Pinch me, this feels like a dream – I´ll hike the Pacific Crest Trail
My “trail” to Campo
It was 2007 when I stumbled over the Pacific Crest Trail for the first time, and immediately something inside me knew that this was I wanna do someday. But then, graduation, university, and first job – hiking the PCT remained a “maybe someday” idea. Still super present, because the idea of a long-distance hike brought me into hiking. Of course, it´s not comparable with a 4.200km hike. But after almost 13 years of multi-day hiking in Scotland, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Austria, Montenegro, and Canada I knew pretty sure I badly need a long hike.
As for most of us, the road to Campo wasn´t a straight one. It all started when turning 30 in May 2020. No, not an early midlife crisis, but I felt that I finally needed to work toward the things I always labeled with a “someday”. Being 30, single, and healthy, there is no way I´ll be this free in my life ever again. Therefore, I started step-by-step to stop postponing and get into things.
But with a special thanks to covid and honestly real great development in my job, it still took me until August 2023 to finally opt out. Leaving my comfortable 9-5 “non-work-life-balance” life, my first dream job, and my life in the greatest city on earth (Innsbruck-Austria) for a working holiday year in Canada. Aaaaaaaaaand I had the greatest year ever continuously following the flow of a traveler, which got me closer with small steps to dare this adventre now.
But honestly speaking it already started years ago. From a first research about ultra-light gear, towards spreadsheets about dream gear (yes, I´m a gear nerd 😉) and slowly upgrading my “in-use” gear it now feels as if I unconsciously moved towards this (logical) step. So where am I in the huge amount of first-timers overthinking planning?
Current status pre hike:
I´ll be in my winter Job in BC until mid-April, going to San Francisco from there to my cousin’s place. This will be my base camp for the hike (thank you guys <3). My resuppIy strategy includes around 20-30 boxes (not finally decided yet) I need to pack and do some preparation hikes. Flying down San Diego around the end of April. I plan to leave Campo around May 1st, or 1-2 days earlier. I go with local permits until Agua Dulce where my long-distance permit starts May 22nd. Unfortunately, I must wait for my Visa until April, as it requires an Interview at the embassy in Vancouver, which I can take in mid-March. Fingers crossed that this goes smoothly.
Gear: I´m 90% set. I need to decide on a pack and get some smaller things ordered. But this will be done by the end of February.
Training: I try to do 20.000 steps per day, 2 gym sessions, 1 skiing day, and 1 cross-country skiing session per week. Additionally, I work standing.
The next steps will be to test the new equipment and become more familiar with the single sections. Thanks to the Yogi group on Faceook. All information and Zoom calls etc. are invaluable and already shows the great spirit of our thru-hiker family!
I can´t stress enough how exciting this is. It´s the biggest adventure of my life so far and my biggest dream of the last 18 years coming true. I´ll be a Pacific Crest Trail Hiker soon <3
I´ll write about my detailed physical training, the mental aspects and gear topics here soon. Looking forward to telling you all about my journey here and on my Instagram profile.
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Comments 4
Looking forward to reading about your adventure.
<3
I wish I was there in my adventure. Still behind my desk… but one day I’ll be there too. Good luck and have fun! Looking forward to following along.
Thank you 🙂 just keep the idea always present. And take action before it’s too late! Jobs come and go, but you might get only one chance to make your dream come true. Don’t wait too long and create yourself the opportunity 😉