Cheryl Strayed’s “Wild” came out a couple days ago — her story about hiking 1,100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). While a movie being made about the trail honestly kind of annoys me, and a lot of other PCT hikers for various reasons, it did get me thinking a little bit about my own journey along the trail back in 2007. Our 2,600 mile hike along the spine of the west coast will always remain one of the top experiences of my life — an experience that even now, over 7 years later, I still think about every day.
I was looking through my photos the other day, here are my favorites:
Pacific Crest Trail near Scissors Crossing — Our fourth morning out. The mountains that we had hiking in the day before just received a fresh coat of snow.
The bridge over Deep Creek has something of a Japanese garden feel to it.
Water! After walking through a lot of desert, we finally hit Kern Creek as we started rising into the Sierra Mountains. Water wouldn’t be as big of a concern after this point.
Coming into Crabtree Meadow — we got a nice little dusting of snow as we arrived. A nice welcome to the Sierras.
Coming down Forester Pass — the highest point on the Pacific Crest Trail.
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Another shot coming down Forester Pass
Lake Marjorie – and some splendid views of the Sierras.
McClure Meadow – Kings Canyon National Park. We had one of our most memorable dinners here. Shrimp and four cheese pasta while watching the sun set on the peaks that we just travelled through.
Jeannie flying – in Yosemite National Park
A ladybug somewhere in northern California.
A tree (dogwood?) somewhere in northern California
Eighty percent of this day was pretty brutal — it was just kind of an off day for me. As the sun sank lower though, I hit my stride, and I remember being deleriously happy through here.
Butterflies somewhere in northern California
Plants somewhere in northern California
Mt. Jefferson
Mt. Hood
Jeannie in the Goat Rocks Wilderness (She’s kind of a badass)
Just north of Snoqualmie Pass. Fall in the Northwest is kind of magical. Around the corner from here, there was an ‘actual’ river of fog flowing over a pass, from one valley to the next.
Napeequa Valley – not actually on the real Pacific Crest Trail, but due to a lot of storm damage, we detoured through here. No matter where you go in the North Cascades, you’re gonna have great scenery.
Most of the trail behind us — only a day or two from the Canadian border.