FORWARD

THE FOREWORD

In the summer of 2014, at age 65, I solo thru hiked the 2,668 miles that make up the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) crossing the length of California, Oregon, and Washington from the San Felipe Hills in Southern California to the wild dramatic peaks of the Pasayten in the North Cascades in Washington State.

My hike began at the border fence of Mexico, south of Campo, California, on April 1st and I crossed the Canadian Border at mile 2,660 at the northern terminus September 26th before hiking on to exit the trail at Manning Park, Canada.

This is a daily record of my hike. More importantly, breaking down how my hike was accomplished while highlighting the randomness of encounters along the trail. Without exaggeration, this account covers both the joy and the pain of the hike. This is an accurate account of my thru-hike.  There is no need for dramatic license as it is not essential for me to add drama to the experience.

A long distance hike is life changing. Your net worth is in your backpack and it is a very small pack.

The PCT is open for both pedestrian and equestrian traffic.  By the time it was officially completed in 1993, many individuals had already thru hiked the trail since the 1970s.  In the year of my hike 2655 permits were issued and 484 hikers made the 2600 miler list.  There is a big shake out early on the trail as hikers have trouble with the desert section.  Next, the difficulty of the High Sierras where the trail crosses Forester Pass (13,153′), Glen Pass, Pinchot Pass, Mather Pass and Muir Pass results in many hikers leaving the trail.  After the High Sierras, approximately half the hikers have already quit.

The PCT crosses 57 major mountain passes, dips into 19 major canyons and passes near 1000 lakes. The trail has more tread in wilderness than any other trail in the U.S. with 54% of the trail in Federal Wilderness.

The Pacific Crest Trail passes through six national parks:  Kings Canyon, Yosemite, Lassen, Crater Lake, Mt. Rainier, and the North Cascades.

There is 489,000′ of elevation gain according to Half Mile maps. I was soon to learn, coming to a fork in the path, the uphill trail was always the PCT.

The trail is most commonly hiked nobo (northbound) because the North Cascades mountains in Washington are snowbound until into June making the timing tight for getting through the High Sierras before snowfall when hiking sobo (southbound).

My hike took 178 days including 41 zero days for an average of 18 miles per day.  I enjoyed every day of hiking and could not wait to get on the trail each morning.

Thank you to the Pacific Crest Trail Association and the thousands of volunteers who work to make this journey possible.