G
“
IVE ME A HUG
I said to
my friend Tommy, teary eyed
as we reached
Monument 78,
the northern terminus and finish line for a northbound
Pacific Crest Trail thru-hiker. Approaching the terminus my friend Kayla was
right in front of me and Tommy was
only about 20 yards in front of the two
of us. We had checked the maps at the
last water source and knew we only had
five miles to go. It started pouring with
rain. It slowed our descent. The three of
us were dead quiet. We could hear every
drop of rain. An hour and a half went
by uneventfully. But suddenly there
was a large clearing up ahead. Tommy
reached a switchback at the start of the
clearing, turned and looked to us with a
big Cheshire cat grin, bouncing up and
down with his backpack on, waving his
hiker poles in the air saying, “I can see
it, I can see it!” Kayla didn’t want to believe him because he is such a jokester,
but your eyes don’t lie when you see it
for yourself. Tommy took off running,
Kayla sung her way dancing to the monument, and I was in complete shock. I
didn’t think it was real, 2,650.10 miles
and 180 days and it was all over.
MAN!”
It was never a vacation. It was never
a sojourn, or a journey, trip, excursion,
or trek. It was simply a dream. I had
to do it. I couldn’t think of anything
better than to be in nature, spend up to
150 days in a sleeping bag, and stink to
unfathomable levels to where people at
McDonald’s and grocery stores couldn’t
stand to be within ten feet of us. Found
comfort in the most bazaar of locales,
found love where I wasn’t looking, but
ultimately, finding that change I was
looking for.
Change came in the course of landscape and trail, but more importantly,
I changed. And to say the trail changed
me is as night and day as summer and
winter. Change inside, change outside,
change in appearance. Change emotionally, physically, and mentally. If there
is a single word to describe the trail, it
is, “Change.” The trail changed me as
much as it changes elevation. And in
looking at the total elevation differences throughout the trail, something life
altering was going to happen.
I could tell you about how gorgeous
the trail is, and try and use all different
kinds of words from my thesaurus to
impress, and I will, but there is something very special to be said about what
it takes to wake up after a day that gave
six new blisters, a sun burnt forehead,
and a headache reminiscent of a hangover without the alcohol. Watching
PCT Facts
LENGTH 2,650 miles
POINT A TO POINT B From
Campo, Calif., near Mexico to
Manning Park, British Columbia.
HIGHLIGHTS 24 national
forests, 7 national parks, 60
mountain passes, the Mojave
and Sonora deserts, 19 major
canyons.
THRU-HIKERS Hikers who
walk from Mexico to Canada.
AVERAGE MILES PER DAY 20
AVERAGE TIME SPENT ON
TRAIL 5 months
HIKING SEASON late April to
late September
COST $1,000 per month for
supplies and travel expenses.
MORE INFO pcta.org
pacific crest trail map provided by the
pacific crest trail association
The views along the way are
breathtaking.
It’s a long trail,
2,650 miles to
be exact.
kenmoreair.com
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