GET OUT!

TAKE A HIKE!

I admit I've heard that a time or two before, but this time it's my idea. Since first reading about the Pacific Crest Trail in National Geographic while I lived in Colorado's Rampart Range, I have dreamed of hiking this trail. As a child in Tennessee's Smoky Mountains, my first learned song was "The Bear Went over the Mountain" and now I can truly see what's on the other side of the mountain.

SOLO, BUT NOT ALONE

Yes, I'm hiking by myself but I'll be joined by roughly 300 other hikers who will embark in April or May from the California & Mexico border intent on reaching Canada before the snow covers Washington's trails. Hiking up to 20 miles each day, with about one day off per week (a zero day), and with good luck in stream and pass crossings, wildfires and snowstorms , a person can make it to Canada in roughly 150 days.

PCT Map PCTA logo






The Pacific Crest Trail traverses

  • 3 states
  • 2650 miles
  • 7 national parks
  • 3 national monuments
  • 24 national forests
  • 33 wilderness areas

The Pacific Crest Trail

  • Crosses nearly 60 major mountain passes
  • Enters 19 major canyons
  • Passes by over 1000 lakes and tarns
  • Passes the 3 deepest lakes in the US

Annually

  • About 300 thru-hikers embark northbound (NOBO) from Mexico
  • About 25% of hikers annually complete the PCT
  • Everest summiteers outnumber PCT thru-hikers

SHARING WHAT I SEE

While I am hiking solo, I will miss sharing the special moments the trail offers. My purpose for this site is to share those moments with everyone. Join me on my hike. See what I can see.

A special person with whom I'd like to share what I can see is my friend's daughter, Leanne, who has Retinitis Pigmentosa which is a hereditary disease that causes blindness.

For Leanne, my friends and family, and you too, I will keep a trail journal & a record of places, people, sounds, sites, challenges, worries, accomplishments, and whatever else might happen along the way. I vow to journal routinely and to add pictures just as quickly.

To accomplish this I have completely disregarded very light backpacking principles and traded my 5.5-ounce camera for one weighing, ugh!, twice as much. So that I can keep up the daily pace, I dropped other useful weight (I am going to miss my camp chair).

View a PDF version of my PCT Gear List.

At the end of twenty miles of daily hiking, I promise that all journal entries will be riveting and every photo will be magazine ready. Zzzzzzz. You can follow my progress and read my journal entries at postholer.com

To learn more about Retinitis Pigmentosa and how I am using my trip to raise awareness of and funds for research to find a cure for Retinitis Pigmentosa - click here.

To make a donation - click here!