Extending from Mexico to Canada, the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is one of three trails in the United States (including the Appalachian Trail and Continental Divide Trail) that form the coveted “Triple Crown of Hiking.” The PCT is a rare window into the ruggedness, rigor, and remote beauty of the American wilderness. In the first 700 miles alone, the trail traverses the arid landscapes of the Sonoran Desert and Mojave Desert, the high peaks of the San Jacinto Mountains, San Bernardino Mountains, and San Gabriel Mountains, and finally deposits the weary hiker at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.
The following log entries were written during my NOBO section hike of the Pacific Crest Trail in 2023. Each entry is titled and features both photographs and modest musings about trail life.
FROM A BLUE TENT SOMEWHERE OUT THERE [DAY 1: March 26, 2023]
Hopeful hikers gather round as their spectacular adventure is about to begin. I’m grateful to count myself as one of them. Tomorrow I begin my northbound (NOBO) thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT)…
Campo, California
FROM THE MEXICAN BORDER [DAYS 1-10]
It has taken me a few days to wrap my mind around being back on trail. To feel, once again, bound by this strange purpose of walking a very long ways. In this case, it is to Canada. A 2,650 mile trek that will take me through California, Oregon, and Washington, through the desert, Sierras, and much more.
The transition was surprisingly seamless. I suppose that’s the beauty of the trail community—it exists always, patiently waiting for the moment when your life veers, intentionally or accidentally, away from the asphalt and onto the winding paths of the backcountry. It’s there to challenge you, comfort you, and allow a bunch of strangers with funny names to somehow welcome you home…
Campo to Idyllwild via Paradise Valley Cafe, California
INSIDE THE WARDROBE [DAY 4]
Before Aslan’s return…
Snowstorm around Mount Laguna, California
FROM SAN JACINTO, AND A PLACE OF HUMILITY [DAYS 11-13]
People travel far and wide to hear the song of the mountains. For those familiar with or curious about the wilderness and all its beautiful secrets, I believe this song never stops playing. Sometimes it’s quiet (thus allowing normal life to proceed without disruption) and other times it becomes so unbearably loud that the individual is forced to stop, pack their bags, and head for the mountains. It may bring people to the same place, but the song sounds different to every listener. Maybe it’s laughter around a campfire, a parent’s voice explaining the topography, water running slowly through a creek, or the silence of a landscape without highways, horns, and arguments.
The mountains don’t only sing. They also speak. They teach. They warn. They punish.
On the summit of Apache Peak—ready to tackle San Jacinto (10,834 ft)—we met San Jac John, the local hiking legend charged with assessing environmental conditions and coordinating search and rescue operations in the San Jacinto Mountains. He explained that the next 20 miles of trail were impassable: no tracks to follow, deadly shoots, and icy ridges. He told us to take the Black Mountain Road detour and resume the PCT at mile 190. Although disappointed, it was clear the mountain had spoken. And I’m proud to say we listened. For the next several hours, I enjoyed a hot drink with some great people overlooking a spectacular view of a mountain that was not meant to be hiked that day.
And the song continued just the same…down the mountain…along the detour…and until this very day…
Idyllwild via Paradise Valley Cafe to Interstate 10, California
FROM A HUNGRY HIKER [DAYS 14-23]
Ten days of hiking through endless flower fields, traversing snow covered ridges, cowboy camping under the stars, and passing sweets and treats around the campfire all culminated into one glorious trip to McDonald’s with some great people…
Interstate 10 to Big Bear to Wrightwood via Cajon Pass, California
FROM THE SNOW… LOTS AND LOTS OF SNOW [DAY 26]
Hiker trash summits Mount Baden-Powell (9,406 ft)…
San Gabriel Mountains, California
FROM VASQUEZ ROCKS [DAY 29]
Webster to Enterprise, do you copy? It seems the landing party has been beamed down to an inhospitable desert with zero shade, eighty degree days, and twenty mile sections without water. Can someone double check the travel itinerary…?
FROM HIKERTOWN AND THE AQUEDUCT [DAY 32]
New personal hiking record: 47.3 miles in 22 hours. After stumbling into camp at 5:30AM, I threw down my tent, collapsed on top of it, ate a sleeve of Oreos, and slept for four hours. It was one of my favorite days on trail…
FROM MILE 700 [DAYS 30-39]
From the end of the desert…
Agua Dulce to Hikertown to Tehachapi to Walker Pass to Kennedy Meadows, California
FROM KENNEDY MEADOWS AND THE END OF MY PCT JOURNEY [POST-TRAIL]
I reached Kennedy Meadows—the town which marks the end of the desert and beginning of the Sierra—on May 4th strutting the classic ‘hiker hobble’ and grinning unabashedly. The day before I had accomplished one of my longstanding hiking goals: I hiked over 50 miles in less than 24 hours (50.2 mi in 22 hrs to be exact). So as I walked up to the Kennedy Meadows General Store, heard the applause of fellow PCTers, and ate my cheeseburger, I felt nothing but gratitude for the past six weeks of backpacking. I thought of all the incredible people I met, the remarkably variable landscape I traversed, and the physical and mental challenges I overcame to hike through dangerous snow. I also thought—with absolute certainty—that this was the perfect place to end my PCT hike for 2023.
After an extensive application process that began while I was thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, I was named a Fulbright Scholar in April. Words cannot describe how honored I am to have been selected for this prestigious program. I will be serving as an English teaching assistant and cultural ambassador in Estonia starting in August. In order to properly prepare, I have to step away from the trail, rebrand my thru-hike a lash, and celebrate the 700 miles I was able to hike.
This news is conveyed with the upmost degree of celebration. For me, the PCT will be both something to reflect on and a project to return to. That’s another beautiful thing about the mountains—they will wait for you. I loved my time on the PCT. And I’ll be back.
—Webster signing off
