I spent years perfecting the perfect plan for completing a PCT hike. In a world where we can create infinite spreadsheets with infinite formulas, why accept even a hint of uncertainty? Nothing was going to stop me from traversing the western spine of our nation. And then I:
✅ I negotiated a six-month sabbatical from my job.
✅ I researched and purchased new gear during each retailer’s exclusive sales event, then tested each piece in the field.
✅ I completed glute-focused weekend training walks that gradually intensified to get fit and prevent injury.
✅ We tested the best cold soak recipes on the internet to identify the perfect, nutritious and varied meal rotation that would offer the lowest bite ratio.
✅ I identified buffet/Slurpee deserts along the way where I would need to send resupply boxes, packing and addressing each box with carefully bolded and underlined instructions on when to mail them.
✅ I plotted my daily mileage, ambitiously but not unrealistically, to ensure I arrived in Canada just in time to return to work…
…And much more. The moon landing was less carefully planned than this walk. So with fierce confidence I flew to San Diego and boarded a bus to Campo to begin my hike. The date was March 3, 2020.
The best delayed plans
I made it as far as Idyllwild before the PCTA encouraged everyone to come home and quarantine. My boxes would never be mailed. My spreadsheets and all their formulas would be invalidated by the merciless sweep of history, like Blockbuster Video or Hillary Clinton. I would spend the rest of my sabbatical masked as a bandit, searching the Internet for black market yeast to dispel my anxiety and disappointment. But the dream of completing the PCT never faded. I would have to rebuild it in the super sections.
In the last six years, I have completed all of Washington and the stretch from Mexico to Mammoth Lakes. This year, I decided to take on another spectacular section. I’d start with Burney Falls, which has been a special place to me since it was featured prominently in the greatest movie of all time. Ron Howard Willow.
From there, he would continue south until he reached Mammoth Lakes, passing through Lake Tahoe, the Desolation Wilderness, and the rest of the Sierra he had not yet completed. Snowpack seemed frighteningly thin this year, and airfare was still obscenely expensive (due in part to some overseas adventurism that, to my deep OCD irritation, was clearly not planned in the slightest). You would need to closely monitor fire conditions and the availability of water sources to ensure a successful and smooth hike. But if there’s one thing I learned from my 2020 experience, it’s that when it comes to hiking, the best plan is to be flexible.
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