The Great Escape

As any city dweller with the itch for outdoor escapism knows, there is a ritual in seeking out another hiker who wants to spend hours kicking back and forth ideas about the next great woodlands adventure.

“Let’s walk the Northern quarter of the Appalachian

Trail….no!...Let’s get remote and section hike the Continental

Divide…no!...The Pacific Crest Trail!”

Much of the ritual is talking one another into a state of fiery excitement over the joys of the outdoors with less regard for the follow through. Yet every once in awhile one of these inspirations, say to hike a 500 mile section of the Pacific Crest Trail from Kennedy Meadows to Tahoe, actually comes to fruition.

The adventure’s true point of origin started in 2007 on a Greyhound Bus full of similarly geared Manhattanites to a spot on the Appalachian Trail called Bear Mountain. This became a verdant launching pad for two friends to ruminate over how cool it would be to section hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) one summer.

Fast-forward through two years of emailing about gear, bears, pack weight and resupply points as well as calming each other’s anxieties over Skype, and we were on a flight from New York’s John F. Kennedy airport to Los Angeles, nervous as all hell.

The next 5 weeks went by in a blissful, life altering blur as we hiked through the astounding Sierra Mountains, climbed Mt. Whitney- the tallest peak in the lower 48 states, crossed meadows of shooting stars, scrambled over chartreuse lichen boulders, slid down 50 meter shoots of snow, and hiked with individuals who we would be less likely to meet in any other social setting. We drank every drop of enjoyment that we found in the sights and sounds of Mother Nature’s best assets and woke up every morning thirsting for more mountains. But the best part of all was that we each learned some things and individually glimpsed a different breed of happiness that is simply inaccessible to most people in the city environment. In a place where one's greatest challenge can be replaced by an unforeseen, even greater accomplishment, we found ourselves privy to a peace of mind that allowed for relaxation, thought and deep appreciation.

Hiking the California Sierras along the Pacific Crest Trail is a section hiker's dream hike. Our hope is that by sharing our journals from this experience we can entice others to explore this part of the country.