Walking on the the PCT

I hope that I can keep it up to date for the months to come and provide some insights on what it is like to walk the Pacific Crest Trail  (PCT). I’m guessing it will be a lot like being a homeless person who carries around expensive gear and blogs on a smartphone.  

What is the Pacific Crest Trail?

The Pacific Crest Trail is a long distance hiking trail that starts in Campo California which is a small outpost on the Mexican border and ends in Canada near Manning Provincial Park.  The trail is around 2,600 miles (4200 kilometers) long and takes between three and six months to complete. It was recently popularized be the movie and book “Wild” which I recommend reading snuggled up with a glass of red wine and a bar of chocolate.  

Why are you hiking the Pacific Crest Trail?

I have met a good amount of people who have hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and this is a question that most of them dread and I am no different. A good majority of the people I met that were hiking the trail didn’t like their jobs or they just needed a change.

I am attempting to hike the trail just for the experience of it and to be outside more. For the last four years I have been teaching English. I started off in a suburb of Seoul in South Korea. After one year and three months I moved to Busan the second biggest city in the country. Then I moved to Moscow, Russia where I have been teaching since August 2014. I recently quit my job and I am currently living with my girlfriend in Bordeaux, France.

I love that teaching gave me the opportunity to travel and see different places, but living in cities made me miss things like clean air, clean water, sunshine, silence, and seeing the stars.  So, I hope that walking on this trail will be a good change from living abroad and worrying about things like acid rain.

How are you preparing for the hike?

Last summer I hiked a small section of the trail to see what it would be like to hike constantly for more than a couple of days. I started in Sonora Pass, California and ended my hike in Old Station, California.  This section of the trail is about 360 miles and it took me around 21 days to complete. I was planning to hike to the Oregon border but because of wildfires I had to cut my hike short.  The time spent on the trail was invaluable in many ways. It gave me a taste of what it is like to be on the trail and I was able to talk to a lot of PCT Thru hikers and to get an idea of what works and doesn't work on the trail.

For this round on the trail I'm trying to prepare for the physical challenge of hiking the best that I can, which is a challenge after living in cities for so long.

There weren't many/any places to hike around Moscow (except for parks in the area) and gyms were too expensive. So, I ended up running in the snow and slush a couple times a week, I would run up and down the stairs of my 25 floor apartment and I would use these outdoor exercise areas that were located near the parks in the city.

Currently I've been running more around Bordeaux and I've even been able to go to the gym a few times. So, at this point I feel fairly good but I know from last years hike that the only way to really prepare for long distance hiking is be out on the trail.