Raw Emotions T-Minus Four Hours Before the PCT

I’m currently sitting on the plane, alone on my way from Seattle. Though I’ve been dreaming of this day for 8 years, I’m mostly anxious and apprehensive.

One more hour until I touch down in San Diego, and my friends will be picking me up from the airport on our way to the trailhead.

Where exactly is this trailhead? Though I’ve been asked this question repeatedly this week, I don’t actually know. Somewhere at the border. Though I spent years researching gear, I never really studied the map. All I know is that my friend’s husband, Sev, will be dropping us off next to Mexico, and it’ll just be Courtney, me, and the small mountain of beans in my backpack for the next five to six months.

That’s if we make it. People keep asking me, “So, you’re doing the whole trail?!” Though I’d like to say yes, I know the reality is that people need to leave for a variety of reasons. So I like to set their expectations by saying that we will be hiking between one day and six months. If I’ve touched the border, I’ve accomplished my goal to start the PCT, and I plan to finish whatever gets cut short this year over the next years of my life.

Whenever I’ve come across PCT hikers, I’ve been starstruck. Today, I’m full of anxiety and dread (bears, cougars, serial killers, falling off cliffs, drowning, being crushed by a dead tree, lightning, being away from my friends and family for half a year)…

But today, I become my own hero, a PCT hiker!

Who is Jamie?

Hi, I’m Jamie, a brand new PCT hiker! I’m from Lake Stevens, Washington, a town between Seattle and Canada.

Before today, I was an electrical engineer who developed Linux-based operating systems for computers that go inside things like toasters and organ transplant machines.

I quit that job to pursue my dream of living abroad and to become a Robot Master (TM). I studied complex adaptive systems in Göteborg, Sweden, focusing on machine learning and autonomous robotics. While I was there, I had the opportunity to study abroad-abroad in Singapore. I also got to study autonomous change detection for robots in space at NASA Ames in Silicon Valley. Shoutout to Astrobee, the #1 robot in my heart and in the world! ✊

After that I landed my dream job as a robotics research engineer at Texas A&M. Being there inspired me to go all the way to a PhD, so I’ll be starting my PhD in Robotics at Oregon State after the trail. The intermission between these two ventures is the perfect time to hike the trail with my friend, Courtney, who just graduated with her PhD!

Now that I’ll be landing soon, it’s almost time to walk back home.

Update One Week Later

Courtney and I took to the trail like ducks in water. Though I’ll save the details of our first section for a later post, I think we’re starting to get the hang of it-we’re even going to bed before 8, now!

Courtney would also like me to emphasize that the above is an example of imposter syndrome and that in reality, we are as prepared as we can be (except that I forgot to pre-soak my Sawyer and it’s been clogged this first week. Fortunately, we are each other’s back-ups.) Most of the anxiety has left and now I’m going with the flow. However, as I continue to walk toward Canada, I hope to become a more confident and self-assured Jamie.