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- I just climbed Whitney, had a hot bowl of ramen.

Was all cozy in my tent.

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It was in my sleeping bag even.

But I'll tell you, this fresh snowfall...

Has done something that I never even considered.

It has covered up all the smells on the forest floor.

So all I'm smelling right now is this crisp,

sweet aroma

of pine trees.

It smells good. It smells really, really good.

And I would not have experienced that had I not gotten...

Pushed out of my comfort zone.

Out of my big Agnes Copper Spur UL2.

It's the best forest smell I've ever smelled

and that says a lot 'cause I'm from the northwest.

But it is fresh

and it is fragrant.

And I'm gonna enjoy it all the way to the ranger station

here on day 58.

At Mount Whitney, just off the Pacific Crest Trail

in California.

Good morning.

I'm at the Mexico border.

I spent the night here last night.

You can see the wall behind me.

And just where that truck is, I think they just dropped off

somebody who's gonna through hike to PCT.

The monument is back there. I came in the night.

I was the only one here, so I spent the night.

A few people have been dropped off, but this is it.

Gonna pack up my tent.

Maybe shoot a photo of the monument.

And start walking north.

To Canada.

Feels weird to be the only one out here.

All right, here's the monument right here.

Trail is behind me. That little tiny sign back there.

I don't know how far we'll get today. Maybe 10 miles.

Not make it too extreme on the first day.

But because of the water situation,

it looks like I'm gonna be doing a 20 mile day.

Place where I was planning on stopping is apparently,

seasonal,

which means...

This is not the season.

I found a cactus.

Hm.

It's not bad.

I think I'll have some more

and hopefully make it to the lake.

And refill my water.

Don't hike without water, people.

Eventually, I made it to Lake Marina

and collapsed.

I barely had the strength to fill my water bottle,

but when I did, I drank deeply.

Then vomited shortly later.

Apparently, drinking too much water

in a dehydrated state is bad.

Trail angels, Robert and Elizabeth, saved me.

I drank four 7-Ups and two Coca-Cola Classics

and then ate a hot dog.

After chatting with Elizabeth, I discovered she lost her

mother and grandmother in a house fire the week prior.

"My mom would've wanted me to do this," she said.

Angel, indeed.

- Well, if this is not stunning, I don't know what is.

Maybe it's because I'm from the Pacific Northwest

and we don't get a whole lot of vistas like this.

Of course, I'll be singing a different song

when it comes to switch backing up that

little hill over there.

Right now we're at 2,300 feet.

I'm not sure what that's at.

I guess we'll find out.

There's no sense in worrying about it.

Here's Mike and Connor waiting for me as usual.

- Just took a baby wipe shower, it was divine.

What is a baby wipe shower?

- They got baby wipes right there.

Baby wipes there.

- I just wipe up.

- So this is what is known as trail magic,

I guess, right?

- Yup, this is trail magic. - Yeah, I guess it does.

And we've got water here.

What else do we have? Baby powder.

- Baby powder. - The cooler's pretty dirty.

What's in the cooler?

Some pistachios and a little.

Cool.

- It's awesome.

And a place to dump our trash.

- Oh, yeah.

Dude, this place is amazing.

- Yeah, the desert's insane.

This is so much cooler than I ever

thought it was gonna be.

- Yeah, it's right out of a John Wayne film.

Beautiful.

How many miles did we hike today?

- 16, I think.

16, 17, around that.

- 16, 17.

I'm gettin' kinda used to it. It was a better day today.

Yeah, I felt fine.

Yeah, you felt fine.

- Yeah.

- Here's our campsite.

Camping in the desert next to cacti.

- It's makeshift.

How much water do we have here?

- We got a couple liters, enough to make dinner.

Yeah.

- Dinner and drink water.

- Right.

We are not nearby any sort of spring or lake

or river or anything.

There's real remote camping.

- This is it. - Yeah, this is it.

- Nice. - This is off the beaten path.

The beaten path was just...

Right behind Mike.

In fact, people will probably walk by

and not even see us tomorrow.

I'll tell you somethin', there is a case to be made

for not starting in April and starting in March.

The desert is actually quite pleasant and mild

but last night was the most pleasant night.

All three of us had a great night's sleep.

Moon was out, stars were out.

It was warm, no wind.

Didn't wake up with ice on our sleeping bags or on our tent.

It was great.

Mike and Connor are ahead of me.

There's a guy from Texas who goes by Chaucer,

who is hiking with them.

They have a much quicker pace than I do.

Whenever they stop, I'll catch up with them.

I'm probably five or 10 minutes behind 'em at this point.

Somewhere down in that valley below is the town

of Warner Springs.

That is the goal for tomorrow.

If we reach it tomorrow, that will be 110 miles

since Campo, since the Mexican border.

And tomorrow there's a restaurant waiting for us.

It's amazing what motivates a person out here.

Day number eight, Section A.

Our last day in Section A.

In California on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Warner Springs is over there.

And that is where pizza and beer,

and Wi-Fi and hopefully, some way to get clean awaits us.

We really wanna get clean.

In a big way. - Much needed.

- Much needed.

We stink.

PCT, Section B, Southern California.

Day ocho?

I'm pretty sure.

Left the town of Warner Springs

several hours ago.

And it's a great little hiker town, by the way.

There is a hot spring there, which has kinda been

closed down but I'm told is reopening this summer.

The best thing, in my opinion, was the bucket shower

at the community center.

Thanks to all the folks there who provide all of that.

And also had a delicious dinner and breakfast

at the bar and grill at the golf club at the 19th Hole.

And maybe we'll report back from our campsite.

See what the boys have found.

They're very restless.

Mike's in time out.

I don't know what he did. What'd you do, Mike?

- You don't wanna know.

Connor's decided to do some cowboy campin'.

Let's check out his setup here.

Yeah, there's been a couple of mozzies out,

but only a couple.

- Just a couple there. - It hasn't been too bad.

- Gonna be a gorgeous night, get some stars in.

- Yeah. - It feels good to be

on the trail again.

A lot of folks seek the trail to prove their independence

but I found the exact opposite to be true.

I think the trail proves just how much we need each other.

From water caches to trail beta,

to just human interaction,

to pooling resources, we need each other

and it is a huge benefit to be a team player.

- The great city of Idyllwild, CA.

I think we're two weeks in at this point.

We're staying at this place called the Silver Pine Lodge.

Just right in town, actually, everything is in town here

in Idyllwild, where the dog is a mayor.

Anyway, this is our room right here, number nine.

Let's go in and see what's happenin' on the inside.

This is what you get when you have...

Five dudes splitting a hotel room.

Five Pacific Crest Trail hikers. Let's see.

It looks like it's food planning day.

- Oh, yeah! - Let's take a look

what we have here on the menu.

Chaucer's got a custom made...

- We have food for next five days

and we have resupplied a week ahead.

So pretty good.

And how many days is in that bag right there?

- This is five days.

- Yeah. - Probably about 12 pounds.

12 pounds.

- A little bit extra and two pounds of food a day.

Nice.

Any favorite item that you're looking forward to?

- More and more Duke's Original Recipe.

Nice!

- Delicious. - Excellent.

- It's a little overwhelming right now. A bit too much.

Let's take a look at Mike.

Mike is eating super healthy.

- Candy. - This is five days

worth of food?

- Five days worth. - Mike, that's literally

88% candy. - Five days

worth of food. - You need calories, right?

- Eight different types of candy.

I like Mike's style.

- Four cheese.

Wow.

- I fully require four cheese daily.

- That's basically the four food groups

right there, the way I'm lookin' at it.

We have coffee, Crystal Light,

lots of different stuff, salami and cheese.

Baby food. Renee taught me this trick.

She said, "For your fruits and vegetables",

"go for some baby food."

This is what hikers eat for five days.

Next stop is Big Bear, CA and we will repeat this process

again and again and again all the way down the trail.

April 4th, day 15.

I'm so excited to be back in my tent.

Town is nice. Showers, food, et cetera.

But there's a definite pull that is felt.

The pull of the wilderness, the pull of the trail.

I hiked with Shenanigans for a few hours today.

He's got dreads, beard, red hair, in his mid 40s,

total hippie and he and I had a great conversation.

He hadn't talked to his dad in 14 years

but reached out before his hike.

Now there is reconciliation and hope where there was none.

Camp tonight consisted of Connor, Mike, Chaucer,

James and Kaylee from England, Lucas,

Switzerland, and Rick from Coleville.

Rick made a fire ring and a great evening fire.

All of us had a great dinner around the fire.

Life is so simple and so amazing.

I feel like the trail is its own country

and only we are its citizens.

We are becoming a tight-knit community

and the community is an adventurous kind.

Nobody else is going through this but us.

Our worlds have become very simple and very small

and we share it together.

- Day 16, Pacific Crest Trail, California, Section B.

Last day for Section B.

We started the day close to 9,000 feet

and we have got a bone jarring descent today.

All the way down to Interstate 10.

And it's gonna be a 20 mile day.

Mostly downhill, which is not my favorite.

Definitely prefer going uphill.

But the good news is the wind stopped.

We had a very windy night last night.

It looks like we're gonna have some...

Some great vistas.

As you can see.

I feel like we're already in the Sierras.

I know we're a long ways from them.

We're not even to the Mojave yet

but sure feels like it with all these big granite boulders

everywhere and large pine trees everywhere.

So this is a 20 mile hike with no water.

Right now I've got three liters.

It'd be probably better to have four.

But since it is downhill and it's not that hot,

three should suffice and can usually

find some sort of water that's not on the map

or not on the app.

And plus, the boys...

I think they each have five liters.

I will continue this bone jarring descent.

And hopefully, report back, if not sooner,

down at the bottom at Interstate 10

and the beginning of Section C.

Hey, Connor, what day is it?

- Day 18 or 19?

- 19, I think.

- 19? - I think it's 19.

- I guess we're going with day 19.

19. What's our plan today, fellas?

- 20 mile day. - 20.

- Go past Onyx Peak.

- Onyx Peak. - Yup.

- It's closed. - So we're goin' through it.

- Fire closure. Gotta push 20 miles.

Yup, it is 8:30.

- That's early. That's a early start for us.

We're the last ones to leave.

- Killin' it. - Again.

- Killin' it. - 12 tents in here.

- Yeah.

- Yeah. - 12 tents in this little-

- Yeah, we had a ton.

Was there 12 tents?

- Yeah, you were the 12th, yeah.

- There was 12 tents in here? Oh, my goodness.

And you can see yet another forest fire.

How long ago was this fire, do you think?

Two years ago, maybe? - Think it was three.

Three years ago?

I'm gettin' better at identifying 'em.

The bark is still on the trees.

Apparently, three years after a burn

is when the trees start to fall.

Oh, three years after the burn,

the trees start to fall and I thought, yeah,

'cause there's still bark on this.

- Yeah. - I noticed that on the older

fires, the bark falls off.

So it's kinda nice hiking through a forest fire, actually.

Still can see the sky.

Opened, blue.

Today it is, at least.

It has been almost every day for us, actually.

Yeah.

- It's been pretty nice.

How you feeling, Mike?

- Feeling great. Feeling grand.

Any particular reason for that?

- You know, nature.

- It's nature! - Isn't it neat?

- Nature.

Nature, people.

What do you do when you're in the wilderness...

And you're at your last water stop

and it's 20 miles to the next water stop?

The first thing you do, is you camel up.

That means you pound a liter of water.

So here's the remaining part of my liter.

Oh, boy, that's good.

And the next thing you do...

Is you bring three or four liters of water with you.

And look at this lovely water supply.

Ew.

But this is all we have out here.

This is why we bring a water filtration system.

So, yes, people...

I am gonna drink this stuff.

This fancy attachment on the top of this bottle, it's just

a screen, it's just a pre-filter to get all the sediment.

You could do the same thing with a handkerchief

or a bandana or a piece of cheesecloth.

So I'll put my water bottle in here.

And now I've got a full liter of unpurified,

really unfiltered water.

I've had this for over 10 years.

So I know it works. I trust it.

It's called a Steripen.

It's battery operated. You push a button.

And then you stick it in the water and essentially,

it's an ultraviolet light that kills everything.

It kills viruses, it kills bacteria,

it kills organisms, it kills amoebas.

It'll kill AIDS. It'll kill Ebola.

It's a nuclear option.

It is...

It just kills everything.

The little dead...

You know, pieces of whatever

are still in there, so you're still drinking

a dead amoeba but it's dead, it's inert, it's inactive

and it's okay to drink and I'm here to testify that

'cause I've been using it for a long time.

And believe it or not, I've consumed water

outta stuff that's even worse than this.

And I've never gotten giardia. I've never gotten sick.

Anyway, this is the process.

I've already cameled up with one liter,

I've got 20 more miles to go.

So I'll probably bring three liters, maybe four.

Depends on how heavy my pack feels

and how patient I am in filtering.

Yeah, that's the procedure out here in the wilderness.

You gotta take what you can get when you get it

because if you don't, then you're gonna be very thirsty

with nothin' to drink.

Over 200 miles hiked.

I don't know if I can do long days.

Today was 18 plus miles.

I felt great for the first 10 but the rest hurt.

It's not muscle fatigue, it's joints, hips, knees,

bottom of the feet.

It's like every injury I've had in the past

comes roaring back to life.

I keep telling myself if I push on and press through

the pain, it will get better, right?

- A little insight as to how I try to keep myself

clean out here in the wilderness.

I like to try to stay as clean as possible.

Hygiene is always a challenge out here.

But it is doable if you have a few simple things

and you're an opportunist.

And this morning the opportunity has presented itself

with a beautiful little creek here.

This is Holcomb Creek, I camp nearby.

I have a few things that I always carry with me.

Some sort of soap. Typically, it's camp soap.

In this case it's castile hemp peppermint soap.

Smells great.

I always have a bandana.

I have my handy dandy razor here.

This is the same blade. This is a tough razor.

I've been using it for three weeks with no shaving cream.

Still works great.

And then I'll also have this.

This is an emergency signaling mirror,

but it also doubles as a shaving mirror.

So, typically what I'll do is, I'll take my bandana

and my soap...

And soap it up.

Get it wet and sorta rub it together.

It does a couple different things.

Number one, it cleans my bandana.

And number two, it cleans my face.

And oftentimes I'll try to do this at night

whenever possible 'cause I like to get

into the sleeping bag nice and clean.

But I'll get my face nice and wet.

You can do this without soap.

I've done it without soap many times, it works just as good.

You get a nice, kind of a lather going.

Then I'll take my razor

and just shave.

Just using this, in this case, this crick water.

Just to kind of rinse it off.

And you know, I like to stay clean,

clean shaven.

I'm not a hiker that likes to have a big Forrest Gump beard

and be stinky, nothing against the gals

and the guys who prefer that method.

But just for me, I like to try to stay as clean as possible.

It makes me feel good. It makes me feel a little bit more

like a human, not a barbarian or a neanderthal.

But again, you know, nothing against the people

who don't choose to do this stuff.

But I'll go ahead and shave and then I'll use

my little mirror just to touch up the...

The sideburns because...

It's all about looking good out here.

And that's pretty much it.

Then I'll go ahead and brush my teeth.

And the rest of my bathing program,

I'm not gonna show you.

'Cause it involves taking off articles of clothing.

But you get the same idea. A bandana, some soap.

Do that once a day and boy, I'm smilin', I'm feelin' good.

I'm feelin' like I'm ahead of the game.

And then of course, you know, swimming whenever possible

is a great way to clean off, too.

But yes, it is possible to stay clean

out here in the wilderness.

I know that's why a lot of people don't go backpacking

'cause they're afraid that they're

not gonna be able to stay clean.

If you are a little prepared

and you're an opportunist

and you gotta be a little bit tough,

sometimes the water's really cold,

but it can be done, people, it's possible.

You can stay squeaky, freshly clean out here

in the wilds of the wilderness.

Anyway, just thought I'd kinda share that with ya

on the Pacific Crest Trail.

At the I-18 Interchange on the Pacific Crest Trail

just outside of Big Bear, California.

A super nice person named, Amy, who works

at the Frontier Lodge, gave us a ride here.

- Thank you, Amy. - Thank you, Amy.

- Saved us so much time.

- Thank you so much, life saver.

- Thanks, Amy. All good.

- Amy, you already know how I feel about you.

So thank you very much.

How is that? How do you feel?

- Oh, nothing but love, Amy.

- There you go. - Pure love.

So hopefully, we'll see you again sometime. Thank you.

You can see behind me.

Ta-da. That would be Big Bear Lake.

In the town of Big Bear Lake.

April 11th, day 22, 294 miles in.

I'm camping alone tonight and I love it!

Not a soul anywhere around.

I have a terrific spot on the flat sandy ground.

There's a creek just a few feet away.

My tent is protected behind a large granite boulder.

The best part, an awesome fire.

It's built like an oven with small rocks

creating three walls.

I felt like a cowboy on the frontier,

camping with a fire under the stars.

It is a feeling of simple peace and freedom.

- Morning.

It's day 23 on Section C of this Pacific Crest Trail.

I woke up in an absolute panic this morning because

a few raindrops had hit the tent and let me tell you,

nothing motivates a backpacker to get packed up like rain.

So I'm wearing all this rain gear and as you can see,

it's all of a sudden nice out.

So the skies are clearing.

Looks like a good morning. I got a fire going.

I've got some delicious Starbucks VIA

and the breakfast of champions.

The honey bun.

Can't recommend the honey bun enough.

Today, hopefully, I'll meet up with the fellas again.

But there's a hot spring in order today.

Somewhere down the trail, a natural hot spring

with many different pools of temperatures of water.

And even a swimming hole.

So really looking forward to that.

These are the little treats on the trail

that are gems that you look forward to

for days in advance.

- It's really nice. - Oh, man, how nice is this?

This is absolutely incredible.

This is so much...

Beyond what I had imagined when somebody

said that there was a hot spring.

I was picturing like a muddy hole in the ground

with some stinky smelling water bubbling out of it.

The water doesn't smell at all. There's no hint of sulfur.

There's no road that goes here. Only hiking trails.

The box was saying there's no cell service.

This place is absolutely unbelievable.

Definitely spending the night here tonight.

I might even fall asleep in this pool.

If I don't come back, I'm probably here.

- Yeah, okay. - I.C.B., Four Shoes.

This may seem like an insignificant spot on the trail,

but it's very significant.

Why is it significant?

- Because we're eating lunch.

It's true, let's go ahead and show everybody

our lunch, first of all.

Start with...

Yeah, we'll start with J. Boogie over there.

He eats dried ramen

for lunch. - For flavor.

And that's all just straight into the ramen hole.

- Yup.

What are you eating?

- I had pepperoni pizza.

You had a calzone, didn't you?

- On a tortilla.

And wait, how do you make one of those?

- You take a tortilla...

And you take a string cheese.

What are you doing?

Are you making one?

- No, 'cause I already ate two.

Okay, wait, so you've taken

your tortilla... String cheese.

- Yeah, just like that. - There's the string cheese.

- Minus the pepperoni, then you just go...

Wrap it up. - Roll it up.

- Yeah and you go right into it.

Plastic and all. - You're touching my food

with your nasty hands.

Are you having the same thing,

a calzone? - No, salami.

With actual, a block of cheddar.

- Nice.

And I am having a delicious meal here.

I'll see if I can show it here.

It's a half a bagel with cream cheese

and then string cheese on the cream cheese

and then a sausage that looks like a hot dog.

And the reason we're eating so well today is because...

What mile number are we at?

500!

- 500.

There's no marker out here commemorating it.

We're just guessing that maybe this is 500-ish.

There was a few rocks back there.

But 500 miles. We're not even 20% done yet.

Nope, we gotta do this another four times

and then some.

- Just think of how much dry ramen that is.

It's a lot.

- Day number 30.

Section Delta, Pacific Crest Trail here in California.

I'm here with Special K.

- Hello, how are you? - From?

- Colorado.

- From the great state of Colorado.

The Rocky Mountain State, people.

And she has made a discovery, which, yeah,

if you follow her trekking pole, what's out there?

What did you find? What do you see? Tell us all about it.

- It would be Mount Whitney as the flow cries?

As the crow flies, 150 miles north.

It is our first 14-er.

It's our first 14-er.

It's the highest point in the lower 48.

- Oh, yes, we did make that-

- Yeah. - Decision, even though

he's angry about it.

- I am bitter about it.

Anybody from the northwest knows that Mount Rainier

is the proper, it should hold the title,

but unfortunately, Mount Whitney does.

Hiking with Bible. Bible's up there.

This is a little taste of what the terrain looks like.

It is snowing.

Just a little bit but look around.

I think we're at 9,600 feet right now.

Bible and I have hiked up to our campsite,

which is gonna be somewhere in these boulders.

Speak of the devil.

He's right here.

He's scoping out a sight

for his tent. - No, no, no, no, no.

You don't wanna go back there and look.

Oh, oh.

Well, look at this beautiful view.

Gorgeous sunset.

Oh, my word.

And it's snowing. - Spectacular.

And it's snowing.

Day 56 here in California in the Sierras.

Sierras are working me over.

I think right now we're at 12,000 feet.

And man, am I feeling this altitude.

Feels like you're breathing through a straw.

You can never get enough oxygen.

It was a cold night last night on the lake.

But what a beautiful sight to wake up to.

It's our first real alpine lake.

After 760 miles,

finally hit a real

actual natural lake.

Here it is.

Chicken Spring Lake.

So I'm marching onward, there's actually a ranger station

about a mile and a half up, sort of at the base of Whitney.

Hopefully, it'll be open. Hopefully, I can get some info.

Plan is to get some info and then camp

at a place called, Guitar Lake.

And then get up early in the morning, summit Whitney,

come back down and come back down on the JMT,

the John Muir Trail and basically,

be on that until Yosemite.

That is the grand plan

here on the Pacific Coast Trail.

Day number 57 in California.

Day 57, California Pacific Crest Trail.

I don't know what lake it is because...

I'm too cold to pull out my map and look.

That's one thing that this lake and I have in common.

We're both very cold.

Welcome to the High Sierras, people.

This is what I had in my mind when I pictured

the High Sierras.

Oh, wait, there's a tent down there.

Maybe this is Guitar Lake.

Hallelujah.

Well, whatever it is, I think I'm gonna

camp here for the night.

Crest Trail, day 58.

Heading up towards the summit of Mount Whitney.

Right now I'm at 12,300 feet or somethin' like that.

Way down there, right there

you can see the icy edge of Guitar Lake,

which is where I camped.

Tried to get an early start this morning.

Got a little bit later than I anticipated but that's okay.

I like this daylight and the sunrise.

I'm just resting right now.

The route is not technical.

It's just the altitude.

Slow goin'.

And 2,000 more feet of elevation gain.

Get up that guy right there.

This appears to be the most technical...

Part so far.

So I've put away the trekking poles.

Gotten out the ice ax just in case.

It's probably fine. Snow's still really solid and frozen.

But I didn't bring this thing all the way up here

not to use it.

So the ascent continues.

Here's the summit right here.

This is a...

I think it's known as the Whitney Shelter.

Oh, yeah.

Trail register.

Wait.

It was easy.

- It wasn't easy.

It was difficult.

I'm out of breath right now. I'm gonna sit down and relax.

And take in these beautiful views.

Absolutely perfect day.

So this is the highest I've ever been.

This is also the biggest

solo climb I've ever done.

And now the fun part is getting down.

As the great northwest mountaineer, Ed Viesturs says,

"Getting to the summit is optional."

"But getting down is mandatory."

So the quest to get down begins right here.

Day 58, Mount Whitney, California.

Right off of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Well, this is what it looks like after

summiting Mount Whitney.

I had all this ambition of moving base camp out four miles.

No.

Nope.

It's hunker down in the tent. So it is ramen time.

Right here in the vestibule.

I had a marmot try to get into my bear can.

It's also marmot proof, people. It's well worth the money.

I'm just very fortunate that I had a really nice window

of weather at the top of the mountain.

So tomorrow, base camp is movin' out

and hopefully, I'll get to the bottom of Forester Pass,

where there's another huge 13,000 foot climb

to get to that spot.

That's life on the trail.

Day number 50.

Day number 58.

On the Pacific Crest Trail, Mount Whitney.

Here's what we're dealing with.

It's a full on blizzard.

And I really don't know what to do right now.

I'm in a three season tent.

And the tent is...

Not rated for a snow load.

So I was faced with a choice.

Either stay up all night, knocking snow off the tent,

worrying about it collapsing, worrying about wind and snow.

Or I've made a decision that I'm gonna pack it up

and I looked at the map and I remember hiking

by this little ranger station, it's about two miles away.

I don't know if I made the right call or not.

I suppose I did. Better safe than sorry.

But I'll tell you, this fresh snowfall...

Has done something that I never even considered.

The smell is...

It's the best forest smell I've ever smelled

and that says a lot 'cause I'm from the northwest.

And I'm gonna enjoy it

all the way to the ranger station.

You will note that I am not at the ranger station.

Actually, I am, I'm way out in the front yard

by the weather station.

As I was hiking through the woods in the pitch black,

after crossing several streams

around nine o'clock at night, I could see

three red lights, so there was people there.

I walked up to the ranger station, I said,

"What's goin' on?"

No response from anybody. Nothing.

I could even see somebody rustling around their tent,

with the red light on.

Hikers are weird people.

By the way, if somebody comes out of the pitch black woods

in the middle of nowhere with a headlamp in the middle of

the night, you might wanna check and see everything's okay.

Just sayin'.

Anyway, I set up my wet tent.

Actually, I did a pretty good job of keepin' it dry.

At least the inside part, the fly is soaked

but everything else isn't too bad.

So I'm pitched out here, 1,500 feet lower, there's no snow.

Worst case scenario, it's gonna rain.

Could deal with rain.

Yeah, it was a big adventure today.

Now it's time to get back in the sleeping bag

and hopefully, have a really good night's sleep tonight

and get ready for another day tomorrow

on the Pacific Crest Trail, day number 58, California.

May 19th, day 59.

I saw one of the most beautiful vistas

I've ever seen today.

It was a flat place called Big Horn Flats.

It's a huge open area with no trees,

no boulders, no hills.

Just a vast, flat expanse of sand and grass.

It's situated on top of a mountain over 10,000 feet tall.

In every direction, all around are the rugged

towering Sierra peaks with Mount Whitney

presiding over it all.

If it weren't for the snow and lightning,

I would've camped there.

I was all alone and was suddenly overcome

with a feeling of humility and gratitude towards God.

I reached my hands to the sky and gave thanks.

Then knelt on a small stone to express my thankfulness.

- I'm sure that this is a geologist's dream out here.

There's just so many interesting things,

different kinds of stones and rocks,

granite, quartz, basalt,

Micah, to name a few.

And a whole lot more. I'm no expert.

But really enjoying this portion of the High Sierras.

Here you go, the High Sierras.

And back here behind me...

Junction Peak.

When you're at 10,000 feet,

you pretty much have to be prepared for anything.

I mean, it could be super sunny and hot.

Or it could be hailing like it is right now.

It's actually more of a frozen rain type thing.

But whatever it is, it can change

in a moment's notice at these high altitudes.

The weather, it's its own animal.

You just have to be prepared for anything and everything.

That's why these high altitude mountaineering experiences,

you have to carry so much gear 'cause you just...

You just don't know what's gonna happen.

You hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

Said, "I'd rather deal with the snow in the mountains"

"than the heat in the desert," at one point on this trip.

At day 61.

And I'll tell ya...

Right now, I'm rethinking that statement.

It's hard to see the trail.

Gonna have to use some nav skills out here.

Because the trail has disappeared.

Well, one way or the other, I hope to get to some

civilization today 'cause I'm about out of food.

And all my stuff is wet

and dirty.

This is proving to be one of the most

difficult days on trail so far.

I did manage to make it to the top of Kearsarge Pass.

I have no idea how much altitude I climbed today

but well over 2,000 feet.

So I came up from this direction.

And we're approaching whiteout conditions right now.

But with waking up with wet tent, wet gear, limited food,

a relentless snowfall, white out conditions,

poor navigation, breaking trail

and it's 3:30 and there's still...

I'm not even halfway done yet to get into town.

I mean, there's still at least six miles of hiking

to a campground where maybe I can get a ride.

So this is a long day out here

in the wilderness.

One little caveat though.

I'll be following tracks down.

There were some people coming up.

From this side, so I won't have to do so much

route finding and trailblazing.

I'll, hopefully, be able to just walk

in their boot tracks all the way down.

But as a general rule, don't find yourself

at the top of a mountain pass

during inclement weather, that's my advice to you.

Day 65.

After the storm passed, I took a bus to Independence.

It was full of PCT hikers who were skipping the Sierras.

J.J. was going to Hawaii.

Ferrari and Street Fighter were going

to Arizona's Grand Canyon and so on.

I made a decision that if I could get a pair of snowshoes,

I would continue hiking.

I sat outside the Independence Post Office

with a cardboard sign that said, "Snowshoes Wanted."

After a few hours, a guy named Dan said he had some.

I bartered my compass and an REI gift card for them.

There were no banks to be found in this small town.

Dan gave me a ride up to Onion Valley

where I hiked my heavy 70 pound pack

up to beautiful Lake Gilbert for the night.

Now it is a beautiful morning

and Kearsarge Pass awaits again.

- Day number 66 out here on the Pacific Crest,

John Muir Trail.

Soaking in some much needed vitamin D right now.

Also, I have...

The most beautiful campsite of the trip so far.

This is gonna be a short day for me.

It's gonna be hard to go away from this spot.

I may end up just recouping, fixing some gear.

Soaking in some of this

much needed sunshine as long as it lasts.

May 27th, day 67.

I just got the awful news tonight

that Bible has been reported missing.

He was last seen near Kearsarge on the 18th, low on food.

He never picked up his resupply box in Independence.

This is very bad.

He's very methodical. Almost OCD.

There is no way he would miss that

unless something went very wrong.

My prayers are with that kind man. Wherever he may be.

Please, Jesus, bring him home safe.

- This is called, the mountain beat me up today

and this is the best I can do.

I just don't have it-

- May 29, day 69.

Today, I'm going to try and climb Mather Pass.

Summiting these mountain passes are exhausting

and I'm making much slower progress than anticipated.

I'm worried that I won't have enough food

to make it to Mammoth.

Today was a hard day in the mountains.

I had low energy from the start.

On top of that, I was post-holing all day in the soft snow.

And there were more river crossings than I could count.

I camped on slush, trying to warm my icicle feet.

I'm missing civilization and right now,

it's tough doing this alone.

But tomorrow is a new day. This too shall pass.

After many nights of worry, I contacted Katherine,

Bible's wife, via satellite messenger to see

if there was any news regarding his disappearance.

She quickly responded that he was currently in a hostel

in Bishop, California, recovering from his ordeal

in the mountains.

What fantastic news this was.

He sent me this text message.

"On March 28th at 1:30 PM,"

"I walked out of the Sierra Mountains in California."

"I walked 5.6 miles that day after a 17 day"

"trial of faith through the wilderness."

"I have never been the same since"

"or like I used to be before March 28th."

Stephen "Bible" McGuire.

He was malnourished, without food,

suffering from exposure and frostnip.

He was the happiest he'd ever been in his life.

- Found this...

Sun shower thing in that bear vault.

So I filled it up and warmed it up this morning

and took a piping lukewarm shower.

And I'm here today with actual human beings.

Pony Express, right here, stretchin' it out.

What's up, Pony Express?

- What's up, Knoxville?

How late were we at?

9:30?

It was 9:30? - 9:30.

Oh, my gosh.

Livin' large.

Is that hiker 3:00 AM?

Yeah.

- What's that? - It was a party.

- It was a party.

And just for the record,

Pony Express, where are you from?

- I'm from Pennsylvania, now live in Burbank, California.

- And dare I ask where you're from?

- Seattle.

Another Washingtonian on trail.

- There's a lot of us.

Think we like the Sierras 'cause we have the Cascades.

Anyway, that's the report here on lazy Sunday afternoon.

Actually, Sunday morning.

Day number 74, here out the JMT slash PCT.

Day number 74, as I drop in elevation,

I have found myself in the land of some cedar trees.

As you can see.

And one thing that I like to do...

If I know I'm gonna be camping tonight or tomorrow,

which I will be, of course,

and there's a possibility of a campfire,

which there is because we're below 10,000 feet

in the Sierras,

is I like to take a little bit of this

cedar bark, which is...

A lot like paper.

Yeah, it's very dry.

It's very fibrous.

It's also very flammable.

So what I'll typically do is I'll just take some of this

and save it.

And I'll save it for tinder for starting tonight's fire.

And sometimes I'll put it in a Ziploc bag.

Sometimes I'll put it in with my garbage.

Sometimes I'll just put it in my pocket.

But it works marvelously for a fire starter,

especially if you separate the strands a little bit.

It burns just like tissue paper would.

Just a little...

Little trick, you're always kinda thinking about

these things because you have a lot of time to think.

Day number 83.

This was the campsite for last night.

A fabulous view of Silver Falls.

Right outside the front door.

Fell asleep to the sound of the roaring

waterfall last night.

I said I was going to talk a little bit about Mammoth.

I've never been so excited to go to a town in my whole life.

It was over two weeks in the wilderness for me.

14 days, I think it might have been 15 days

that I was out on the trail.

Didn't go into town for a resupply,

just hiked through the Sierras in the snow.

In the nice weather, in early morning,

late at night, snowshoes,

ice ax, crampons.

It was the longest time I've ever spent in the wilderness.

And I think that's about my limit. Two weeks.

I came into Mammoth.

I had just run out of fuel and I had one ramen packet left.

Pony Express had given it to me.

And that was it, so I was running on fumes when I came in.

And boy, was it nice to take a couple zeros,

put some pounds back on, eat some food,

rest the feet, rest the right hip.

And it feels really good to be back on the trail.

Although, this time it's only gonna be a week or less

and probably moving forward, a week or less.

So I'm really happy that I did that.

I think, looking back, that 14 day stretch in the Sierras

is gonna be the most difficult and also probably

my favorite part of the whole trip.

I was solo for over 90% of that time,

which at times was challenging but I learned a lot

and I would definitely do it all over again.

And hopefully, someday we'll get the opportunity

to come back...

To the Sierras and...

Hike more of it.

There's so much to see. I've just only seen just a fraction.

Anyway.

Today's a new day.

Gonna put some new miles on and see what lies ahead

on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Still about three miles off trail,

two miles off trail right now at Rainbow Falls,

here at day number 83.

On the mighty, just off the mighty

Pacific Crest slash John Muir Trail.

Where's the snow?

Snow is dissipating the farther north we get.

You can see this is kinda cool.

This is all marmot droppings, I'm pretty sure.

And this is one of the most square

cairns I've ever seen.

Kinda neat marking the path.

Day number 85, right here on the Pacific Crest Trail.

This is the campsite today.

It looks like a legitimate campsite.

Got some laundry hanging. Got my tent pitched.

Here's Hopper over here.

She's camping with me today. She pitched her tent.

I've prepared a nice campfire,

which I was gonna show you my preferred method

for building a campfire.

What I like to do is, first of all, if there's no ring,

build a ring.

If there is one, I get a flat rock like this.

Because this is a great tortilla warmer.

And then I will fill

the ring with this really dry pine needle.

This works well in the Sierra. These are everywhere.

And then stack dry twigs on top of it.

And then prep. I prep all the firewood.

Because there's nothing worse than running out

of a good campfire.

This is the top of Nevada Falls right here.

And the nick point is almost...

Day number 100 on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Coming off the trail, we could see this trail magic van.

Burgers on the grill.

Pizza...

On the grill.

They've had people donate some stuff.

They did most of this themselves,

Alan and Bonnie, out of pocket.

And there's just massive amounts of food.

In the morning time,

they cooked bacon and eggs for everybody.

And this is completely unexpected.

Nobody expected somethin' like this.

Usually trail magic is a cooler full of water

in the middle of a dry spell.

But this is above and beyond. This is next level.

And it does exist.

And I can't believe it but I finally hit it.

We even got bandanas.

I mean, talk about thoughtful.

Day number 100 has been a good day.

In fact, what a way to celebrate it.

Look at this beautiful spot.

And even the company's not bad on day 100.

What do you think? Not bad, huh?

Not bad.

- Not bad. - Not bad for two dirty guys.

- That's right.

And it's just after a full moon so the sky

should be amazing tonight, nice and bright.

Moon comes up late so the stars will be visible.

Venus and Jupiter in the sky.

It's the livin'.

After skipping 150 miles in northern

California due to wildfires, it was off to Oregon.

Everybody said Oregon was going to be the easiest

part of the trail.

It wasn't.

But I wasn't concerned.

In fact, I was super excited because I'd be hiking

some of it with some of my best friends

in the whole world, Jared and Dave.

- I can't tell if you're crying or laughing.

- It hurts, it hurts. - You're laughing 'cause

it hurts.

- It hurts.

I mean, what else are you gonna do?

- There we go. - Okay. All right.

Thank you.

We've known each other since

kindergarten and shared countless experiences

and adventures together.

They're the two most capable outdoors men I know

and they were taking a week off with no plans.

Jared and I went rock climbing on Smith Rock,

went standup paddling and swam in the icy waters

of the Blue Pool.

When Dave met us, we had no concrete plans.

We ended up summiting the South Sister,

summiting Mount Washington and logging

more miles on the PCT.

The Sister's wilderness area proved to be a fantastic

portion of the trail and I couldn't have picked

two more fantastic people to share it with.

- Look at Dave, buried up to his ankles.

I'm saying goodbye to the Sisters in Mount Washington.

And here's probably the best view

of Black Butte we've had so far on the trip.

And then down below is what I believe

is still part of that huge 2003 forest fire.

I think it was called the B&B Complex fire.

Takes the forest a long time to recover

after a blaze of that magnitude.

This is just on a south exposed ridge

and hopefully, in the next couple miles,

I'll come around this ridge

and come face to face

with Three Finger Jack here at day number 137,

back on the Pacific Crest Trail in Oregon.

Good morning.

Day number 139.

Out here in the Mount Jefferson wilderness.

Let's take a look at this amazing campsite.

What a great view.

Mount Jefferson.

There she is and this feels like home to me.

It's green, it's gorgeous.

There's fir trees everywhere.

A looming cascade volcano in the distance.

It feels like home and I know that there's

many more of these that await.

There's still Mount Hood in Oregon

and there's a lot more in Washington State.

We will continue north today.

But right now it's time to just chill out

and drink coffee and take in this spectacular

view of the north side of Mount Jefferson,

here at day number 139

on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Here we go.

Yahoo!

That was a pretty good drop.

Ooh.

Well, we have a really nice...

Wait a minute.

You know what, I hate it when they build stuff that's

halfway done.

It could be a really nice cairn.

Yeah, let's fix this.

There we go.

So much better.

Now we have a really nice complete cairn

marking the top of the path here.

We're 143 on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Couple things noteworthy here in Oregon.

Number one, I had to get some water from this spot,

which is kind of a difficult spot to get water from.

I mean, it's very damp.

But no clear, easy way to get water.

So I made a little...

I don't know what you'd call that.

But I put it on like roof shingles.

So the water kinda collects and just

follows the leaves down and look at that.

A...

Full bottle of cool, clear spring water.

This is the Pacific Northwest.

And for those of you that don't know,

this is the land of plenty.

Plenty of water everywhere.

Plenty of food everywhere, too.

It is worth mentioning...

That there are tons and tons...

Of berries in this area.

Not surprising since this is the land of berries.

This is kind of the end of the summer.

And boy, the berries are out and they will continue

to be out and at altitude all the way into Washington.

And it's a good time to see some bears, too, because

we're not the only things that love these blueberries.

I've seen bears plowing through some of these

blueberry bushes.

This is the first real good look of Mount Hood

that I've had so far.

Thar she blows.

It's been obscured by smoke.

And back by Mount Jefferson where I should've seen it.

And then the rest of the time it's just been hiking

in trees, so even if it was visible,

couldn't see the forest from the trees.

And I'm walking into the town of Cascade Locks.

This is the town, it's small.

Meeting some friends here for a cold beverage

and that body of water out there is the Columbia River

and beyond that is the Evergreen State,

my home state of Washington and it is good to be home.

Last stretch of the trail.

Just a few miles outside of the Bridge of the Gods.

I had to say goodbye to Jennifer and Kristen.

They turned around and are headed back home.

It was really nice of them to come out and see me off.

Really nice to have some good old

hometown friends join me on the trail.

This is the trail now. This is the deal.

The Bridge of the Gods is the lowest point

on the Pacific Crest Trail.

And of course, it's the Pacific Crest Trail, which means...

I have to get back up to the crest of the mountains.

The next

section is all uphill

to gain altitude.

To get back into the Cascades.

It's gentle but at altitude, nonetheless.

And

It seems that fall has arrived in one day.

It's really nice. Cool air out here.

Cloudy skies.

And the leaves, I mean, it's kinda true in the northwest,

fall comes in a hurry, comes quickly.

And it's here. There's a bite in the air at night.

And I'm enjoying it. So I'll just trek on here.

Here in the final state, Washington State.

First section of the final state, Section A,

day 159,

here in the Green Tunnel

where fall has just arrived

on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Day 161.

Pacific Crest Trail, Washington State.

And this is my campsite last night.

Nice little spot nestled into the mossy green area here.

This mossy green area is called, Trout Creek.

Pretty nice concrete bridge spanning the creek itself.

Man, it's nice out here. Beautiful day.

No smoke, zero smoke.

Skies are a little bit cloudy but it's nice.

The air is just crisp. Little bite of fall.

Can actually feel the oxygen from all

the green foliage everywhere.

And it is good to be here

in the very lush, very green,

very Pacific Northwest section of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Look at this.

This is pretty typical.

This is what it's looked like pretty much the whole hike.

Tons and tons of thick moss.

Right now we're only at 1,400 feet,

so once we get a little higher, of course,

this is gonna look drastically different.

- Thank you very much.

- Thank you. - Thank you.

Thanks for all of your work on the trail.

- You're very welcome.

Appreciate it.

Yeah.

- It's a happy horse life. - Yes, it is.

This is day number 164, that is a PCT

Association Volunteer Crew.

And they were just setting up the base camp

with all those pack animals.

So they go in, they bring all the heavy stuff,

they set up the base camp,

and then the workers roll in after them,

and they will stay for weeks at a time

doing volunteer work on the trail.

That's how the trail gets to look so nice like this.

All these people putting all those hours in,

basically, by hand with a Pulaski tool

and a shovel and a pick, sometimes a chainsaw.

It's amazing to think that there's 2,600 miles

of hand carved trail but it has to be maintained.

So thank you to all the workers who do that.

Ted and I have found a beautiful vista here.

Behind us, we have the north face of Mount Adams

with what we think is the Adams Glacier right there.

All that big ice fall coming off of it.

And this is the first real glimpse of Mount Rainier.

Straight ahead, floating in the sky.

And then we were noticing this, too.

All that yellow stuff, we think that is sulfur

on the top of the mountain.

There is a sulfur mine on the very tippy top of this thing.

And they used to trek up mules and camels, not camels.

- Maybe. Maybe camels. - Maybe camels. Who knows?

- We weren't there. - Yeah, mules.

Donkeys. - Giraffes.

- Yeah. - It could be.

- There were giraffes goin' up that thing.

I mean, who knows? Wildebeests.

All kinds of animals were goin' up there

and haulin' out all that yellow sulfur from the top.

That's a fact.

You heard it here first, people.

Day 164, Pacific Crest Trail, Washington State.

Day number 165 in Washington State,

hiking along with Miyagi.

What was the phrase?

What was the phrase you just said?

- Are you kidding?

Are you kidding? We both said it.

Look at this. - Are you kidding?

Are you kidding?

Mount Adams right in front of us.

This is the first real glimpse we've had, that we're looking

towards the west.

Looking at the eastern side of the mountain.

Hiking up this awesome section of trail,

towards the Goat Rocks wilderness area.

Which we've caught glimpses of but this,

I think, is gonna be the first official

real good look of the Goat Rocks that we've had.

We've only had glimpses through the trees,

obscured here and there,

just enough to tease us of what lies ahead.

So here we're coming into Goat Rocks.

It is...

Stunning.

Mr. Miyagi's already up here.

Wow, look at this.

The camera's not gonna do it justice.

Day number 170 on the Pacific Crest Trail

in Washington State in Mount Rainier Park.

Yeah, I just started my morning hike

and look at this spectacular view.

Huh?

Actually...

This northwest weather is a welcome sight.

I love it.

Maybe because it's been so many days of sunshine in a row.

It's nice to have a little bit cooler temperature,

little bit mist, a little bit of precipitation.

But it feels like the northwest, it feels like home.

And now entering the gloomy forest on top of it.

This is great.

I suspect most of the day is gonna be like this.

Hiking in the fog, hiking in the mist, occasional showers,

probably all the way to Snoqualmie Pass.

I'm afraid I'm not gonna get any hiking done today.

I mean, if my teeth are blue, that's the reason why.

It's because I have stumbled into a patch

of wonderful blueberries and, I mean, patch,

that's probably the wrong word.

It's an entire hillside, because look at all these berries.

You see 'em?

It's a whole hillside, so all of these red leaves

everywhere, these are all blueberries.

Or I guess some people call 'em bumper berries.

I don't know what they are.

I do know that they are delicious.

And I've been stuck here for probably 30 minutes,

just eating berries.

September 8th.

There's nothing like a Pacific Northwest forest in the fall.

It is eerie and spooky but it holds a strange fascination.

I'm drawn to it. Maybe because it's terrifying.

Maybe because it's where I grew up.

I camped in the thick of it last night

and watched an episode of "The X-Files."

I love it.

Today was cool and clear with an occasional view

of the J Section and the peaks that lie ahead.

It is nice to scan the jagged horizon

and see the profile of familiar mountains.

Tonight, I'm camped on an abandoned logging road

with the goal of Snoqualmie Pass tomorrow.

An elk just bugled in the distance.

I'm excited for nightfall.

- So today's goal is to try to get to Snoqualmie Pass.

Each day that passes by feels more and more like fall.

So there's not much time left in this journey.

I wanna milk it for everything it's worth.

I'm gonna be hiking with my friend, Carl

through the J Section in Snoqualmie.

From Snoqualmie to Stevens with a possible side trip

summit to Mount Daniel.

We'll see how that goes.

But as for right now, I am really enjoying

the morning walk through the very damp,

lush, thick Pacific Northwest

forest in the mist, on the trail.

Day number 171 in Washington State

on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Day number 173 on the Pacific Crest Trail.

In the J Section of Washington State.

Started at Snoqualmie Pass. Hiking here with Carl.

You'll hear a lot of talk about this on the trail.

This is a very unique section of the trail.

It is the longest, continuously dynamited section

on the PCT.

So all this rock has been blasted.

Obviously, the trail, this was just a rock face.

You can kinda see how it comes down.

Everything was blasted.

Actually, we just heard news that somebody perished

on this section last week.

Somebody fell off.

I don't know how or why.

Probably taking a selfie and stepping backwards.

But it is a long ways down.

It's got a little bit of exposure. Let's take a look.

Do you want me to hold the camera over for you?

- You wanna do it? Okay.

I don't like to get close to the edge

but Carl's a mountain goat. Ah!

Good morning.

Day 176.

We've got ourself a morning person over here.

Let's go!

- Oh, man.

Yeah, it's snowin'.

Can you see it? We're at...

Let me look.

Almost 7,800 feet right now.

And it is definitely snowin' up here.

You can see Cathedral Rock right there.

Peggy's Pond down below it.

And our route was kinda up this way.

And then we basically traversed this ridge

up to here and then cut all the way down

below the snow on the rock.

And now we've just been climbing straight up.

So straight up, up we go.

So this is a big night hike for the last,

probably four or five miles.

It's a headlamp hike all the way to Steven's Pass, right?

- Yeah. - I think that is true.

That's the aim.

- That is the aim.

We're going above and beyond the call of duty here.

24 miles, last four by headlamp in Washington State.

177 days in on the Pacific Crest Trail, Section J.

The last day on Section J.

- Oh, yeah, last day of J.

All right, it's day 184

on the PCT.

Time to seize the moment while the moment is at hand.

And that moment being the first real good look

at Glacier Peak.

There it is in the remnants of a lenticular

cloud, hovering

over the top, getting stretched out by the wind.

This one up here is called Indian Head.

And then of course, moving over we have

the spiky one here is Clark,

and then this one is Saul.

Here, let's have one last look around

this awesome vista here.

Day 185 on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Who says there's no jungles in the northwest?

Look around.

There's all kinds of different fir trees and hemlock trees

and moss and mushrooms and all kinds of stuff in here.

But it is just...

There's every color of green you can imagine in here.

Kinda neat, there's beauty in pretty much

every part of this trail and this is no exception

here at day number 185 on the Pacific Crest Trail,

Section K in Washington State.

Day number 185 on the Pacific Crest River.

This is a muddy mess. Let's take a look.

This is what the trail looks like all the way,

this entire thing.

I'm just gonna keep trekkin' in this.

Part of me just wants to just stay warm by moving.

And if I'm talkin' loud, I'm trying to keep my spirits up

by listening to music, I got music crankin' right now.

So I'm gonna, hopefully, just crank that until...

Well hopefully 'til the morning, if I can make it that long.

So anyway, that's what's goin' on here.

It's wild waves out here.

Pacific Crest, oh!

Trail.

Day number 185

on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Wow, what a day.

I threw in the towel.

I hiked for 16 hours straight today.

The rain never ceased.

It did stop once when it turned into snow.

But in 16 hours I only went a little over 24 miles.

The trail is thrashed.

Blow-downs, washouts,

mud,

swollen creeks.

The K Section is in rough shape right now.

I pitched my tent in a hurry

in the middle of the woods, kind of in a puddle.

In an effort to try to get a little bit dry

and try to get some sleep.

It was a valiant effort. That's as far as I got.

I didn't feel comfortable continuing on.

At night, crossing streams and I definitely

didn't wanna hike up to elevation again tonight.

All the snow up there so this is where we're at.

Anyway...

Something tells me, despite the fact that I'm soaking wet,

probably gonna have a pretty good rest tonight

here at day number 185.

Washington State, K Section

on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Anyway, let's hope that today's a little bit better.

Yeah, yesterday was seriously one of the toughest days

I've had on this whole trip.

So it's a new day today.

Let's see what it brings here at day number 186.

This is the North Cascades, ladies and gentlemen.

In all of its glory and it doesn't get

much better than this.

Truly one of the most spectacular views on the trail.

Where are we at? Is this Cloudy Pass?

Yeah, I think so.

- Yeah, I think we're right in the saddle

of Cloudy Pass right now.

On day 187,

Section K in Washington State.

Day number 189.

Just off the PCT, on a bridge.

A bridge that goes over a creek.

A creek that is called, Bridge Creek.

Here it is.

The water is crystal clear.

I'm not sure exactly where it comes from.

It could come from the backside of Mount McGregor

where we just were, there's a glacier up there.

So this might all be glacial runoff from that.

Take a look at the other side.

Huge rock, granite island and a nice little water slide,

slash swimming hole right in there.

Kind of a neat little spot. Look at how clear the water is.

Section L in Washington State.

And this section of the trail is...

It is ridiculously beautiful out here.

I mean, this has gotta be one of the prettiest

spots on the whole trail.

I probably said that a lot about a lot of spots but this is.

Cutthroat Pass is right here. It's the low spot.

Everything is wide open.

I mean, we've got this beautiful day also.

And the mountains all around this area are all granite.

Very reminiscent of the mountains

down in central California, all granite.

And here we are comin' around the corner.

Of course, that's Silver Star Mountain right there.

And we're swingin' around.

Rugged, beautiful mountains everywhere.

But wow, what a day.

What a day, what a spot, what a place.

What a way to roll into Canada these next last few days

in this section of the trail.

Absolutely stunning here at day number 192,

Section L in Washington State

right here on the magnificent Pacific Crest Trail.

Whoo!

Day number 192,

sitting atop

the Golden Horn

with a fantastic panorama all around me.

What a great climb. It's funny how things work out.

Until two days ago, I'd never even heard

of the...

Golden Horn.

I'd never even heard of it.

But I saw it in the distance from Mount McGregor.

And today, I had no intention

of going down to the Snow Lake.

But because I had a little extra time,

I just decided to do a little bit of route finding

and found my way to the Snow Lake.

And until about an hour and 20 minutes ago,

I had no intention of climbing this thing.

It was just on a whim.

So it's just funny how things work out sometimes.

But wow, I think I'm just gonna hang out here for a moment.

And turn around and eat a snack and take in this...

Priceless view. It is truly an unbelievable view up here.

And what a day. I can't believe this day.

Not a breeze. Some cloud breaks.

Some sun breaks.

You can see the sun rays.

On top of the Golden Horn in the North Cascades.

Day 194 on the Pacific Crest Trail.

What a difference a day makes, huh?

This is what happened last night.

It

Just did not stop snowing all night long.

And I'm at 6,500 feet.

Here's my tent. This thing was covered.

I spent the entire evening

knocking snow off of it, getting up,

taking my gloves and pulling snow away from the edges.

Trying to keep it from collapsing in.

But all of the large trees are covered.

The evergreens are covered, everything is covered.

The trail is covered.

I've got a brief break in the weather where there's

no rain, no sleet, no snow right now.

So I'm gonna try to pack everything up

as quickly as possible and start

truckin' onwards in this stuff.

And two days 'til Canada and the PC

has given me everything it's got so far.

We've got the sunshine, the wind, the rain,

a beautiful sunset, sleet, and now

a snowstorm rolled through.

Let's hope it's the last one here at day number 194.

Just 36 miles from the border, I think.

In the L Section of Washington State

on the Pacific Crest Trail in the North Cascades.

You'll notice that there's no snow around me.

And that is because I've dropped elevation.

I think right now it's about 5,800.

Snow level's at six right now.

And ordinarily,

the PCT would be

covered in snow and socked in, however,

I'm not on the PCT.

This is a reroute.

There was a fire near Holman Creek earlier in the year

and so the PCT is still shut down.

I'm sure the fire has gotta be out by now,

after that dumping of snow we got.

However, I was not about to risk it.

This re-route's about four miles longer,

but it's a known commodity,

in the fact that it is a traveled trail.

And the fact that it lost some elevation

and got out of the snow is a major plus.

Day 195 on the reroute, on the Holman Fire Trail,

just off the PCT.

And I am in the land of the Quaking Aspens.

Or some people call them the Trembling Aspens.

They're all around.

And they're perfect right now.

This brilliant yellow color.

And making it even more brilliant

is that big, bright thing up in the sky.

It's been scarce over the past several days,

so it's good to have a very brief break

of sunshine amidst the rain.

Tomorrow is Monument Day.

And theoretically, tonight, I'm supposed to meet up

with Mike and Connor.

Not far from here.

Good morning.

Day number 196. This is the big day.

This is Canada Day.

I'm still in my tent.

I just made some delicious mashed potatoes for breakfast.

And it is...

I haven't even unzipped it but you can see

it's hailing outside.

I'm just putting the finishing touches

on packin' up my tent.

It has stopped raining and hailing at the moment

up here at a place called Woody Pass.

And 6,500 feet. You can look around.

There's even a tiny bit of sunshine

poking through momentarily.

I'm here with the boys, the boys are actually camped

right down below.

Right down...

Down here.

There they are.

Getting ready.

- Whoo hoo! - Last day.

Traveling with the boys I started with.

There's Mike up there. - Hey!

- There's Connor looking fit as a fiddle.

Oh, yeah.

- And we're finishing strong...

In this gnarly Pacific Northwest weather.

What a way to go out.

Only fitting.

- It is only fitting we go out this way, indeed.

So we've got four miles of uphill.

We're gonna climb up to 7,000 and we're gonna get hit

with this the whole time, I'm sure.

And then it's all downhill to the Great White North

to Canada.

♪ Oh Canada ♪

Yes.

And it's nice to finish with the boys.

- Yes, sir. - That we started with.

That we wanted to take a second day zero, actually.

Almost.

- We wrecked ourselves the first day in various ways

and had to rethink our whole trip.

And who would've thought we'd make it this far?

We have a couple of celebratory beverages

on board right now.

Mike has carried these things right here since...

Since when?

- Tohickon. - Since Tohickon.

Through the snow.

- The snow. - Through the rain.

- Rain. - The terrible flood.

- The cold. - The earthquake, the locust.

The everything.

Congratulations, guys.

- Thank you. - There's a piece of wood here.

March 16.

I write this final journal entry nearly

six months after finishing the hike.

I guess with all the chaos and excitement of completion

and life, I just totally forgot

to put a bow on this endeavor.

We arrived at Monument 78 in the rain

and were greeted by a small gathering of 10 to 15 people.

Everybody clapped and cheered as we hiked in.

The boys' dads were waiting with cigars and champagne.

It was definitely an atmosphere of celebration.

It was so serendipitous that the guys I started with,

the guys I hiked with for the first month,

are the guys I finished with.

I wouldn't want it any other way.

- It's day 19. - 19, what our plan today,

fellas?

- 20 mile day.

How many miles did we hike today?

- 16, I think. - This is our campsite.

This is an 18 mile day for us today.

An 18 mile day today.

We all started together. Well, almost all of us.

We started together, Connor.

Here's the poodle dog bush.

Still frozen. What a luxury.

Nice and slow.

Evidence of volcanic activity. This is the root.

Does it get any better? I don't think so.

After stopping to soak it all in,

we had to hike an additional eight miles

to Manning Park in the snow, of course.

My parents drove from Anna Cordes to Canada

to meet me and pick me up.

They patiently waited for hours for me to arrive.

It was so wonderful to see them.

I'm so blessed to have such a supportive family.

Sitting here in the real world, I smile

as I relive this moment.

Not a day goes by that I don't think about the trail.

Every step was worth it.

- Day number 74 out here on the Pacific Crest Trail.

I'm hiking along

and I've found something that I've heard about

for hundreds of miles now, but finally experienced.

And this is it right here.

This is a very large pine tree.

And this is called a Jeffrey Pine.

And this is a large example of it.

But they come in all different sizes.

And one thing that makes this particular type

of pine tree special

is the aroma that it gives off when the sun hits it.

I was hiking down the trail right here.

And I stopped right here because the aroma...

Is so strong.

And it's something that happens when the sunshine hits

the bark on this tree.

I can smell it right now.

It smells so good.

It smells

like a vanilla shake.

It smells like pure vanilla extract

and it's a very sweet,

fragrant aroma.

But when I was hiking with Mr. Jimmy,

he was telling me about his line of work

and he is an expert in trees

and he was telling me about the Jeffrey Pine.

And I've heard about this from Chelsea

and a few other people also.

But he said one way that you can tell,

aside from the sun hitting the bark and smelling it,

is the pine cone.

He says, it's not prickly when you hold it.

He says, "Remember, it's a prickly Ponderosa"

"and a gentle Jeffrey."

They're very similar trees.

I think the Ponderosa is the higher elevation

version of the Jeffrey.

It's not doing anything to assuage my appetite.

But man, does it smell good.

The vanilla scent of a gentle Jeffrey Pine

out here on day number 74

on the Pacific Crest Trail right here in California.