Trekking poles

"You guys out west have it easy being that your trails are graded for pack animals. Northeast we go straight up and straight down. even our flats tend to have rocks on them or rocks across mud. logs across mud. double pole catapult across mud… uphills are more like stairs than a ramp. "

Well we do have actual mountains out here. (Sorry Jake, but you asked for that one. :) )

"Tom, send me a ticket and i'm there ;) (send/post a link of a trip report from there with pics.. would love to see it)"

Sorry, you're on your own with the ticket. :) Unfortunately, I seldom carry a camera on the day hikes I do out here, and I'm especially kicking myself for not doing so on the one I did yesterday up to Snoqualmie Mt(2 miles, 3,000' on about as nasty a trail as you'd care to imagine-lots of fun though if you are so inclined). I actually thought of you while I was on it. The picture you posted above comes reasonably close to describing it, except yours doesn't look nearly as steep, loose, rooty, slippery in places. But looks can be deceiving, and I'm under no illusions as to the difficulty of some of the terrain out your way. My point was that you can find that kind of terrain in every mountain range, the Sierra included(try Taboose, Cartridge, or Baxter Passes, for instance). Let me know if you're ever out this way, and if I'm still able to do that kind of stuff, I'll give you a guided tour. Otherwise, I can certainly give you a list and possibly set you up with someone closer to your age who might even be able to give you a run for your money and have enough left in the tank to go out for beers afterward. ;0))

I've hiked the AT from Maine down to DC. I'm originally from the Midwest so I don't have a horse in this race.

The AT, in Maine in particular, aims straight up, straight down without the use of a lot of switchbacks. The PCT is graded and designed intelligently but the PCT isn't the only trail out West. Believe it or not we have straight up/down trails in Washington that are not on the PCT. :-)