Walk from Mexico to Canada they said. It’ll be fun they said. Actually, it was pretty fun. An exhausting, thrilling, scary, euphoric, monotonous, painful, dirty and very, very hungry way to spend a 6 month sabbatical.

The Pacific Crest Trail, is a 2,650 mile continuous footpath from the Mexican border to the Canadian border, through the dry, scorching deserts in Southern California, the dramatic snow-capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada, the coniferous forests of Oregon and the wet and rugged terrain of Washington. What was once a relatively unknown trail has now become increasingly popular, thanks to Reece Witherspoon’s film Wild. Now, around 5,000 people attempt to thru-hike the trail each year.

Whenever I described to people how I was spending my sabbatical, I was usually met with the same set of questions, so I’m going to answer those now.

Question 1: Why would you choose to do that?

Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail had been a dream of mine for years. In 2018, I set out on my first ever overnight backpacking trip, which turned out to be a 2,190 mile, 6 month hike on the Appalachian Trail in the United States. Ever since then, I have been hooked on this weird and wonderful way of spending time off. I truly believe that spending time in nature is the best thing we can do for our mental health. Combine that with physical exertion and a huge mental and physical challenge, it’s the perfect ‘reset’.

Question 2: Isn’t it dangerous? What about bears?

There are some dangers involved, but most people don’t set out for a 2,000+ mile hike without some preparation. I spent years accumulating the right lightweight gear, watching videos about how to use an ice axe, how to notice signs of altitude sickness and what to do if you see a mountain lion.

For me, spotting wildlife was one of the greatest experiences. The heightened senses you feel when you hear a rattlesnake, the thrill of seeing a bear swimming in a lake and the hundreds of lizards, vultures, butterflies and marmots you see each week is really special.

There were dangers of heat exhaustion and dehydration in the Southern California desert, with temperatures over 40°C and no water sources for up to 30 miles, which meant carrying a very heavy 6-7 liters. Summiting Mount Whitney, at 14,500 feet (3.5 x the height of Ben Nevis) posed the danger of altitude sickness. We also hiked to the peak for sunrise, which meant starting at 10pm and climbing through snow and ice at night with our headlamps.

Each day throughout the 3-4 weeks we spent in the Sierra Nevada mountains had what we would call a ‘no fall zone’. Essentially a point at which a slip in the snow, crumbling rock or a wrong step would result in a large fall which you’d be lucky to stop.

Question 3: What do you eat?

Walking uphill for up to 34 miles per day burns a lot of calories. By the end of the trip, I was both the healthiest and least healthy I’d ever been in my life. I burnt around 5,000 calories per day, but could only eat around 3,000 due to the weight it added to my pack. My daily in-take would consist of a lot of sugar and very little fresh food:

• Breakfast:
  • Dry granola
  • Protein bar
• Lunch:
  • Wraps with vegan cheese, avocado, crisps & hot sauce
  • Protein bar
• Dinner:
  • Freeze dried Spanish rice with soya protein, lots of olive oil, nutritional yeast & hot sauce
  • Protein bar
• Snacks:
  • Nuts, crisps, lots and lots of sweets, more protein bars

Question 4: Where do you sleep?

Anywhere. At the start of the day we would scout out how far we wanted to hike based on the terrain and a rough 5 day plan. We’d then aim to find the nicest tent sites, ideally by a lake, river, or with a view of the surrounding mountains.

I usually slept in my tent, but when there were no mosquitos I’d try to cowboy camp – camping under the stars without a tent. Worth it for the incredible views, including meteor showers and the Northern Lights.

Question 5: How do you wash?

Very poorly and very rarely! Camping next to a lake or river meant I could sometimes jump in for a wash before bed and also to do some laundry. The joy of jumping into a ice cold lake on a snowy mountain at lunch was also hard to turn down!

We walked through a lot of burn zones from forest fires in previous years, including the Dixie Fire which burned nearly 1 million acres of Northern California in 2021. Those long stretches resulted in huge amounts of dust and ash which very quickly clung to us and all of our possessions.

Of course, we got into small towns and villages every 5-10 days so that allowed us to have a proper wash too!

I’d like to say it was a life changing trip and that I learned a lot about myself, but actually it was just a really great, difficult, tiring and dreamlike experience that I would happily do all over again.

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