Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail

An amazing journey of discovery and self-fulfillment.

One autumn evening some years ago, my mother handed me a magazine that contained an article she thought I might find interesting. I flipped through the pages to a short article about the Appalachian Trail, the storied hiking trail made famous in Bill Bryson's book A Walk in the Woods. The article even contained a snippet from Bryson's book.
    Although I had been a hiker for most of my life, I was unfamiliar with the concept of long-distance hiking. Instantly fascinated by the idea of challenging myself to spend half a year in the mountains, hiking every day, and pushing my body and mind to their limits, I consumed every word in the article, and soon after read, re-reread and re-re-read A Walk in the Woods. I developed an insatiable appetite for learning about what long-distance or "through hiking" is. During my research, I discovered another long-distance trail in this vein, and one that was right here in my home state: the Pacific Crest Trail.

The beginning of the trail

    Several years later, and after a couple of jaunts to Europe, my grandparents advised me to see more of my own country. Why travel so far when there are so many great places close by? Taking that injunction to heart, and remembering my infatuation with the prospect of traveling such great distances on foot, seeing places that very few get to see, and just hiking every day, I resumed my research on the PCT, buying nearly every book about it, guidebooks and narratives. I sought out the advice of former hikers. Every day was filled with thoughts of my future hike—2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada, ranging in elevation from 150 feet at the Oregon/Washington border to 13,200 feet in the southern Sierras—along the backbone of some of the most beautiful land in the world. Throughout 2004 I planned, saved, trained and agonized over whether or not I would be able to accomplish such a lofty goal.
    In April 2005, I quit my job, moved out of my house and began my adventure. Although I was unable to complete the entire trail due to injury, it was the experience of a lifetime. One rattlesnake, three bears, dozens of deer, scores of marmots, hundreds of mosquito botes and 2,000 miles later, these photos represent a small portion of what I experienced.

	The highway was shut down to vehicular traffic ... for obvious reasons
The "tan" line, after a couple days of  walking
	Campfire
Tree in the roadway
	A bridge best left untraveled

For more photos, visit cothamphoto.com.

Do you like what you read? Subscribe to Solano Magazine »