8/26/13 4:45pm Trail Complete!! All 2660 miles of it!! 4 months and 1 week.
It was raining, and for the last 6 miles of my PCT thru-hike I was relatively miserable, but as I arrived at the Northern Terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail at the border of The United States and Canada the clouds parted and nothing could stop me from feeling great joy.
For the past 170 miles or so I had been carrying some Canadian whiskey and that helped me forget about my cold pruned hands.
The days hike was only 20 miles, but it turned out to be one of the most difficult days for me on the whole trail. There were some washouts on the trail that have been causing hikers some delay in a place called woody pass. There is also a skree slope above the trail at Woody pass that avoids a large descent and climb. When I took that abandoned trail I had no idea that the washouts went all the way up to the skree trail. There wasn't really a trail, and the hiking was treacherous.
People have said they saw their lives flash before their eyes walking this abandoned trail. That was probably overly dramatic before the washout but if you went up there today I'd say that it would be a fair sensation to have. It took me two whole hours to traverse what was maybe a half-mile of trail. It was entirely not worth the time or the risk and I urge other hikers, especially after the recent washouts, to not take the abandoned skree trail before Woody pass.
One of the main problems is that the trail looks like it's in pretty good shape when you first see the "trail abandoned" sign, but there is absolutely no trail left in many many sections.
I felt so lucky to be off of that trail and back on the nurturing gentle grade of the PCT.
It started raining as a began the final descent to the border of Canada and the combination of hiking 40 miles the day before and just risking my hike/well-being taking the abandoned trail put me in a really irritable mood. Honestly, it was a hard way to finish the trail, but I began to feel better and better as the miles dwindled away and then it was all smiles when I got to the border. A kind of stupidfied shock came over me when I realized I was done hiking.
I hadn't seen Bambi all day or the night before. I was afraid he had also taken the skree trail as I had written my name with an arrow to signify I had taken it. At some point it became impossible to backtrack the trail so I had to continue and he would probably think I got through it just fine. I was worried he would be stuck up there in the rain.
I was so happy so see him come down to the border after waiting there for the better half of an hour. He said he didnt notice my name and arrow at the trail head, which was very lucky, because he said if he had noticed the marker he would have taken that route.
We celebrated for a little and then hiked on to a very nice camp not far from the terminus. Although we finished the PCT there was still 8 miles to hike the next day to get to civilization in Manning Park, BC.
-Luke
