(Finally gave up on HikerFeed app which seemed good on paper, but never worked properly for me 🙁) 10-day resupply in the bear canister, ready to ship - 7.6 kg / 16.8 lbs (gulp!) Already shipped the first box last week
It is done! Finally, on August 10th, 2022, 117 days after I started at the US-Mexico border on April 16th, 2022, I reached the US-Canada border. Walked 2653.6 miles (4270.6 km) south-to-north through the states of California, Oregon and Washington. No bittersweet moments...just sweet relief to be done 😀. We were few of the lucky thru-hikers this year who were able to go south-to-north continuously without any interruptions. People who started even a couple of weeks earlier and maintained this pace hit a lot more snow in Seirras and a hell lot more in Washington, the latter being almost hike-stopping. By the time we got to Seirras, the snow was much more manageable, and almost all the snow had melted in Washington. People who started later or were slower have had to skip parts of Northern California due to forest fires. Even Oregon and Southern California have some fires starting already. Anyway, reached the northern terminus of the PCT yesterday morn...
As the last town day on the trail ends and a few dozen miles left to the end point, I would like to speak of gratitude. Every so often on the trail, there are moments of "why the heck am I doing this?" and that's when I have to compel myself to remember that this is an option and an opportunity given to me. I am fortunate enough to be able to hike on this trail for a long period, which is essentially a vacation (albeit, a physically & mentally demanding one). Not everybody gets the option of taking such a long vacation from work, family and other commitments. It may be a cliche, but I am full of gratitude for this. I am also deeply grateful to a bunch of people who made this hike possible and I would like to use this post to mention those people. Ravin & Deepika opened their home and hearts so that I could do all the preparatory work before the hike. They were generous to a fault and I used (& perhaps, abused) their generosity. Even during the hik...
Clothes, tent, sleeping bag, food, sit-pad (luxury item), hiking pole, sleeping pad, camp slippers, stove & cook pot, meds & a book (another luxury item)
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I know you will love it! Enjoy and don’t rush… snow is melting very slowly this year!!
-Hemang