All done!

I can't believe I'm finally writing this post. I remember in the beginning wondering what it would be like and what I would be feeling once I'm all done. I'm currently sitting in my friends apartment in Seattle watching tv; basically as far away from backpacking as possible. This post will probably be very long, but it'll be the last post of this trip. I'll sum up the whole thing and finally explain my reasons for why i decided to hike the PCT in the first place. 

The end of the hike was not anything like I had expected. It felt very rushed. All these fires popped up out of nowhere and by the time we settled on one plan another fire would pop up and something would have to change. Basically the PCTA closed the trail down for about 50 miles and gave us a 97 mile road walk instead. We decided to just do it and by the time we got 40 miles into it we found out there was another fire and even more trail was closed. This bumped the road walk up to around 130 miles. This only left 30 miles of trail left open for us and we were worried they would close that last 30 and we would be unable to finish. So after walking 50 miles of road we hitched to the last road on the pct, Harts Pass. It was very eary feeling. They had been evacuating all hikers south of Harts, but luckily we got to go through northbound. They ended up closing north of Harts Pass the morning we finish, so we got through just in time. That second to last day we got stormed on and it rained al night. The next day it was a weird feeling knowing it was the last day on the trail. Unfortunately we were fogged out and did not have any good views all day. We finished our last climb and started our final 6 mile decent down to the northern terminus. We wound ourselves down long switchbacks and at the last tenth of a mile we could see the cut in the trees that divided the U.S. from Canada. 

We rounded the last turn and there it was, Canada. It was such an odd feeing to be seeing that statue. I remember watching videos and seeing pictures of it and now I'm actually there! It was just an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment. It was also a bit sad knowing it was over. 

I finished with Ice Cream and Redbass. I had met Red Bass on day one and we have been hiking together for around 1700 miles. Ice Cream and I have been continuously hiking together for 2200 miles. We became extremely close and the best of friends, and she will definitely be the person I miss the most; you get to know someone pretty well when you walk and talk with each other 24/7 for 3 months. 

I know I've made some friends for life and this trip would not have been the same without them. Who knows maybe we will do another thru hike together...

Afte we had lunch and took dozens of pictures at the terminus we signed the log book and had to head off and do another 8 miles into Canada to get to civilization.

It poured on us the whole time and the trail was shitty but I don't think any of us cared. We finally got to Manning Park and got a room. Ice Creams parents were driving up and meeting us the next day to take us back into the states. When they arrived they brought a scale (my request) and champagne! I lost 51.5 pounds, from 220 to 168.5.

This pretty much brings us up to where I am now, hanging out in Seattle until my flight into Dulles on the 25th. 

The second part of this post I want to talk about my take away from it all and just explain why I did this trip. When I first told people about my hike everyone asked why. My generic answer was I just graduated college and had some free time, but that's only a tiny part of the truth. There's actually 4 reasons I hiked the trail and I didn't realize them all till I was part way into the trip. Reason 1 was because in 2013, when I first decided to hike, I had just gone through a break up and my original plans to move somewhere post college were no longer there, so I had the time and no tie downs and could do some big trip. Reason 2 was because of my dad. He had thru hiked the Appalachian trail in 1981 so I've always known what thru hiking was and I loved hearing about his stories growing up. Here's my dad at the end of his hike

I used to brag to my friends in Boy Scouts about what he had done and I think that might be the thing I'm most proud of him for. Also, my dad and I werent as close as I would like. All we would really talk about before this was either school, work, or finances. I really liked that this brought us closer together and it was truly something we could bond over. Reason 3 was the stories and adventure. As I mentioned previously, I loved hearing my dads stories and I wanted that for when I have kids. I met some absolutely incredible people on this trip and had some amazing times that I know for a fact I will never forget. I met people from Ivy League graduates, political consultants, owners of companies, to people that go from job to job just to save up enough to hike the next trail. The people, the stories they tell, and the stories we made are what made this trip memorable. Reason 4 and the last reason was the personal development and challenge this adventure was. As most people know, I love goal setting. I set tons of goals from tiny ones throughout the day to huge goals for my life. This trail became one of my dreams and goals to accomplish and I knew that the feeling of finishing would be a euphoric experience. The best part about setting goals is the feeling of accomplishing them. It was absolutely incredible walking into Canada knowing I had walked FROM MEXICO! It's just crazy to think that. I had some rough times on the trail, I had to push myself pretty hard, but I loved it. I loved being brought down physically with all the blisters in the beginning and overcoming that and being able to do 30 miles in a day without question. From walking in the first day after 15 miles basically crawling to having my longest day of 41 miles and feeling great afterwards. 

This trip taught me a lot about myself and just about people. It was truly a life changing experience and even though I pushed towards the end to finish because I was tired of it, I already miss the trail. The trail becomes your home, it's where you feel safe, believe it or not. I remember those last days hitching up to Harts I felt super uncomfortable moving in a car at 70mph. You can see my face in this picture, I was not happy about this whole hitching situation. 

All I wanted to do was be back on the PCT, where I was free and home. One thing the trail definitely showed me was how badly I want to be a successful strength coach. Ice Cream has heard me rant, more than a few times, about how badly I want to get back to training people. I missed lifting and coaching so much while I was gone. I'm 100% certain that training is what I'm here on this earth to do and I'm going to strive to be the greatest coach I can possibly be. I can't wait to get back to work and my own personal lifting. I'm starting a new chapter of my life. I'm moving down to Blacksburg, Va to live with a few friends and will be, hopefully, working at a facility in Roanoke (interview is coming up). 

I'm going to try and wrap this all up now, if you're still reading thank you. Overall this trip was 100% positive. I know during it all I wanted to do was be done with it, but I already miss the trail so much. Sure, I love not filtering water and having a toilet to use, but there's just something about putting yourself in a difficult situation and overcoming it. I challenge everyone to find some way in their life to challenge them. It doesn't have to be a thru hike or anything related to it, just find some way to push yourself. To bring yourself down so you have the opportunity to overcome. I told my mom I would never do a long distance hike again, but now I'm not sure. Maybe the AT in a few years and then finish up with the continental divide a while from now. All I know for sure is that I will never forget my time on the PCT nor the people; it will always be home for me. For now, life is about getting back to work and being a coach, but the lessons I've learned will forever be remember and I'll use them to push people. I just can't wait for the next adventure. 

Thank you for reading this blog and all of my blogs along my journey. It's been an awesome time reading everyone's comments and support and I couldn't have done this without knowing everyone was behind me. 

Happy trails everyone, 

Thunder Thighs