Wow I can’t believe the culmination of almost a decade of dreaming, watching YouTube, planning, saving, delaying, making excuses and doing other trips to build up to this one is actually coming to life.
I started looking into the PCT in 2016 after meeting an AT thru hiker on Mt Liberty in the White Mountains. He wrapped the PCT the year prior and was doing the AT that year. Prior to that it had never crossed my mind to do a thru hike. I had hiked my entire life, explored any bit of woods I could with my dad, but camping or backpacking however was something very new to me.
Personally- I like sleeping in a bed, that’s probably what’s kept me from thru hiking. But on top of that when it came down to the PCT or AT Ive always been more interested in exploring the west coast than the east.
My desire to explore the west coast stems from being from New England and trying the old let’s move to sunny California after engineering school thing. (Spoiler- it didn’t work out that’s how I ended up in NH)
When I was 27 I became curious about getting deeper into staying in the outdoors and honestly, I was bored with the hunting, fishing and surfing I had been doing since I moved to NH a few years earlier.
I was I’d say stuck between growing up and still wanting to be a kid. I had a great education and a rewarding career. I had just become a young engineering manager and was working on building oxygen lines and engine manifolds for companies like Space X, GE and P&W.
Ever fly on an Airbus A320 Neo? Each time I fly with JetBlue I’ll always think of how many of those engine manifolds my team built back then. I remember assembling the first one with my coworker Andy and saying WTF!
I was living in a small New Hampshire town at that time of less than 3,000 people and zero stop lights right on the lake. Besides work, I’d spend mornings wake surfing, grill something up for lunch, take a nap and follow it up with a sunset wakeboard session. Shits and giggles around the fire pit with the girlfriend and friends over some beers.
Many would say ‘living the dream’.
But outside of all the comforts there was still a desire to do more. To get back to man’s natural roots of just waking up with the sun, living that day on foot and going to sleep at night. It sounds lazy but it’s actually hard. I found myself getting more and more into the woods and spending more time backpacking and enjoying the little details of solitude and my gear.
Making gear and tweaking gear, I find it’s very rewarding.
Did you know I can sew? Most people probably don’t. As an engineer though , making and tweaking things is just natural to me. Making the things you carry with you every single day better was even more natural to me. And that’s really what started the desire to get more technical with my gear and then to start bringing it in the woods to actually use it.
2 weeks out!
Well, with that I just packed up my last couple of packages. Any changes to my gear I need to make now. Debating a fanny pack but I am probably going to skip it. I’m going to ship one of those boxes the day I leave with hopes my timing is right for Warner Springs. Mainly stuff I don’t want to carry initially. An ice axe is the main item. I won’t need it till San Jacinto but a nice resupply box with it will hopefully keep costs down and fill my empty stomach. Overall that will be my first main resupply after mile 75.
Next step…. Get to San Diego and figure out how to get to Campo. I hear there’s a bus?
The Pacific Crest Trail 