PCT | Travel Plan
It is time to talk about our estimated travel itinerary for the next 6 months.
I mean, sure… we will mostly spend our time enjoying a hikertrash life on the PCT, but what about before and after the trail?
If you are also planning to thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail, I hope this post will inspire you… just accept the fact that it is IMPOSSIBLE to plan every tiny detail of such a long adventure, and go with the flow!
BEFORE
San Francisco
Due to a very good price offer when we checked our flight options, we decided to already buy tickets for both ways, to and from San Francisco.
Why San Francisco?
We are lucky to know someone living in California, close to San Francisco, who offered us a place to stay before hitting the PCT and who will be our main contact person in case we need help while on trail.
Why buying the return ticket?
We just did, because it was super cheap. We estimated our return date to be more or less 5 months from the arrival date… will this not be the case, we will just pay an additional fee to anticipate or posticipate the flight back home.
We will spend 8 days in San Francisco. During this time, we will visit the city and the nearby coast, prepare some resupply boxes for the trail, get lost in REI and buy the last pieces of missing gear… but, most importantly, enjoy toilets and showers as much as possible!
San Diego - Scout & Frodo
The day before starting the PCT, we will take a flight from San Francisco to San Diego. We will then use public transports to reach our destination for the night… the famous garden of Scout & Frodo.
Scout & Frodo are trail angels who host PCT hikers at their home, providing them with support and a great start into their journey… and they’re doing this every year since 2006! Oh I can’t wait to be there, to socialize with other hikers and to join a group dance session in the garden to shake off all the worries!
Since it is a very popular accommodation option amongst nobo hikers, we booked our stay at Scout & Frodo in advance through their website.
DURING
T Day
On T Day (“trail day”), we will head to the southern terminus to start our PCT hike, either by bus or using the Southern Terminus Shuttle.
Funny thing: I realized that we still have to figure out how to reach the southern terminus while I was writing this post! Buuut it’s okay, we will eventually get to that monument, one way or another.
Other funny thing: now I can’t get the song out of my head. “One wayy or another I’m gonna find ya”…. na na na na na!
And then what?
Then, we are going on a long walk.
And god, I can’t wait to take the first step of it!
The Trail
The Pacific Crest Trail is 2’650 miles (4’270 km) long. On average, thru-hikers take between 4 and 6 months to complete it… and since we are “very average people”, we estimated to finish it in 5 months, of course assuming that everything will go well along the way.
We’ll see!
AFTER
We have a return flight booked from San Francisco which can be easily anticipated or postponed… luckily, because we have ZERO clue when we will be done hiking the PCT, and what we would like to do once it is over!
I am trying to think broadly, stay spontaneous and be open to many different possibilities…
Wwoofing in the USA?
In case that we’ll complete the PCT and still have some time left (given by the visa) to stay in the USA without stress, I probably would like to try wwoofing for my first time! I would therefore volunteer and work in an organic farm… maybe in the state of Montana, surrounded by buffaloes?
That would be cool!
Entering Canada?
I also applied to get a PCT Canada Entry Permit, just in case that I’ll go crazy and completely change my mind by walking into Canada from the PCT northern terminus and visit the country for a while, instead of flying back home from the USA.
Just coming home?
Who knows… maybe I’ll be so tired and the only thing I’ll want to do is flying back home to hug my family and tell them everything about our PCT tale!