Tell It On the Mountain - Tales from the Pacific Crest Trail

It takes a special kind of person to drop everything and walk through the woods for five months. But in a way, these hikers are just like you and me. They have jobs and families, they love their creature comforts. Yet something pulls them to be in nature, to leave everything behind and embark on what’s called a thru-hike. Thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail involves walking 2, 663 miles from Mexico to Canada. The journey lasts from April to October. That translates into about 20 miles a day, every day—on foot. These brave souls face bone-dry deserts, raging rivers, snow-covered mountain passes, mosquitoes, blisters, torrential rains… and the urge to quit. Follow a half dozen of the 300 or so hikers who attempt a PCT thru-hike every year. Armed with cameras, they give us an insider’s view into what it takes to spend half a year living in the wild. The Pacific Crest Trail, like its better-known eastern cousin the Appalachian Trail, is a narrow corridor of wilderness set aside by an act of Congress (The National Trails System Act, 1968) to preserve a place where hikers can commune with nature. Over the course of its 2, 663 miles, (a number that changes from time to time, due to natural hazards or land re-negotiations) it passes through 33 designated wilderness areas, 24 national forests, 7 national and 6 state parks. The trail begins in the desert and winds its way through six of North America’s seven ecozones. In its hottest stretches, where temperatures can top 100 degrees Fahrenheit, hikers often cover 20-30 miles of trail between water sources. The longest waterless stretch on the trail is 35. 5 miles! In the Sierra Nevada mountain range hikers must contend with snow covered mountain passes and ice-cold rivers. As they journey further north into the wild Pacific Northwest, they’ll contend with the changing seasons as they strive to reach Canada before winter arrives.