Seven years ago, I attempted to thru-hike the entire Pacific Crest Trail in a single summer. The PCT is 2655 miles long and traverses the spines of the Sierra and Cascade mountain ranges through California, Oregon and Washington. I trained for months, planned for years, and obsessively dreamed of walking from Mexico to Canada with continuous footsteps through some of the most incredible scenery in the world.
Needless to say, I didn’t finish my hike. Dubbed the year of Fire and Ice, 2017 presented some significant challenges including a higher than average snowpack in the High Sierras and extensive wildfires which closed wide swaths of trail. While this is unfortunately a more common occurrence nowadays, back in 2017 the number of fires was unprecedented.
When the hiking season ended in 2017, I completed 1812 miles – which is just over two-thirds of the trail. While it was somewhat disappointing (especially when compared to some of my fellow hikers who managed to complete the entire trail that year), I was also proud of myself. Despite all the challenges I faced that year – including an illness that took me off the trail for several weeks and that posed significant logistical challenges for the rest of my hike – I kept going until the snow started falling.
While I may not be the fastest hiker in the world, I am stubborn and persistent.
In 2018, I picked up another 70 miles of the PCT in Washington State – the stunningly gorgeous Section J in the Cascades between Snoqualmie & Stevens Pass.
And then life had other plans for me. I got married, quit my job, and travelled around the world for three years with my husband Daniel. A pandemic happened. I moved to Eugene Oregon and focused on putting down roots in a new community.
I haven’t stepped foot back on the PCT – until now.
Over Labor Day weekend I picked up 30 miles of trail in the Tree Sisters Wilderness that I skipped in 2017 because it was on fire at the time. It is an incredibly beautiful section of trail that features picturesque views of the majestic three Sisters along with the Obsidian wilderness, stunning alpine lakes and miles of otherworldly lava rocks. I’m so lucky to live in Oregon now where this incredible section of trail is right in my own backyard!
This brings my total number of miles hiked on the PCT to 1916… which means I have 739 miles to go. Easy peasy! Right?
We shall see!
I started my section hike at Elk Lake Trailhead, which is where my dear friend Bright (aka Jill) picked me up in 2017. I’m not in the same shape that I was back in 2017 and I haven’t had as much time to train as I would have liked, so I decided to give myself four days to complete the trip.
As I arrived in the parking lot, I realized a few things:
- I hadn’t brought enough water with me. It was a lot hotter than I had anticipated and the next water source was 6 miles away.
- I forgot my headphones at home! Nooooo! I always hike to music or podcasts. This was going to be challenging.
- I also forgot my sunhat! Dang! I had my trademark unicorn trucker hat with me, of course, but it’s not the best shade for super sunny days.
Luckily I found a cooler filled with water bottles at the trailhead for PCT hikers. I was a little embarrassed that I hadn’t thought to bring any trail magic for the thru-hikers, but decided to get over it and grabbed a bottle so I didn’t get dehydrated.
A huge thanks to the trail angel who stocked that cooler!
After double-checking to ensure my permit was in my pocket, I was ready to begin. The Forest Service implemented a new permitting system for the Central Cascades a few years ago because the area was getting loved to death and overused. Since I didn’t have a PCT Long Distance permit, I did my homework and applied for the necessary Central Cascades Wilderness Permit before setting out.
What can I say, I’m a rule follower. I like following rules. I love showing off my permit to rangers when they ask (and they DID! Stay tuned for that part in a later post).
After passing the trailhead sign, I turned left onto Island Meadow Trail which leads to the PCT.
(There are actually 2 trails that start from this trailhead which both go to the PCT, but intersect the trail about1.3 miles apart. When I exited the PCT in 2017, I took the shortest route off the trail so I retraced my steps so as not to miss any miles.)
A half hour later after hiking the connector trail, I was finally back on the Pacific Crest Trail.
Finally!
It felt like coming home.
By this time it was about 2 pm. I had gotten a later start than I had anticipated, but I only planned to hike about 6 miles and so decided not to stress too much about rushing out the door at the crack of dawn.
The rest of the hike was pretty uneventful. The trail had a decently easy elevation profile and mostly wound through some trees, which provided some much needed shade.
I decided to stop for the evening at Sisters Mirror Lake. I had originally planned to hike further but I was ready to call it a day. I found a nice flat spot just off the trail with a nice view of the water, and ate my dinner at the shoreline. I had the lake to myself except for one other backpacker on the other shore – along with some dragonflies, a family of ducks (complete with adorable ducklings), birds, chipmunks, butterflies.
After a dinner of instant mashed potatoes with tuna fish and freeze-dried green beans, I was ready to call it a night.
PCT Stats:
Start: Elk Lake Resort – 1953.6
End: Sisters Mirror Lake – Mile 1959.8
PCT Miles: 6.2
Non-PCT Miles: 1
Elevation Gain: 1302
Elevation Descent: 571
So glad to hear you are back hiking the PCT. I’d hoped you would finish the hike at some point. It was an inspiration to read your original blogs back in 2017 and I look forward to more in the future as you make progress on finishing the rest. And while you did not finish in 2017, over 1800 miles is absolutely amazing.
Thanks Brian! It’s good to be back. Not sure how long it’s going to take to finish hiking the PCT, but I’m going to give it my best shot ??