Thanks for joining us! 

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

It seems like forever ago now that the journey started, setting up this blog forces me to reflect on just how long it’s actually been. Flights are booked and paid for, US Visa issued, PCT permit approved, leave from work arranged and all gear has been mulled over and purchased. The preparation for the journey is actually far longer than the hike actually takes.  

It all started, sort of, while walking the Te Araroa Trail (see my TA Blog), our long distance hiking trail down-under.  Uniquely Kiwi, very different from the US Trails and certainly nothing like the Camino de Santiago. At only 3000kms, and having only just opened in 2011, I walked it in the Summer of 2015/16. That season only around 300 thru-hikers attempted the trail. The trail is not a continuous wilderness trail – do not come and walk it if you want to walk a continuous wilderness trail. The TA is a Cultural/Wilderness trail and as such has a bit of road-walking – in fact it took us 900kms to actually have an entire day in the wilderness with no form of road. I’m not complaining, I loved it, I loved every single day, every single kilometer, every single challenge – yes, some days I wanted to chop my feet off as they hurt so much – no fault of the trail though – you can’t always match your limited shoe selection to the terrain you encounter.

During the TA the idea of doing the PCT began to percolate. Similarly, deciding to do the TA came from walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain with my son during late Winter in 2013. Trails have a way of doing that, plenty of time for reflection, plenty of time for planning your next adventures. Our crew on the TA managed to have the privilege of walking with some people who had done the PCT, the stories sounded great and so the research on the Interweb began. As it turned out, my fellow TA crew members all sort of wanted to do the PCT as well, but for various reasons they won’t be joining me. Only one other TA Jandal crew member is joining for the next adventure – Anna.

The two biggest issues facing Kiwi PCT hikers are: getting a US Visa for more than 90 days and getting a PCT permit for your start date to fit in with international flights etc. Next is the mission to get both, and what a mission it was………….