The hiking community is divided into those who have hiked the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and those that want to.

The PCT is a two-foot wide, 2,650 mile long trail along the west of the USA and is widely regarded as the world’s premier long distance hiking trail.

Like many PCT hopefuls, my partner (Waddle) and I had been hoping and planning to hike this trail for many years. We had permits for 2020, had quit our jobs, moved out, booked flights etc. But a week before we we’re due to fly out, the borders went up and the planes stayed down. We also had permits for 2023 but Waddle had a foot injury. We hiked around Australia and hiked the Te Araroa in New Zealand instead. But we were never not going to do the PCT.

In 2024 we got permits a third time and were kind of surprised that we found ourselves at Campo without incident. I don’t think it really hit me that we were on the PCT until we reached Canada some 4 1/2 months later. In many ways it felt just like any other trail. But slowly, quietly, and surely this trail seeps into your skin and bones. A walk becomes a lifestyle, the wilderness becomes your home, your friends become your family, civilization an unfortunate necessity.

We had massively high expectations, I knew I had romanticised the trail a lot in my head from hearing past thru-hikers talk about it and watching trail videos. It blew our expectations out of the water, there is nothing that comes close to experiencing it for yourself.

Just show me the photos:

• Southern California

• Sierra Nevada

• Northern California

• Oregon

• Washington