Posts
Time pressure and release; ‘making space’ to thru-hike the PCT
We are 7 days away from starting the biggest adventure we have ever undertaken. The past weeks have been manic. I own a small travel and wellness business, and Chris is a senior software developer for a Norwegian Fin-tech start up. We have both had to put our lives on hold in order to make space for the 5 months of hiking across the USA. It’s easy to type out the words, ‘put our lives on hold’, and a lot less easy to actually do so.
Weight training for PCT preparation
Prior to mid-January 2025, when I faced up to my 2025 PCT thru-hike preparation in seriousness, I had not done any weight training, ever.
Fear and thru-hiking: From flight-or-fight to wisdom, transformation and compassion
I’ve been pondering on the subject of fear lately, as my husband and I are now just 8 weeks away from starting the Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike, a 4260km continuous hike through the USA, from the Mexican to the Canadian borders. This is by far the biggest adventure we have ever undertaken and in order to be able to complete 4-5months of wilderness hiking, we are mobilising and sorting many aspects of our lives, like finances, insurance, legal concerns - the list is long. As we have been engaged in this preparation period, we have been staying with my parents in South Africa, and conversations frequently lean towards risks and ‘what if’s’ (parents excel at coming up with these questions). Scared into action by these conversations, and through researching insurance policies (that trade and profit on the assumption of fear), I have been asking myself, ‘what am I afraid of, and, what are the risky issues/factors we may encounter over a PCT thru-hike that don’t seem to make me fearful?
How hot can you handle? Conditioning for the heat on a PCT thru-hike
From January 2022 to December 2024, my partner Chris and I were based in Norway. As South African immigrants to Norway, the frigid, long winters were
A slow-paced wilderness immersion for PCT preparation in Southern Africa
To welcome in 2025 Chris and I spent time immersed in wilderness, well out of mobile connectivity. We joined a group of friends on a 5 night hike in Pondoland, which is a remote coastal region of South Africa. We saw the Pondoland hike as a symbolic start to 2025 - an inviting and fun first step in our training and preparation for the PCT. We will be doing a thru-hike from May - October 2025, and although we are experienced hikers and generally fit, we understand that hiking 30kms (± 20miles) a day for 140 days carrying a pack between 12-20kgs is unlike anything we’ve ever done before. Although we love navigating a trail ourselves, we wanted to join our friends on this guided slack-packing hike, and support a good cause over the festive time of New Years.
When does your PCT journey really begin?
“I feel like our PCT journey began today!” My husband enthusiastically proclaimed over a mediocre lunch in Oslo on December 7th 2024. The tiny cafe was rammed with people hidden below massive coats and blank expressions. Why would the journey start a whole 5months before even arriving in the USA you may be wondering? I think answering that question overlaps with another bigger question: How and when exactly do we determine the beginning of a journey?