Who is Rohan?!? – The walk

It was great, my name is Rohan. A little about me, I’m 18 years old, a Las Vegas native and I love backpacking. I love it so much that tomorrow I’m about to tackle the Pacific Crest Trail. Why do I do it? Honestly, for dad’s tradition. I’m also a bit of a procrastinator, which is why I’m writing this today… But anyway, this is the story of what led me to attempt this crazy journey.

I would say it all started my sophomore year of high school when I was scrolling through Instagram and saw a Cam Botstock video. In this reel I talked about how I was going to do this crazy road that goes from Mexico to Canada called the PCT. I don’t know why, but for some reason the idea intrigued me. I followed him and watched every one of his videos. They encouraged me to walk and I just got my driver’s license; Honestly, it was the perfect moment. I managed to convince my mom and my dog ​​(the dog really had no choice) to hike Mount Charleston with me. Mount Charleston is the highest peak in southern Nevada, peaking at nearly 12,000 feet. It was a brutal 25 mile trail with over 5,000 feet of elevation gain that we completed in one day…a very long day. However, I had a great time and convinced my friends Lincoln, Sam, and my little brother Banyan to do it again with me. As we were walking we had a great idea, courtesy of Sam. We wanted something more, something bigger and better than a day of hiking in the local mountains. That’s where the idea of ​​the trip to the Great Basin was born.

Our backpacking trip to the Great Basin is what got me hooked on backpacking; It is appropriate that I tell the full story. A few months into the Charleston expeditions we loaded up our backpacking gear, most of it from our parents or bought new at REI. Some backpacks had zippers that didn’t work and one of us had a 3 person tent. My stove had a gas leak in the cord connecting it to the propane canister and I brought 4 pairs of clothes for a three day trip. To say we were rookies is an understatement. But none of us cared or even noticed, we were just very happy to go on this adventure. Our group consisted of 15, 16 and 18 year olds and it was our first time on a trip without adult supervision and it was the furthest we had ever driven. Still, we had a great time driving through northern Nevada. As night fell, we were treated to one of the wildest desert thunderstorms I have ever seen. Navigating the open desert road, watching one of the most impressive storms any of us had ever seen while playing Kanye songs with my best friends, it was a day I will never forget. We slept in the bed of our truck that night and the storm let up enough for us to fall asleep with the stars as a blanket. The next morning we woke up early, played Keesha’s Tik Tok as we drove to the trailhead and made the quick trip to climb Wheeler Peak (the second highest in Nevada at 13,000 feet). As we were heading down, another storm hit and while we were getting our backcountry permits from the ranger station, we were almost talked out of it by a ranger who told us we were going to die out there because of the massive approaching storm. It was pouring rain and the wind was howling outside. We discussed it and decided to do it anyway. It rained the 10 miles to Baker Lake and by the time we got there we were beyond exhausted. We had hiked a 19-mile day, mostly uphill, and each of our backpacks weighed over 50 pounds. However, the next two days were incredible. We summited 2 peaks, did some off-trail hiking, fucked our brains out just eating subway and MREs, and honestly had a great time being a group of teenagers in the woods. To say I got hooked on backpacking after that trip is an understatement. I fell really in love with it and decided then that I was going to do the PCT. Later that summer, my mom and I went to the Ruby Mountains. It was like entering heaven. We had an amazing time together and I knew I had to come back. As the next year progressed, my friends and I began planning our biggest adventure yet…

After the ups and downs and massive changes in my life that occurred my junior year of high school, I was more than ready for my backpacking adventures that summer. Sam and I attempted our first hike, the Tahoe Rim Trail. We did it at the end of May and were not prepared for the huge amounts of snow along the entire trail. We only had microspikes, no ice axes, and our backpacks weighed over 45 pounds each. We met a guy (Big Bear trail name) and started a little trail family. Big Bear had climbed the PCT a few years earlier and had so many interesting and fun stories that cemented my decision to take the PCT the following year. Somehow we made it 140 miles out of 170 before a steep ice wall pushed us back and we couldn’t find a way around it. We decided we were done and called him there. That tour was the hardest 8 days of my life but also one of the most memorable. You know what they say, miserable means memorable.

A month later, my best friends (Alex, Lincoln), my brother (Banyan) and I embarked on our most ambitious adventure yet. After almost half a year of careful planning and preparation, we embarked on the adventure of a lifetime, a two-week road trip/backpacking trip through the American West. We drove to Salt Lake City in my 1991 Cadillac Deville. It was so packed with stuff that the basket we had on the hitch was dragging on the ground. I felt like I was taking him on a death march across the country and everyone knew we weren’t going to make it. He only overheated once on the way, although he stayed with Alex’s grandparents the first night. Little did we know that a miracle was about to occur. Alex’s amazing grandparents lent us a group of 17 year old teenagers their Jeep, to say I’m still grateful to them is an understatement and an understatement. They are some of the kindest and most amazing people. We drove in the next day and began our 50 mile loop. Lihat juga kshk. The next few weeks were incredible and the Winds were the highlight. Streams so full of trout that we caught them with our hands, fields of wildflowers of all colors, steep granite mountains, lush forests and lakes that stretched for miles. We swim in lakes every day and camp in the most beautiful places. I was in heaven. After that we went to the Tetons where we watched the sunset from the roof of the Jeep while eating pizza and playing hackey sack with the best views ever. We stopped and played disc golf with frisbees from Walmart in Idaho, backpacked through the Sawtooths and Ruby Mountains before heading home.

All of these trips are what got me to where I am today and I honestly still can’t believe I’m starting the PCT. I hope you all enjoyed this bark of mine and I can’t wait to share my journey over the next few months.

-Rohan Alvarez 7/3/26

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