pacific crEst trail

thru hiking from mexico to canada

In 2018, my partner and I spent four months walking 2,652 miles from Mexico to Canada along the illustrious Pacific Coast Trail. We spent a summer spent living in the desert, mountains and forests. No day was the same. Our backyard changed 120 times.

The PCT is a footpath that beckons not merely north and south, but upward towards body, mind and soul. This was a pathway that sheds society’s disguises, structured living and excess material things, and replaces those with the more important things — fresh air, pure water, and an ever changing horizon and home each night. The trail was a beautiful way to witness the changing of seasons and ground myself to the simple rhythm of nature.

The year of 2018 was a special time to walk, as it celebrated 50 years of the PCT being a National Scenic Trail. Yet the end, at the mowed tree line signaling the border of Canada, it did not feel like a finish line. It felt like just one of many glorious moments — a tribute to the process, or even more cliche, the journey, as opposed to the destination.

A great female explorer once said, trails “do not begin or end, but merely change form.”

I think that about sums it up. Here’s to the freedom found in an endless dirt path of possibility. And a Happy 50th Year to the iconic Pacific Crest Trail!