted driver while training for an event. Clare has been averaging 1,000 miles a year for the past six years so he should check off 7,000 next year. The club enjoys fun and sometimes adventurous hikes all around the valley and challenges the summer heat to explore new trails for the next season; visit the club’s website at pchikers.org for more information and pictures.
Charlene reaches 3,000
Pete Williams
On March 27, during a hike along Lake Pleasant, Charlene Elijew became the ninth club member to reach the 3,000-mile milestone with the PebbleCreek Hiking Club. She has been hiking with the club for ten years and has been one of our steadiest hikers, hiking between 250 and 350 miles each year. The club wraps up its regular hiking season on May 3, but continues to hike with a limited hiking schedule through mid-September. Check out our website at pchikers.org for more photos and information.