Something Old, Something New

Years passed. I had returned to a world where time moved in hazy stretches, while each day from the five months I’d spent on trail was seared into my brain. Life continued, and I was back on the “normal” path. I got married; we bought a house. Meanwhile my sleeping pad, lying unused in the closet, grew covered in mildew.

A few weeks after I returned home from trail, I finally tallied up the miles I had hiked and the sections that I’d missed due to closures. 2182 miles hiked; over 500 PCT miles remaining.

The heart of my motivation had always been simple: hike as much of the trail now as I can, and see as much of it as I can before it burns. The summer of 2024 stretched out before me, and I decided that I wasn’t quite finished with the Pacific Crest Trail.

And the first section I’d missed came long before fires forced me off trail: 12 miles in the Laguna Mountains. On day five I had hitched to Julian to change out my shoes after an agonizing set of blisters threatened to derail my hike. My ride back to trail had dropped me off 12 miles north of where I had gotten picked up, and for the rest of my thruhike those missing miles had niggled at the back of my mind.

On April 17th I landed in the San Diego airport, more than two years after I had started out from the Mexican border. Part of me was still on trail out there, and it was finally time to reach Canada.

4 Comments

  • Jane Sherrill

    Nice! Best of luck to you Stormy….wishing you no storms, only pleasant skies and the good kind of adventures.

  • John S

    “…niggled at the back of my mind.” Its the siren of the trail, the happiest place on earth! Now you’re an experienced PCT hiker. The miles should go quickly, then what? The CDT? Happy hiking on your adventure. thks john s

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