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Hey everyone! Just put together a highlight video of the trail. Hope you enjoy! Here's the link: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/Rc8IuX3muKc

Hey everyone! I made it. I made it to the northern California mountain town of Dunsmuir, the place I am calling the end of my hike for the season. The last 24 hours have been a great closing and I'd like to share the highlights. As I walked the final miles into town yesterday, there were no big views, just an easy gentle downhill surrounded by enormous pines that shaded the trail wonderfully from the hot sun. As I neared town, the trail came within earshot of the railroad t

Hello everybody! After several days of being in the Backcountry without any service, I've reached a point just a few miles out from Dunsmuir with service. I'm camped up on a ridge tonight with a spectacular view of Mount Shasta. Tomorrow I'll hike out and end this journey for the season. It has been spectacular! Today I passed the 800 mile mark for the season on the PCT. The last 82 miles I've been traveling with Mt. Shasta in my view. It's gotten larger and larger as I'v

Sometimes there is more than meets the eye. Hey everyone! Greetings from the PCT in Northern California. I find myself sitting at Burney Falls right now......an incredible state park! I've slowed my pace quite a bit on my return to the trail to enjoy and take it in more. This is one spot I haven't slowed down.......I've completely stopped. This is a place I can't walk by, even if it's slowly. It's hard to put into words the sight of these falls. They are, by far, the

Hi everyone! Service has been hard to find out on the trail and I think that will continue. I'm sitting in the town of Old Station, California. It's been an interesting few days on the trail. I spent the last number of days walking through the aftermath of the Dixie fire from 2021. I've seen the results of fire fires back home, but the scale of this one in Northern California is beyond words.....over 963,000 acres. I, along with a number of others, did skip over a portion

Hi everyone! I'm currently sitting in the town of Belden, CA. I just did part of a stretch from Sierra City to here. I've decided to give myself the option of opting out of certain parts of the trail for whatever reason. It's freeing! I decided to skip over a steep exposed area that was known for many rattlesnakes. I opted out and instead got a ride a number of miles up north. I've reached an area where there were massive fires in northern California in the last number

Greetings everybody! I'm writing to you from the very small mountain town of Sierra City, California where I'm resupplying my gear. I'll head back out on the trail tomorrow. I've traveled just over 100 miles these past 7 days and I can say they've been the best 100 miles of the entire PCT for me. I look forward to bringing some friends back to hike parts of this again. I can't wait to share this with others! Tomorrow I'll head back into the mountains and head towards the

Hello everyone! Greetings from Donner Pass , California.! For the past 4 days I've been traveling north on the PCT from Desolation Wilderness (out of South Lake Tahoe) to Donner Pass. It has truly been a spectacular hike for many reasons. The mountains are filled in color with every plant seemingly in bloom.! This hike has been nothing like the desert. Water is plentiful, I haven't seen a rattlesnake, and I'm out hiking my own hike. I'm not hiking with anyone, but I hav

What an amazing last day and a half. The Desolation Wilderness is incredible. I'm writing to you on top of Dicks Pass. It's a 9400 foot pass I just climbed. The views are awesome! Just writing quickly because it's freezing up here, windy, and it's snowing on me......but I have service so I thought I'd write. It's been a wonderful return to the PCT. I am huffing and puffing as I'm trying to acclimate to these elevations. Hope everyone is doing well. Gotta get off this

Tonight I find myself sitting on the beautiful shores of Lake Tahoe preparing to head back out on the Pacific Crest Trail tomorrow morning. A second chance with a whole new mindset and I'm am so grateful for the opportunity again. Back in March, I started at the Mexican border. The nervousness was such I felt nauseous a couple days before I left and almost yacked before boarding the plane to San Diego. Today, as I traveled across the country back to the mountains, I felt r

There have been many times in my life when I've felt incredibly lucky and blessed to be exactly where I am. Right now is one of those times. On June 25th, I'll have the opportunity to put on my backpack once again and return to the Pacific Crest Trail after nearly a two-month break. This time, I'll be heading back with a lighter pack—and a lighter perspective. While I still intend to complete the entire Pacific Crest Trail, I've decided to approach it differently. Instead of

Hi all, I find myself somewhere in the middle of Montana right now on a cross country Amtrak train on my way home to Minnesota I've thoughly enjoyed the journey by train. It's been absolutely beautiful up through Northern California, Oregon, Washington State, and now Montana (I slept through Idaho and it was dark anyways). I haven't done a whole lot except watch the scenery go by. It's faster than walking, but slow enough to enjoy the passing land. I've been taking a fe

I've been putting off writing this, mostly because I didn’t know how to begin. But there’s no easy way to say it: I’m stepping away from the trail. Tomorrow I’ll board a train and begin a 46-hour journey back to Minneapolis. I don’t think this is the end of my PCT story—but it is a pause. And it’s not a decision I made lightly. For six years, this goal shaped my life: planning, training, dialing in gear, saving money, taking prep trips. Walking away from it now stings more th

Arrived in Northern California this morning, stepping off the train into the mountain town of Dunsmuir. Tomorrow morning, I finally head back out on the trail. The overnight ride from Sacramento went by quickly. Between the train’s constant horn and a couple of impressive snorers nearby, it felt like an off-key concert that lasted all night. Still, I have to admit—I really enjoyed the 5 hour ride through the night. When I stepped off the train early this morning, the air had

Greetings everyone! I've been in Sacramento,CA for the past day and a half visiting some amazing friends and taking a break from the trail. Thank you Laura and Jason for an absolutely wonderful stay full of awesome conversations, incredible food, and a hot tub that was to die for! You guys are awesome and you are now considered PCT Trail Angels! Thank you!!!! It has been quite the rainy past day and a half here. I sat in bed listening to the rain pelt the side of the house

"Hike your own hike" is a phrase often heard on these long hikes. And after 558 miles, it's time for me to hike my own hike. We've been taking a break in an amazing trail angel's place in Tehachapi, CA. It's been a great relaxing couple days. My lower leg is starting to feel better, but I think it could still use a couple days off before heading back out. Tomorrow, Feathers and I will part ways and each begin the journey of "hiking your own hike". One aspect of this trip t

Feathers and I in the Mojave desert. It's full of wind turbines. I've never walked or camped in such an unbelievably violent wind. As someone wrote on one of the logs on this part of the trail, "5 to 10 whales could be blown out of the area with some of these gusts." This was displayed at one of the water caches a number of miles before Tehachapi. Many of these water caches are stocked by scouts looking to get their Eagle Scout. These caches are absolutely wonderful and

Day 40 of this journey. We're currently resting in the town of Tehachapi at mile 558. The last 2 days, I think the wind blew us down the trail. I have never hiked or camped in wind like we've had the past couple days. Two nights ago, I spent much of the night supporting my tent so it didn't blow apart. Last night was a replay. I wouldn't doubt we had some gusts to 50 mph. Luckily my Big Agnes Copper Spur 1 survived another night with some help from me. We're both look

Greetings everyone from my tent at 4:45 in the morning. I have some service here so I thought I'd give a quick update before heading out . We're camped at mile 525 in the middle of the Mojave desert surrounded by Joshua trees. This night has been.........hmmm.......what's the best word.......violent. The winds have been gusting to probably 40 or 45 mph through much of the night. Hence, I've been trying to help support my tent through the night so it doesn't turn into batt