Thru Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail
Walking From Mexico to Canada… Almost
Holy crap, I did my first Thru Hike. I quit my job, stuffed my pack full of lightweight gear and too many electronics, kissed my girlfriend goodbye, and headed West to hike 2650 miles* on the Pacific Crest Trail. The adventure took 198 days, crossing a wide range of terrain and ecosystems ranging from desert and chaparral in Southern California, snowy and rocky high-altitude mountains in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and temperate rainforest stratovolcanoes in the Cascades of the Pacific Northwest.
*Due to wild fires in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington there were several sections that I did not hike. To my best estimates, I came up short by about 500 miles, and opted not to return to Oregon for the majority of those miles, preferring to let the damaged areas recover so I can do the whole state in its full splendor... someday.
Jump directly to: Southern California | Sierra Nevada Mountains | Northern California | The Cascades
Southern California
Episode 1: Mom's First Backpacking Trip
Campo to Mile 65 | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
I step onto the Pacific Crest Trail at the Southern Terminus with my 65-year old mother who has never backpacked. Our goal: To hike the first 65 miles together before I continue on to Canada. Mom get’s the sample platter of the PCT complete with fires, snakes, freezing cold mornings and scorching hot days.
Episode 2: Going Solo
Scissors Crossing to Warner Springs | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
After saying goodbye to Mom, I set forth on my own and marvel at the thrill and fear of radical independence when stepping into the unknown. My first day is met with a challenge to find water from sources rumored to be difficult to locate. I end up popping off trail for an extended resupply in Julian. Without Mom to keep me responsible, I succumb to the peer pressure to increase my miles, resulting in great exhaustion.
Episode 3: Riding the Struggle Bus
Warner Springs to Idyllwild | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
Physical exhaustion reaches an all-time high for me as I push too hard on a day where I am forced to ration my water aggressively. The resulting dehydrated state saps my appetite leaving me without energy the following day. I bonk on the way into a resupply point and devour over 2000 calories of fat and sugar to make it into the town of Idyllwild, where I take three days to recover.
Episode 4: Mount San Jacinto
Idyllwild to Mile 205 | Pacific Crest Trail
Fresh off my triple-zero in Idyllwild I am rested and optimistic. I summit my first 10,000 foot peak on the trail, Mount San Jacinto. The following morning, I link up with friends and descend via Fuller Ridge, a section of trail that was rumored to be too dangerous to negotiate. However, I quickly learned that trail baloney abounds, and any obstacle’s danger quickly gets rumored to be a death trap.
Episode 5: All the Rattlesnakes
Cabazon to Big Bear | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
I make a series of blunders while attempting to resupply that kill the cool morning, leaving me to have to hike the hottest part of the day and pull long miles to catch up with friends. Along the way I meet virtually every rattlesnake in Southern California.
Episode 6: Chasing Glenn
Big Bear to Cajon Pass | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
Another SNAFU with the guide book has me resupplying in the town with a Post Office that is closed on Saturdays. This error eats half a day and once again removes me from the group I was hiking with. I pull long days to catch up with Glenn, a hiker who Mom and I met on the first day as he shot past us.
Episode 7: Sno-Cones on Summits
Cajon Pass to Hiker Town | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
Glenn and I get a break from the hot temperatures when we ascend Mount Baden Powel and return to snowy peaks. At the summit, Glenn celebrates his trail name, Sno-Cone by making a sno-cone. Then we slack pack a section through Aqua Dulce on one of the hottest days before he helps me get to a train station to take a side trip to LA to meet Heidi.
Episode 8: Snow! In the Desert
Hiker Town to Tehachapi | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
I’m back on the trail, with a new pair of shoes that don’t help my aching feet. Expecting to be miserably hot through a section rumored to be the hottest, driest part of the trail, I opt to hike during the night, only to get snowed on. In the desert. I limp into Tehachapi with plans to resupply, rent a car, drive into an LA REI and solve my footwear problem.
Episode 9: Desert Final Exam
Tehachapi to Lake Isabella | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
Back on trail with no less than two (2) pair of shoes. Yes, you read that right, don’t judge me. I close out the desert section of Southern California through a section of trail that brings every challenge from the entire ecosystem including brutally long dry stretches, cold temperatures, hot temperatures, snakes, coyotes, and scorpions. Will I pass the Desert Final Exam?
The Seirra Nevada Mountains
Episode 10: Sierra Deep Penetration
Walker Pass to Mount Whitney | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
Exiting the desert I meet a group of hikers that decide to link up into an official team to make a coordinated attempt to get through the Sierra Nevada Mountains safely, which given the 170% snowfall this year proves to be an epic and snowy challenge.
Episode 11: Glissade Off Mount Whitney
Mount Whitney, near the Pacific Crest Trail | Thru-Hike
I take a side trip off the Pacific Crest Trail to summit Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the lower 48 states. I begin in the dark with Kyle, who we now call Patriot. However, Kyle takes a bad step and post holes, leaving me to summit alone. When I am exhausted on the way down, I decide to slide the whole way down.
Episode 12: Mister Cranky Pants
Forester Pass and Kearsarge Pass | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
Following my Mount Whitney summit I am exhausted and irritable. It takes another night for me to get enough rest to cope with basic group dynamics. But by the time we climb Forester Pass, my spirits return. We make our way out to resupply over Kearsarge Pass.
Episode 13: Cold Soaked Pizza
Glen Pass to Pinchot Pass | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
After a resupply in Bishop, the brave members of Sierra Deep Penetration venture back into the Sierra Nevada Mountains to take on the steepest pass on the trail: Glen Pass. Ultimately the burden of hiking and camping in the snow leads the group to a decision that splits the team.
Episode 14: Hard Pass
Mather Pass and Muir Pass | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
I fall in a freezing cold river, and the remaining members of Sierra Deep Penetration move further into the mountains, and tackle Mather Pass — the hardest pass on a freezing cold day after a snow storm that resulted in several small avalanches. By the time we reached Muir Pass, we begin to feel comfortable in the snow.
Episode 15: I Love to Ford
Donohue Pass to Tuolomne Meadows
We drop in altitude and are treated to much easier conditions including hiking on dry ground. Our spirits lift, and our group splits further with some hikers heading to Yosemite and others heading to Mono. I leave my hiker family to make a surprise visit to Heidi.
Northern California
Episode 16: Back Again
Sonora Pass to South Lake Tahoe | Pacific Crest Thru-Hike
Returning from ten days off-trail visiting Heidi, I struggle with the altitude and then suffer an injury which causes me to fall a day behind and risk running out of food. As they say, the trail provides. I make it to town and take more time not hiking to recover. Little do I know that the a series of forest fires are about to pop up across the West Coast.
Episode 17: Trail Baloney
Donner Pass to Mule Ears Creek | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
I explain the concept of Trail Baloney, the phenomenon when hikers exaggerate the conditions or risk based on their own experience and cause unnecessary anxiety in other hikers. Then I injure myself again… On the same leg. I have a birthday, see a mountain lion, and possibly begin to lose my mind.
Episode 18: This Ends With Bears
Sierra City to Lassen Volcanic National Park | PCT Thru-Hike
We begin with a behind-the-scenes overview of my diet. I arrive at Belden in time to catch a music festival, but injuries have me feeling antisocial and concerned about falling behind my weather window, so I push on to Lassen Volcanic National Park, an area so famous for bear activity. And it does not disappoint.
Episode 19: 30-Mile Dry Stretch
Old Station to Burney | Pacific Crest Tail Thru-Hike
Exhausted and faced with a thirty mile stretch of trail known to be very hot and very dry, I formulate a unique strategy to cover those miles with less water. I log my longest day of miles I’ll do on the entire trail, and spend two days recovering while I wait for a post office to open so I can resupply. After a long run without being on trail for any rain, I catch a thunderstorm and use it as a chance to evaluate my rain gear and the waterproofness of my pack.
Episode 20: Hunger, Snakes and Mistakes
Burney Falls to Mount Shasta | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
My experiment with rain reveals issues with the waterproofness of my pack, leading to some minor equipment upgrades. Back on trail, I reveal the depths to which hungry hikers will sink when they succumb to hiker hunger — an insatiable appetite caused by starving to death on a thru-hike. I find more rattlesnakes.
Episode 21: Why We Do It
Castle Crags to The Russian Wilderness | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
Nearly to the end of Northern California, I settle into the routine of hiking long days and making continuous forward progress even through exhaustion and boredom. I am rewarded with amazing scenery as I hike alone — which is thankful as I develop a tremendously foul odor due to being on trail over nine days without a shower.
The Cascades
Episode 22: Failure to Thru
Etna to Fish Lake Resort | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
My luck with forest fires runs out. A fire closure directly in front of me leaves me with a tough decision: To walk 20 miles on a road, without terribly clear directions, or lose my continuous northbound miles by taking a ride in a car to the spur trail back to the PCT. Fires slowly close in around the trail, wrecking the air quality and eventually forcing me off trail.
Episode 23: Everything Burns
Mount Hood to Goat Rocks | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
Following my decision to skip ahead and thus my failure to achieve my goal of contiguous linear trail mileage, my spirits are lifted by the arrival of my girlfriend. We hike one of my favorite places on Earth and just as I’m getting back into the groove, wildfires once again block our Northbound path.
Episode 24: Better than the Sierras
Goat Rocks Wilderness and The Knife’s Edge Trail | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
Because I no longer research much ahead of me, I stumble into the most beautiful section of the Pacific Crest Trail almost completely unaware. The second morning brings clouds and cold weather obscuring the most famous vista: The Knife’s Edge. So I wait it out… because I came here for the views!
Episode 25: Best Day of My Life
Snoqualmie Pass to Stehekin | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
I link up with John, a friend I met on my Kilimanjaro trip. John’s infectious positive attitude comes in handy when my luck with the notorious Washington weather runs out and I catch a week of mixed snow and rain. But I learn, any day on the trail is the best day of my life.
Epidsode 26: A Mediocre Thru-Hiker
Stehekin to Canada | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
With the return of good weather, and a change back into my light-weight summer gear, my spirits are lifted. I begin to contemplate the reality that I will be done hiking soon. What will it be like to have to return to work? If only I could get paid to be a mediocre thru-hiker.
Episode 27: The Return to Civilization
Canadian Border to Manning Park | Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike
Rhino and I hike the short distance in to Canada, officially ending the hiking portion of the adventure. I meet her friends who put me up for a few nights and help me arrange transportation back to the US, where my friends ritualistically shave my beard.
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