A Pilgrimage Begins

Perhaps what I am about to do might once have been called a pilgrimage. Now they call it ‘thru-hiking’, but it feels like a pilgrimage to me.

The Pacific Crest Trail is almost as old as I am. In a way, we grew up together. I was raised by the great volcanos and rain forests of the Pacific Northwest, and many of my fondest and most formative experiences as a young person took place in the Cascade mountains. I learned to climb with the Portland-based mountaineering group called the Mazamas, and any time we would find ourselves on Trail 2000, we would stop in reverence and marvel that we were standing on a trail that extends from Canada to Mexico. My friends and I swore that we would hike it some day. Like many dreams of youth, my dream of the PCT went dormant for decades, all but forgotten by my conscious mind, stored somewhere in the deep freeze of time.

But in the darkness of this past winter, as my mother was slowly losing her struggle with ALS and I was descending into a phase of burnout and depression, the one cell left in my body that remembered the dream of the PCT woke up and began to defrost. I bought a guidebook just to read more about it, then some maps to study from my bed at night, and soon the dream was gaining momentum and beginning to breathe life back into me.

There is much I could say about the PCT, but my goal here is to share my experience, not give a history or geography lesson. I will say this much as a frame of reference for this journey. The PCT is generally considered to be 2,650 miles long. Most people hike it from south to north, but I will be going the opposite direction, Southbound (SOBO) mostly because the timing worked out better given my family circumstances. The SOBO journey has its own set of challenges and opportunities. One thing that seems clear is that there are fewer people going my direction so the solo aspect of my journey may be greater. I will be starting out in the North Cascades with lots of elevation gains and losses rather than the more gradual miles of the desert.

I’ve been getting ready for months now, reading, researching, getting in shape, testing gear, thinking about pounds and ounces and food and water carrying systems and foot wear. And still, I have no idea how this is going to go. How will my body hold up? Who will I meet? What will the conditions be like? Will I be bored, sad, lonely, scared? Probably all of those at times, and hopefully also strong, brave, awe-inspired and reverent as I head down America’s true wilderness trail, Trail 2000. The Pacific Crest Trail.

Would you like to follow along?