Why We Do What We Do

We’ve hiked so many miles together, and have so many more to go…

Hi 🙂 – I know it’s been awhile.  Life is complicated sometimes, and often the first thing to get the boot is writing.  But I’m starting another adventure soon, and I’m just so excited that I can’t keep it to myself any longer.

I haven’t made this official yet, but I’m going to hike the PCT next summer.  Or I should say WE are going to hike the PCT – Snap, Crackle, and Pop!  Unlike the AT, for which I did ZERO prep, I’m starting to read up, research, and basically try to prepare myself for the unexpected.  Bye-bye deer ticks!  Hello, mountain lions…

Aaaawwweee….

Quickly turns to: AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

I know what many of you (mom) are thinking:  EM – why are you doing another thru-hike?  Didn’t you just finish one?  Well, yes, yes we did.  And it was amazing.  But whatever I was searching for out there on the trail, I didn’t find it.  Maybe it’s because I’ll never find what I’m searching for (don’t really want to anyway).  Or maybe it’s because hiking the AT isn’t what started this whole “thru-hiker” business in the first place.

Is it weird that I get ridiculously excited when I find one of these?

The PCT was always my dream, my thru-hiker dream that is.  I grew up listening to stories about the majestic, magnificent Pacific. North. West.  No matter where I traveled, my mom would say “yes, that’s pretty, but deep in the Cascade mountains where the wildflowers grow…*insert me rolling my eyes*”  PNW became this sort of mythical land or holy grail; once I knew it existed I had to find it.

You can’t wake up to this view unless you hike it

As I approached high school graduation, I started searching for hiking trips in Washington State – a few weeks in the backcountry seemed like a good way to celebrate my recent liberation.  That’s when I stumbled upon the Pacific Crest Trail.  A few google searches later led me to the key word/phrase thru-hike.  Er – what?  As I read on, I started to discover a whole other world beyond my own.  THIS was IT.  THIS was what I was looking for.  Hiking over 2000miles through wilderness with nothing but a pack on my back?  Next life challenge found and accepted.

Much of the first 1600 miles will look something like this – at least that’s a dry heat haze

But I couldn’t just throw my gear in a bag and hit the trail.  I had some other things to do first, like college.  While doing those other things, I met Tim – an experienced thru-hiker who was earning his Triple Crown while I summited Katahdin (because he’s AWESOME).  During our many conversations about thru-hiking, he convinced me to hike the AT.  I think I cursed his name a few times on the trail, but in the end he was right.  The Appalachian Trail is its own special kind of thru-hike, and to truly appreciate it in all its glory – it needs to be your first 😉

Just one of my “other things” that I had to do first

So with that bit of background on how I decided to hike the PCT, the question still remains – WHY?  Why do I love to hike so much…and for so long?  If you have ever felt invincible, exhilarated, victorious, humbled, gratified, insignificant, enormous, effervescent (yes, effervescent) and incredibly strong…like really strong…all at the same time, then you know why I hike.

What drives each and every hiker on the trail is individual.  What gets you out of the tent every morning, convinces you to put on your smelly socks, your slightly damp runners, and your rose-blossom of a pack, and pushes you one more step towards one more step – that’s all personal too.

How can anyone say no?

No two thru-hikers are the same.  Ask each one of use why we do what we do and you will get a thousand different answers.  Some of us are searching for answers ourselves, some of us companionship and camaraderie, some silence and solitude; the list is as infinite as the stars we see in the night sky (and as a thru-hiker, you get to see A LOT of stars).  Our most basic motivations might be the same, – spectacular views/commune with nature/once-in-a-life-time-experience/the voices told me to – but our stories, the tales of how we reached this terminus of an epic adventure, those are all unique.

The stars were incredible

What I’m trying to say is – I’m hiking the PCT next summer and I’m really friggin’ psyched about it.  I love the life of a thru-hiker, there are so many reasons why I love it.  But I guess if I had to narrow it down to one thing, it’s simple:  freedom.  When you step foot on any trail, and there is nothing ahead of you but wilderness, nothing to protect you but your wits, nothing to distract you but the birds and the bees (the literal birds and bees), well there’s no other feeling in the world like it.  The ultimate freedom of the trail.  It’s why I do what I do.

 

Home of the free, land of the brave