“It is the people. It is the people. It is the people.”

If you’ve watched Elina Osborne’s famous PCT video on youtube, I am sure you know what I’m talking about. All the hikers she shared her thru-hike with look so badass… it just makes you want to get out there and meet new friends on the PCT! At least that’s how I felt after watching it… it made me dream of the trail and its social aspect even more.

The Lesson

Now, after having thru-hiked the PCT, I can confirm it. The friendships and connections we created out there were truly unique, so simple but yet so strong!

But I also learned an important lesson:

Don’t expect anything from the trail.
Don’t expect to quickly find a trail family.
Don’t expect it to be easy to socialize and stick to a group of hikers.
Don’t expect to always fit in.
Instead, have faith in the trail.
It will provide what you need when you’ll need it.
Don’t force it, just go with the flow.
Experience both the bad and the good moments.
Just let go and, if you want to, you’ll find love.

Heading into the "LA aqueduct nightmare" with a group of people we lost after a few hours.

Trail Families

There was a strong sense of camaraderie between hikers on the PCT. The trail was our home, the sky was our rooftop, and we were all out there for a reason. We all chose to be homeless for months, to endure physical pain and face endless challenges. But most importantly, we all shared the same goal of reaching Canada… a goal that motivated us to move forward in the most difficult moments, to follow that dirt path step after step, direction North, no matter what.

It was interesting to see the dynamics between hikers on trail and how naturally trail families formed along the way. I found it very fascinating that the trail somehow enhanced people’s primitive instincts to gather and form groups to survive. I couldn’t help but smiling when looking at trail families and imagining to be in prehistoric times: every “tribe” had a special name, and every hiker in the tribe had a particular role, which was important for the survival of his own kind.

The name of our trail family? “Wocka Wockas”.

I’ll try to explain…

When walking, we often played the pacman game. “Wocka wocka wocka” is the sound that pacman does when eating the dots and fruits in the maze. Every morning, when leaving camp, each one of us transformed into a pacman, and the trail became the maze of the game. The hikers behind us were the little ghosts chasing us, while the hikers ahead were the dots (solo hikers), cherries (couples), strawberries (groups of 3 hikers) and bananas (groups of 4 hikers). When catching the dots and fruits ahead, the points would sum up, but they would also dramatically zero when caught by the ghosts behind us.
In the evening, we were all comparing our scores… of course, I never won.
This was a motivational game that helped us detaching from the physical pain and mental struggles while walking… it was a racing game with our emotions.

By spending so much time in close contact with nature and its elements, we grew wild together and got to learn the importance of trusting and helping each other when it came to challenging situations, being it walking at high elevations, crossing a river, or surviving a hailing and lightning storm. We got addicted to each others company in the evening, the time when we could sit down, enjoy dinner, goof around and be silly together… out there, we were our true selves.

Our trail family taking a break and decide together which campsite to choose for the night.

A message we left for Cleopatra and Popeye on an old blank PCT sign. They were trying to catch us since weeks, and we wanted to motivate them to keep going.

Trail Names

Now this is a funny topic!

A trail name is a nickname that is given to you by another person you meet on a thru-hike. It could be for example related to your personality, to the way you dress, or to something iconic that happened to you on trail.

You can of course reject a trail name if you don’t like it, change it how many times you want, or you can even decide to go by your “real” name if you don’t want to be identified by a nickname.

Trail names are part of the thru-hiking social culture, and are often helping the start of a conversation when meeting new people. “What’s your name?” and “how did you get it?” were my favorite first questions to ask… I just loved discovering new trail names and the stories behind them!

Here are our two trail names and the stories of how we got them:

**"Lilo"**
This little grumpy Stitch has been my travel companion for years, always strapped to my backpack as a lucky charm. It was just a matter of time until I was given the name “Lilo”, as in the disney movie “Lilo&Stitch”. Fabienne gave me this sweet name while we were resting in Big Bear, and I immediately accepted it.

**"Chef"**
Yannick got the trail name “Chef”. This name was so perfect for him, as he loves experimenting new recipes, both on trail and at home. Banter suggested this name when, just out of Big Bear, Yannick turned on the little gas stove to cook raviolis for dinner and started passionately talking about food.

Trail Registers

Trail registers are books that are placed at different locations along the trail. Their empty pages are meant to be filled by the signatures of the hikers that pass by.

We were always so excited when spotting a trail register and reading the filled pages, carefully scanning the signatures and looking for a known trail name.

A typical page might have looked like this once we signed:

6/30/24 Pepsi Boy, France
6/30/24 Sprinkles, Netherlands
6/30/24 Wonderer, Germany
6/30/24 Cheddar, France
7/20/24 Superman, Japan
7/20/24 Radagast, France
7/20/24 Icarus, WA, USA
7/21/24 Little Wing, VA, USA
7/21/24 Great Dane, Danemark
7/21/24 Lilo & Chef, Switzerland

This was often the only source of information we had about other hikers, giving us clues about their location:

“Look! Superman was here just yesterday! He must be close to Mount Shasta, maybe we’ll meet him there!”
“Look! Icarus is still ahead of us but we are slowly getting closer! I am so looking forward to meeting him/her, I wonder who he/she is!”

Trail Angels & Trail Magic

“Trail magic” is literally the spark that gives a touch of magic to the trail. It is the act of kindness and generosity that people, known as “trail angels”, express towards thru-hikers. Trail magic can have many different forms, such as an angel offering a car ride into town for resupply, providing a place to shower and spend the night, placing unattended coolers filled with sodas on the trail, or even setting up big tents and chairs and provide sodas, beers, chips and cookies to the hikers passing by.

We found that the most important and helpful trail magic for us was the maintainance of water caches along sections of the trail that were very dry. The absence of those caches would have meant walking under the scoarching sun for more than 30 miles without any source of water, hence a very heavy water carry and a very tough and strenuous day.

Trail angels are therefore a vital part of the thru-hiking community. I admit that, without them, a thru-hike like the Pacific Crest Trail would definitely become tougher, and less magical. It’s difficult to explain the feeling of pure happiness we experienced when, all of a sudden, we were surprised by trail magic, transforming a bad day into the best day ever. I often got emotional and shed a few tears of joy… these acts of generosity were so heartwarming.

An amazing trail magic event that vortexed us for a few hours out of Shelter Cove, WA. Apart from good vibes and great people, there were burgers, beers, the smell of barbecue, music, dogs, and even starlink wifi!

A water cache on the trail, strategically placed in the very dry desert section between Tehachapi and Walker Pass.

Our Experience

“Psss… psss! Yannick!”
“mmmh”
“Are you awake?”
“mmmh”
“Do you think we are ever going to find a trail family?”

This was a question I often asked him in the desert section, when we were snuggling into our sleeping bags after sunset. We were indeed meeting many amazing people on the trail but, because of different rhythms and priorities, we always found it difficult to stick together. Thirty days later, the section of the Sierra Nevada was approaching, and we were still hiking alone… deep inside, I was still hoping to face the mountains in a group.

And just like that, when I stopped worrying about finding new friends, we found ourselves at a wooden table at the General Store in Kennedy Meadows South. Sitting next to us: Pacman, Popeye and Cleopatra. Nobody had to ask, the group formed naturally, and the next day we all took our first steps towards the Sierra, excited to face the next challenging section together.

The others were hiking much faster than us… they all had started the PCT one week later and caught up to us before Kennedy Meadows. There was still a long way to go… we would have never imagined to arrive in Canada together.

The group split up in the Sierra already, but we kept hiking at a good rhythm with Pacman. With him, we walked across Northern California, and decided to pursue the goal of a continuous path to Canada! We spent so much time together, that he is now like a brother to us!
Behind us, Cleopatra and Popeye started the “chase of the Swiss”. It lasted longer than expected… but we all finally reunited in Oregon! At this point, it was clear to everyone that this was the family with whom we wanted to walk till the end. And then, all of a sudden, Easy Peasy joined our group at the beginning of Washington. Finally, the trail family was complete!

**"Chef" (aka "Water Lord")**
Switzerland 🇨🇭
*Popular quote: “I don’t know why, but somehow, I have some headache and confusion.”*

**"Lilo" (aka "Pure Feet")**
Switzerland 🇨🇭
*Popular quote: “Similar, but different.”*

**"Pacman"**
Switzerland 🇨🇭
1640 miles (2640 km) hiked together
*Popular quote: “Oh I have no doubt… it’s a beef!”*

**"Popeye"**
California, USA 🇺🇸
975 miles (1570 km) hiked together
*Popular quote: “Let’s go to fucking Disneyland!”*

**"Cleopatra"**
Colorado, USA 🇺🇸
830 miles (1335 km) hiked together
*Popular quote: “I am catching the Swiss!”*

**"Easy Peasy" (aka "Sneaky Peasy")**
Japan 🇯🇵
425 miles (685 km) hiked together
*Popular quote: “Molto fottutamente morto.”*

During our PCT thru-hike, we met so many other wonderful people every day, and never knew for certain if we would ever see them again… it was for the trail to decide whether our paths would cross one more time.

Here are the people who made our adventure unforgettable, and with whom we experienced the magic of the trail: we first met, shared a special moment, then lost each other, and finally reunited after many days and miles.