Start: Grider Creek Campground
Finish: Seiad Valley, CA
Daily Mileage: 6.9
PCT Mile: 1657.5
So this is it, last day on the PCT to finish my solid footpath from Mexico to Canada. Honeybun and I got up as normal since we were so programmed for it by this point. Can’t sleep in because we have hit the trail at 6 for so long.
But we weren’t hitting trail today. The trail went down a gravel road that eventually turned paved for the remainder of connecting my footsteps. Just because a trail is road though doesn’t mean it is all bad. We saw wild turkeys and enjoyed some of the quirky remote houses on the hike down.
Then it was just another short quarter mile to the Wildwood RV Park where we ended our hitch when skipping from Etna to Seiad. Arriving meant that I completed my contiguous footpath from Mexico to Canada! We cracked our beers one last time and squatted on the front porch of the park stealing some wifi for the last time.
The end of these hikes can take a while to set in for me, and this was one of those occasions. After hiking for 5 months straight and becoming a way of life, it is hard to believe that I am finished. Almost every day I have gotten up and hiked, but now I won’t be doing that anymore. It will be an enormous change to go back home and have plumbing, a refrigerator, food and water on demand, a bed, climate control, unlimited power, and all of the other luxuries that most people consider mandatory as part of “normal” life, but I’m sure I will adjust quickly as always.
Well, that is the end of my hike. Honeybun and I drove back home along the Oregon coast, taking a little more time than our dash down to CA.
This will end my journal for the PCT, but I intend to keep writing on this site. I want to put out a lot more information on how to hike, gear choices, and the things that you don’t see on the internet when you are trying to figure out how a thru-hike works. Stay tuned to this site as I get settled in back home for much more information on thru-hiking.
1 comment
Excellent! So when are you planning to do the CDT? 😉