Sandy introduces this year’s adventure – 1,000 miles of trekking in the Western United States!
On April 17, 2016 we set off to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). Our goal was to trek the entire 2,650 miles of trail in one year, but a combination of too much weight on our backs and too much weight lost on our bodies forced us to stop after 1,828 miles. That distance took us through 80% of California and the entire state of Oregon, leaving us with the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California and the state of Washington to go.
Our goal was to complete the remaining sections over the next couple of years. In 2017 we obtained permits to trek the Sierra Nevada Mountains portion we had skipped in California. The plan was to hike it right after we returned from our National Parks journey. However, record amounts of snow had fallen the previous winter in the mountains. We found that we couldn’t even get to the trailhead we had chosen to start from in mid-August because the road was closed. So, we abandoned that attempt.
Last year, in 2018, we had the opportunity to trek in Europe, completing over 500 miles of hiking on four long-distance trails. Now, we have decided that this is the year to not only complete the Sierra Nevada section, but to also finish the Washington portion of the PCT.
To prepare for this year’s trekking, we are completing a 33 mile training hike, taking us on a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail that is closest to our Palm Desert, California home. In 2016 we had to be driven around this section of the PCT, due to a fire closure. This trail has its own set of challenges as the path climbs from the desert to the mountains, gaining over 7,000 feet in elevation in the process. It will be a great chance to gauge our fitness level before setting off on the longer portions of the PCT.
Our current plan is to hike the state of Washington in late June and July. We will pick up right where we left off when we stopped hiking on August 23, 2016. Our last steps that year placed us at the edge of the Columbia River in Oregon, with the Bridge of the Gods to Washington right before us.
After the Washington section is complete, we will travel to South Lake Tahoe, California and begin hiking south through the Sierra Nevada Mountains in August, hopefully completing our trekking in early September. We are leaving our exact hiking destination open at this point as we track the melting of the heavy snowfall during this past winter.
We are calling this year’s travels “Trekking the U.S. West” because our hiking list includes one non-PCT trail. There are 11 designated National Scenic Trails in the United States. The Pacific Crest Trail is one of them, along with the well-known Appalachian Trail. Also on the list is the Arizona Trail (AZT), running 800 miles in a north-south direction from the Mexican border to Utah.
Source: USGS.gov
The Arizona Trail traverses through a wide variety of terrain, passing through Saguaro National Park near Tucson, before continuing north into the mountains. The path also travels through the heart of Grand Canyon National Park, taking hikers rim to rim.
We have always been intrigued by rim to rim hiking through the Grand Canyon, so last year we put ourselves into the Phantom Ranch lottery (14 months in advance), hoping to stay in the historic accommodations at the bottom of the canyon. To our great surprise, we were able to get spots in the hiker dorms on our first choice date in May of this year!
With that reservation in hand, we decided to hike the northern 200 miles of the Arizona Trail, beginning in Flagstaff, Arizona and ending at the Utah border. Not only will we have the challenge of trekking the Grand Canyon from the south rim to the north rim to look forward to, but the hike will be a great warm-up for our PCT adventures to come. And perhaps we will return to hike more of the AZT at a later date.
During the winter we have focused on training to get in shape for all the miles we have planned. We have also spent time upgrading our gear to ensure that we will be as light as possible on the trails. And this year we plan to use a satellite tracking device to provide even more real-time updates as we hike.
Source: Pacific Crest Trail Daily Satellite Images
With heavy snowfall this winter in parts of Arizona and in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, we have also kept an eye on the snow levels. There are many great resources (like above) for monitoring the snow coverage on the trails. So, as always, weather and trail safety will be a factor on all our hikes.
We invite you to follow along as we attempt to hike more than 1,000 miles this year as we are Trekking the U.S. West!