Before there was Cheryl Strayed, there was Catherine Montgomery. In 1926, almost a century before Strayed’s best-selling memoir about her Pacific Crest Trail experience was published, Montgomery came up with the idea of creating a ridgeline track from Canada to Mexico. It seems fitting to pay tribute...
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The timing of my backpacking trip through the Sierras had more to do with permit availability than with peak fall colors or precipitation levels. But I lucked out in both areas: There was no rain and plenty of beautiful foliage during a four-day trip along...
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Ah, the life of a PCT thru-hiker. Carrying all your worldly possessions on your back day in and day out, not unlike a turtle. Since I've done this thru-hiking thing a time or three, I have a pretty good grasp on what exactly I need,...
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While still in John Muir Trail territory, my son and I set up a fantastic bivy site for the night high over an absolutely gorgeous lake, the name of which doesn't matter because they're all beautiful. The site was nearly a mile from the lake's shore and...
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A lot of you may wonder what a day in the life of a PCT thru-hiker is like. Is it all fun and games? Do we sleep late and take lots of naps? Is it stressful and miserable? Is there any rhyme or reason to...
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PCT Days celebrated its 10th anniversary this year in a typically jubilant and down-to-earth style. Current thru-hikers mixed with PCT alumni and local section hikers at Oregon's Cascade Locks Marine Park, while a lineup of outdoor adventure retailers and cottage-industry folks displayed products ranging from...
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Summer adds a new layer of complication for section hikers in Southern California. Wildfires and triple-digit temperatures are common, so extra care and planning are absolutely necessary. The Sand Fire in the Santa Clarita area, which burned 41,000 acres in late July and required 42 firefighting...
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Detours and trail closures are nothing new for hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail, but disaster hit especially hard this June. California wildfires swept through two separate areas around the famous Mexico-to-Canada trail, closing stretches of it for more than a week near the Mexican...
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Well, that's a wrap of my first week hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and working on revisions of the Pacific Crest Trail guidebooks. Here are my musings, ponderings, and photos. 5-31-16 Wonderful day to drive from my home in Elk Grove, California just six hours down to...
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There is no formal Wikipedia entry for trail angels. Before I started hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, I thought they were kind people who lived near the trail and offered water and indoor plumbing to the dirty, tired hikers who passed by every spring. But there’s...
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