Heading West: Why the PCT?

Hello… Perhaps Again?

Hey there readers, my name is George and welcome to my Trek blog for my PCT 2025 Thruhike. Odds are if you’re seeing this you either know me from my off trail hike or met me on the trails in the past. If on the off chance you are a regular Trek reader who recognizes me from my ill-fated attempts to blog my 2021 Appalachian Trail Thruhike, you have one hell of a memory for recognizing someone from a flowery post about loving the outdoors and a gear list with way too much on it.

I have been an active hiker, backpacker, outdoorsman or whatever your preferred term for most of my life, having grown up with a family that enjoyed getting out for hikes on the weekend in summer, working my way through Boy Scouts, and finding a new love for it after diving deeper into hiking on it’s own with friends in high school. After deciding to take a break from college for the 2020-2021 school year due to the pandemic, I embarked on a NOBO thruhike of the Appalachian Trail, fell even deeper in love with backpacking, and have since tried to keep it a regular hobby of mine.

Introductions Aside

Sitting down to think about what to write for my introduction post on here lead me to a bit of a puzzle. I could do this the way I did the last time I attempted to write a blog… that is wax philosophically about how much I love nature like I’m John Muir for way too many words, set too high of an example for myself, and crash and burn trying to match that standard while writing from a phone in a tent. In hindsight, not the best call because A. If you know me personally, then you already know about my love for hiking and why I’m doing another thruhike or B. You’re reading blogs on a backpacking website and already understand those reasons for yourself anyways.

The long and short of it is that I love hiking, I’m taking on another long distance thruhike because I loved hiking the Appalachian Trail, and you don’t want to hear me dive deep into each individual reason and story from my life that has lead me to this point. Instead I want to focus on a question I’ve actually asked myself quite a bit the past few months: Why the PCT?

How Did I Get Here

In the Spring of 2023 I was in the depths of my junior year in college, in the middle of writing what would end up being the first form of my history honors thesis when Spring Break cut through the fog of long nights in the library like a sunrise. I had been so busy working and doing research that I had neglected to make plans for it, though I likely wouldn’t have gone anywhere crazy anyways due to having just come back from a semester abroad with a… less than flush amount of money. Still, I didn’t want to just sit in my room for all of break, so I went for a cheaper option. I drove a few hours south into Georgia to hike the state with that years bubble of NOBOs.

I ended up having to call it quits two nights into the hike due to my sleeping pad from my thruhike finally giving in and popping, but I had had the fire of thruhiking reignited in me. On my way back to school, defeated but inspired, I began to craftily assemble a plan to get on a long distance hike as soon as I could.

Eastern Possibility

Well, as soon as I could ended up being this year, 2025, a nice gap between graduating last spring and heading off to grad school this fall. That much I couldn’t really change. That left the factor in my control to be… choosing the hike. Despite my absolute love for it, I decided fairly early on that I couldn’t just do the Appalachian Trail again. Not that I wouldn’t love to do it, but I know myself and I know that I wanted to tackle something at least a little bit new. My thoughts instantly jumped to a trail that’s been gaining some popularity in recent years, the Eastern Continental Trail.

When even the idea of being able to thruhike this year was just fantasy for me to entertain when I was bored in the library or in class, I thought it was a great idea. As it became more and more apparent that I would be able to thruhike something long this year though, it also became more and more apparent that I was going to have neither the time or the money to put together an ECT hike this year. Also, personally speaking, while I will always be impressed by people who hike the Florida Trail, it’s never been exactly high on my personal to do list.

What Else Then?

Once the ECT was off the table, I began to look for other options. First off, it had to be a long hike, several months long. I flirted with trying to take on the Triple Tiara of the John Muir Trail, Colorado Trail, and Long Trail in a single year. Ultimately though, I wanted to do a single end to end thruhike. That left a few options. The Appalachian Trail was an obvious choice, especially if I tacked on the Pinhoti Trail at the start to try my hand at a Bama to Baxter thruhike in the vein of Nimblewill Nomad.

I did look at a number of options outside of the US but none of them really fit the bill. There was also of course, the other two triple crown trails. The Continental Divide Trail was off the list fairly quickly. As I’ve said to a lot of people who have asked me in the past, the CDT while beautiful would be a trail I’d only hike to finish the Triple Crown itself. That left me between the Bama to Baxter AT and the PCT itself, both equally tempting options.

Hurdles

Once I had narrowed it down to the two trails, the PCT was a front runner. I have heard nothing but great things from friends who have hiked it, and when it comes to doing something new I have spent tragically little time on the Pacific coast, much less hiking out there. That said, as an ardent fan of the New York Knicks, I knew the one thing I couldn’t do was get caught up in excitement for the trail before I was sure I was going to hike it.

At the time, there were two main hurdles that I had to get past in order to do the PCT “right” by my own standards. First off, I had to get a permit. Simple enough, but I met a gentleman on the AT who had spent five fruitless years trying to get a PCT permit without luck. I was never hopeless that I wouldn’t get a permit, but I wasn’t counting my chickens before they hatched. The other was the snow. For me personally, I want to have a minimal amount of flip flopping on the trail. For that, I didn’t want to go out with the early start date my grad school schedule requires heading into another historic snowpack. Back in November when I was beginning to put plans into action, both of these hurdles seemed like a long shot of me actually getting over.

Luck be a Lady

Then, it all fell into place. Somehow, through sheer luck or God, I ended up with an early permit draw. I got to pick the exact start date I wanted and everything. Still though, at that point the snow year did not look promising. But, as I tracked weather reports, what had initially looked like a 2023 level historic pack stayed put. It became average, then it became below average. I couldn’t believe my eyes every few days.

Two weeks ago, I was finally comfortable calling it. I was going to set out on the PCT this year. I’m heading out to Campo in early April, and I can’t wait to bring all of you with me. Stay tuned because I have some fun stuff planned to hold you over until we get there!

 

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Comments 1

  • Jess : Feb 10th

    So glad you got your date of choice! Loved reading your thought process for your trail of choice. You made a great choice. Excited to follow your adventure.

    Reply

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