Author: Andrew Carter

c) Andrew Carter, 2021

There are place-name typos in the article. I started at Springer Mountain, Georgia on February 24, 1977 and reached Mt. Katahdin, Maine on July 12, 1977.

I decided to hike the Appalachian Trail because I needed a break from college. Academically, I was over my head at Princeton. I realized my freshman year that if I didn’t take some time off in the middle, I wasn’t likely to graduate. Hiking the AT seemed like the perfect thing to do. It also proved less costly than attending college that one semester.

My father was a hiker, so I started hiking with him when I was a boy. We’d go on at least one hiking trip each year, and usually two or three. I had probably hiked 300 miles with him before I began my AT thru-hike.

Here’s a picture of me at the end.

I definitely look a little dirty. Those pants have been through hell, and I could use a hair-cut and a shave. It’s hard to see, but I’m sporting an Amish chin beard. Here’s another photo from that final day.

I absolutely adored my hike. I found that hiking agreed with me, which is not the case for all people. When I’m hiking, I get into a Zen-like meditative state. My brain goes where it wants to go. I have found that there is nothing so effective at clearing my brain and calming my soul than hiking. There is also something cleansing about the physical exertion. When I was hiking the AT, I came to believe that man was meant to get up with the sun, go to bed with the sun, and work hard the entire day in between.

The hike changed me, if just for a little while. I tend to be tightly wound. All those who have heard me talk to myself and curse at my computer while I work will attest to that. My thru-hike made me profoundly mellow. In the middle of the hike, I stopped off at college to see my friends. Their constant refrain after spending a little while with me was, “Who the heck are you?” That’s how different I was acting. Unfortunately, that mellowness only lasted a week or two after I got home.

Here’s a water color a friend of mine did of me while I was still in that mellow state just a two days after I finished. She called it, “Andrew in the Garden in his Brain.”

The desire to hike the Pacific Crest Trail has been with me ever since my AT thru-hike, but life — marriage, kids, a career — got in the way. That desire was sleeping until just a few years ago. What woke it up was my son William’s thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2017/18. Just as I started hiking with my father, my son started hiking with me. Sometimes life comes full circle. William was between his first and second job after college, living in Alabama. Hiking the AT seemed like the perfect thing for him to do as well.

My son hiked the AT from Maine to Georgia instead of from Georgia to Maine. He started in the middle of July, 2017 and finished in the middle of January, 2018. It was very cold at the end, but he persevered.. Here’s a picture of him at the start in Maine and one of him at the end in Georgia. The picture he had taken at Mt. Katahdin was designed to mimic the one I’d had taken there 40 years before.

So, for the past four years, I’ve been thinking about hiking the PCT. Now, I’m about to start.

c) Andrew Carter, 2021

In a few days, I will start my thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).

The PCT starts at the Mexican border east of San Diego and stretches to the Canadian border east of Seattle. It is 2,650 miles long and follows the mountain ranges of the West Coast, in particular the Sierra in California and the Cascades in Oregon and Washington.

Those who plan to hike the entire trail do it one of two ways. They either hike the entire trail in one year, usually taking four to six months, or they hike the trail in sections over many years. Those in the first group are called “thru-hikers.” Those in the second group are called “section hikers.”

Most thru-hikers start at the Mexican border in April or May and hike north to Canada. They are called “NOBOs,” for northbounders. There are also thru-hikers who start at the Canadian border, usually in July, and hike south to Mexico. They are called “SOBO’s,” for southbounders.

Then there are thru-hikers who, for various reasons, choose to hike the trail in sections in one year, instead of in one continuous direction. They are called “flip-floppers.” That’s what I am.

I plan to hike the PCT in three sections. I will start the first section on April 3rd at Walker Pass, which is east of Bakersfield and Lake Isabella. I will hike south to the Mexican border. That’s about 650 miles. It will take me two months — April and May.

Then I will flip north to Sierra City, which is a small town in the Sierra north of Lake Tahoe and Donner Pass. I will hike north from Sierra City to the Canadian border, starting around June 1st That’s about 1,450 miles. It will take me three months — June, July, and August.

Finally, I will close the gap between Sierra City and Walker Pass, hiking south. That’s about 550 miles. I will take me a month and a half, I will start around September 1st and finish around October 15th.

That’s the plan at least. We’ll see if I can do it. My greatest worry is my 64-year-old body, in particular my left knee and right foot. Both have been operated on in the last five years. I have completed week-long hikes since those operations, but a six-month hike is very different than a one-week hike in terms of wear and tear on the body.

Because of this, I’ve built in week-long breaks during my hike. Beside taking a break between each of the three sections, I also plan to take week-long breaks in the middle of the first two sections. Another benefit of this will be the opportunity to see my wife. Let’s hear it for marital bliss.

I’ll tell you more in future posts.