Last year :)) April 15 - September 26. It was the best thing I've ever done in my life!!! The great and beautiful adventure, a sufferfest but that's kind of the whole business of it - I didn't want to lie on a beach for 5+ months, I wanted to have that beauty and aliveness in my life, wanted to be pushed beyond my comfort zone, to find t…
Last year :)) April 15 - September 26. It was the best thing I've ever done in my life!!! The great and beautiful adventure, a sufferfest but that's kind of the whole business of it - I didn't want to lie on a beach for 5+ months, I wanted to have that beauty and aliveness in my life, wanted to be pushed beyond my comfort zone, to find the reserves within me, to unlock that better, stronger version of me, to inhabit that animal self. Every day contained both bliss and misery. The trail itself, I'll never get over it, it's a gift. An incredible creation, a finished footpath of that quality through such stunning wilderness areas. It makes you strong and it also breaks you because life afterwards can never quite fill that space. Wouldn't change a thing. 1000/10 would recommend.
Wow, just wow. I (like many people) read Cheryl Strayed's book and have dreamed about it ever since. It sounds like it lived up to what she described, and even more. Were you a big trail hiker before this?
not really, I grew up hiking on a small scale with my family, and did some multi-day shakedown hikes while training for this, but nothing long that I'd qualify as a thru before the PCT. Cheryl's a great writer and her journey is more an inner one, but the book and film only scratch the surface of what the PCT is :) the one that seized me and kindled the flame was "Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home," by thru-hiking queen and ultrarunner Heather "Anish" Anderson, who smashed Scott Williamson's unsupported FKT on the PCT in 2013 and held that title for all genders for the better part of a decade. And another amazing one, "Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart," by Carrot Quinn. Those two books capture the essence of the trail, for me. Read at your own risk. :)
Last year :)) April 15 - September 26. It was the best thing I've ever done in my life!!! The great and beautiful adventure, a sufferfest but that's kind of the whole business of it - I didn't want to lie on a beach for 5+ months, I wanted to have that beauty and aliveness in my life, wanted to be pushed beyond my comfort zone, to find the reserves within me, to unlock that better, stronger version of me, to inhabit that animal self. Every day contained both bliss and misery. The trail itself, I'll never get over it, it's a gift. An incredible creation, a finished footpath of that quality through such stunning wilderness areas. It makes you strong and it also breaks you because life afterwards can never quite fill that space. Wouldn't change a thing. 1000/10 would recommend.
Wow, just wow. I (like many people) read Cheryl Strayed's book and have dreamed about it ever since. It sounds like it lived up to what she described, and even more. Were you a big trail hiker before this?
not really, I grew up hiking on a small scale with my family, and did some multi-day shakedown hikes while training for this, but nothing long that I'd qualify as a thru before the PCT. Cheryl's a great writer and her journey is more an inner one, but the book and film only scratch the surface of what the PCT is :) the one that seized me and kindled the flame was "Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home," by thru-hiking queen and ultrarunner Heather "Anish" Anderson, who smashed Scott Williamson's unsupported FKT on the PCT in 2013 and held that title for all genders for the better part of a decade. And another amazing one, "Thru-Hiking Will Break Your Heart," by Carrot Quinn. Those two books capture the essence of the trail, for me. Read at your own risk. :)