#international travelers. tho my year most of these guys were cut off cuz. covid. couldn't enter the country. even so i met some

[blessphemy]

oh no. you've tripped my: Quick And Dirty Full PCT Planning Guide

4 days is a solid and powerful backpacking trip. imho it sets you up fine to know how to tackle something longer. tho as far as prep work... i prepared more than necessary maybe. i got certified in Wilderness First Aid, and went out with the local Sierra Club chapter for snowcamping. i also smooth-talked a doctor into prescribing me oral antibiotics in case of Open Infected Wound While Days Away From Professional Medical Assistance. (never needed to use those thankfully, so i've since had the meds destroyed. i'm a big hater of antibiotic resistance lol.)

the funny thing about the logistics is it's actually easier in practice than it looks in advance. for one thing it's impossible to plan All details of the full trek ahead of time: for something that long you're dealing with changing gear needs, changing weather, fire closures and reroutes, and this doesn't even cover such surprises as: oops a global pandemic. (#PCT class of 2020 ✌️) and imho you can only figure out your food needs only after you start grinding those distances for real. the pattern for most thru-hikers is to hit the trail for a while, resupply lightly as needed, and then take a stop at a proper town/city to spend a day planning/prepping out the next few hundred miles in more detail. plus as you're hiking you end up gathering intel from other people about local resources.

also the PCT is fairly well established at this point and there's lots of info about how to do resupplies and find water/campsites. (it's mostly dispersed-camping anyway, tho i tried to stick to established sites.) it's not as developed as the AT but there's a solid well-mapped trail, and ok infrastructure. (resources: California fire permit, PCTA trail permit, some blogs, NatGo maps, the FarOut app — the app I only found out about from other hikers after I started the trail and it made shit so much easier. also if u wanna DM about any of this i'm happy to lol)

everyone was always like "you should NOT do that solo? you should go with a friend, it's safer!" and, while they have a point, it's a rare person i think that you can ask to do this with xD. plus people often pick up "trail families" or hiking partners along the way anyway.

if you're thinking seriously about it, i will say that the 1 biggest hurdle to seeing through the whole thing (barring finances or injury), is psychological. accept it when it sucks. like there will be times it Sucks. and there will be some Long Distance Sucking. find the reason you'll stick it out at mile 1,550, exhausted, wet, cold Ass, sore Foot, and staring down the barrel of 1,101 more miles. (for me it was "i have to be able brag about it." so u know. it can be petty.)

i joke that my weekend day-hikes Fix My Brain. nature magic is real. highlights on the PCT was #best time in my life. (tbh tho the Joy is comparable to a really good day hike or 4-day outing, so you're not missing out if you stick to shorter hikes. if you want the PCT highlight reel sans Extreme Distance, you could do the John Muir Trail (213 miles) or Rae Lakes Loop (41 miles). There's also Tahoe Rim Trail (170 miles), Timberline Trail (42 miles) around Mt. Hood, and Silver Moccasin Trail (53 miles). All the aforementioned trails overlap with the PCT and are beautiful as Fuck. but also the length of the PCT meant I was experiencing that good shit on a Protracted scale. and being Fully free of work thoughts… goddamn.) my brain was probably high as hell on exercise endorphins and sunshine.

if you do come around to thinking you want to do it. i suggest picking A Specific Year in your mind.

and then don't give up come hell, high water, blizzard, numb foot, global pandemic. worth it.

I've been meaning to ask you about your Big Long Walk since i first saw you mention it in a tag! If you're willing to tell the story i'd be interested to hear it?

tl;dr i solo-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in 6 months of 2020. idk if you've heard of this trail. it goes from the US-Mexico border to the US-Canada border. it's kinda neat.

Big Long Walk: filed on this blog under sparse text posts of "#backpacking 2020."

(people are always like 'wow that's so impressive' and i'm always like (privately) 'tbh backpacking 20+ miles in a day is easier than doing 1 full cycle of laundry whilst battling Problems Disorder')

imho if you are lucky enough to possess the rare quintfecta of spare A) cash B) time C) health D) desire E) foolishness to decide to do it and then commit and not give up, it's pretty doable. it's just walking 1 mile. and another. rinse and repeat for 2,651 miles.

fun fact! the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) thru-hikers call the PCT the "Piece of Cake Trail."

but why did i do it? idk. why not. there's some additional context to my life here that's kinda personal so i won't get into it. mainly i wanted to escape emails and gender and i wanted to see some cool nature. mission accomplished! i did it for fun & You Only Live Once.

it's endlessly funny though. cuz I somehow did not realize when i Embarked, that backpacking a couple thousand miles would irrevocably Affect me. the way i see the World is fundamentally affected. the way i Exist is affected. i'm more Me. i didn't set out to Find Myself but i sure did become myself anyway.

a little slice of tangible in-this-real-live-world transcendence in the form of self-inflicted sore feet, sunrise in the desert, and a thousand more miles to go.