PCT on Film - Roll 2

The first hundred or so miles of the Pacific Crest Trail are really just an opportunity to settle in. To learn the routines, the systems, the gear and the lifestyle. All the planning and preparation in the world can only get you to the Southern Terminus. From then on it's all on the job training and you either sink or swim.

Together we found ourselves in the deep end, immersed in the reality of our pipe dream. The day-to-days of life were remote to us in the San Jacinto Mountains. We struggled with the heat, the terrain, the aches, pains and blisters - and of course, the walking. Kim and I needed to recognise the realities of our plan to walk across America. The trail doesn't tolerate the superficial, it has no facade. This at least was obvious from the beginning.

Fortunately, the great outdoors offers great motivation to persevere. 

We learned, adapted, and changed to meet the everyday challenges of our new life. We kept our head above water and soon realised that the deep end wasn't such a bad place to be. It had some tough lessons to teach, but in the slow, steady pace of a long walk we started to find a rhythm. There was time to figure it out.

The trail is patient and we weren't in at alone afterall. A few thousand people each year attempt a thru hike of the PCT.  A few became our friends, most we never saw again, all of us had at least this one thing in common.