The Last Post

This is my last post about my PCT trip.  Some final thoughts, stats, and closing about the last 5 months.  Also as a note to all who read this, I am looking for job as you read this, so if you or anyone you know are interested in hiring me, please send me a message through the blog!

As anyone who has read my blog knows, I left my job in mid-April to try to hike 2660.1 miles from the border of Mexico and the US to Canada.  To get there, I hiked through the desert, Southern California mountains, the Sierra Nevada, near Lake Tahoe, through northern California (which was a cross between the desert and mountains), the Cascades, Oregon, Washington, and then finally the northern Cascades.  As I hiked through Washington, the beginning and middle of my trip seemed so far away.  Almost like it was another trip because the conditions changed so much.  No longer was I carrying 5-7 liters of water with 5-7 days of food in exposed and hot desert, but I was carrying 1-2 liters of water with 3-4 days of food.

It's amazing to think where I've been, who I've met, and how I have handled so many diverse and different environments and people.  One of the cool things of the PCT is that you never know where people you have met on the trail are.  One of the people I met on my first day and saw around mile 600, showed up again around mile 1900.  I was normally the one who seemed to "skip" around on the trail and because of this, I got to see many of the slower hikers again.

I started the trail on May 1st and thought that I could make it.  After just eight days on trail though, I couldn't continue because of two feet full of blistered.  I learned quickly that the PCT was all about taking care of yourself:  making sure you eat enough and balanced, making sure you don't hike to much in one day, making sure you get enough rest, making sure you are emotional well, making sure your body is prepared for the next day.  This was the challenge of the trip that manifested itself all the time.  For someone like me who did much of their hiking alone, making sure I hiked or camped with others was as important as getting the nutrition and calories I needed everyday.

While I sat at home contemplating my blisters and my choices that led me to not being about to walk, I wondered if I would finish the PCT.  2660 miles is a lot but breaking it up into 100 mile chunks made it much easier.  After 5 days of R and R, my feet were ready to hike and I got back on trail.  My blisters and feet issues never completely stopped until I made it into the Sierra Nevada (~mile 800).  It did slowly get better but I wasn't able to hike without moleskin until then.

I soon found out that the Southern California section of my trip was "my tour of friends and family" because I stayed with them almost exclusively throughout my town stops in SoCal.  It was a nice way to still feel connected to my pre-PCT life and help others experience the PCT.

It's funny to think about how challenging SoCal was in the first 6 weeks (blisters, heat, lack of water, skipping a section of trial) but the Sierra Nevada really made SoCal seem like a mental challenge because it was such a physical challenge.  After 2 weeks of climbing mountain passes, summitting Mt. Whitney, and living at 8000 to 13000 feet, my body was adjusted to the rigors of this hike.  The Sierra Nevada made the hiking afterwards easy because the hills were smaller, I was fitter, and I could crank out miles.

This continued until a my shin splints/tendonitis in Etna, Ca where I went home for 10 days.  This was the first time since my blisters that I seriously wondered what was to happen to my trek.  I had seen the spectacular Sierra Nevada, survived the desert, and had almost gotten through the (mostly) boring Northern California when my right upper ankle/lower shin hurt.  I knew I couldn't continue and needed rest, but the question was for how long.

After some much needed R and R (I had spent much of the prior 10 days hiking high 20 mile or low 30 mile days), I got back on trail and made it to Oregon, the third big morale boaster (number one being making it to the Sierra Nevada and number two being making it to Lake Tahoe (ie out of the high Sierra)).

Oregon proved to be flat, a green tunnel, mentally taxing, and harder than I thought.  It was great to see Crater Lake and the big volcanic Cascade mountains, but the weather made it difficult.  After a storm  near the Three Sisters Wilderness, I had my only moment when I really wanted to quit and would of if I could have.  An unplanned stop in Sisters, Or fixed that and I was ready the wetness and weather of the Pacific Northwest.  While I wasn't very excited for any type of precipitation, I found it was the wet plants which would soak my shoes and feet that was my problem in the Pacific Northwest.

I got through Oregon without much more issue and got to Washington right before another huge storm hit.  I took off an extra off-trail day, and then began the final push for the Canadian border.  Because I had never hiked in Washington, I was super excited to be there; however, the first half was very similar to Oregon and boring.  Once I got the Snoqualimie Pass and the northern Cascades, the trail became a lot more fun again.  This trip culminated with a small storm, cold, snow, and barely beating a big storm.  I promised myself that if it snowed on me in Washington that this would end my trip.  While I did get snowed on or hiked in snow 3 out of my last 4 days, I would say that I ended right one time.

I hope everyone enjoyed reading about my adventures and looking at just a few of the over 1000 pictures I took while on the PCT.  It has been one of the best 5 months of my life but also one of the toughest.  Similar to my time living abroad, my PCT trip has changed me and it will take a little time getting use to the "other" world (that is what we hikers refer to the non-hiking world).  I look forward to sleeping inside on a bed and not having to wear my same sweating shirt for days at a time between washing but will miss the amazing mountain water I drank and the simplicity of my life.  Who know where life will take me next, but it will be fun to see.

Random Stats from my trip:

Top Three Trail Towns:  Stehekin, WA; Etna, CA; Mammoth Lakes, CA
Top Three Places on the PCT:  Goat Rocks Wilderness, WA; just south of Sonora Pass, CA; the High
High Sierra Nevada (aka the John Muir Trail)

Number of Books Read: 7 completed and 3 partially read (I'm still working on these)

Number of showers taken: 31 (that's 1 shower for every 4.2 days)

Total Number of PCT Miles Hiked:  2526.7
Total Number of "Other" Miles Hiked (to/from towns, springs, etc): 134.1
Total Number of Miles Hiked:  2392.6

Total Days on Trail: 130
Average Miles per Day:  19.4
Most Miles Done in a Day:  35.9
Least Miles Done in a Day:  4.5
 
Total Number of Nights Slept -    Under the stars:  47
                                                    In tent without rain fly:  35
                                                    In tent with rain fly:  21
                                                    In a bed:  27
                                                    Inside:  26

Total Number of Days with -    Rain:  23
                                                Thunder:  11
                                                Lightning:  5
                                                Hail:  2
                                                Snow:  2

Number of Zero Days:  11
Number of Days taken off trail for blisters, injury, or side trips to see family:  20