Why hello there.

Hi. I am Tim Hunt. This is my blog. This is the first post of that blog.

Beginning in June 2014, I will be southbound (SOBO) thru hiking the 2,660 mile Pacific Crest Trail. My reasons for this are severalfold. First and foremost, I enjoy being outside. Trees are pretty cool, and mountains aren't bad, I guess. I love the feeling of total freedom that comes with having my entire life on my back, and not having to be constrained by sleeping in beds, pooping in toilets, or waiting until after dinner to eat dessert. For the last few years, I've been going to college in Maine, and I'll be graduating in May and moving back home to Oakland, CA. What better homecoming could there possibly be than seeing the entirety of the far west? As an aside, I'm also in denial of my imminent entrance into the "real world" and am looking to put it off as long as possible. I put "real world" in quotes because during my interactions with nature, I have come to believe that the natural world, the undisturbed wild beauty of the outdoors, is in fact just as real, if not more so, than the one we have built inside.

For those of you unfamiliar with the trail, the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) begins/ends at the Mexican and Canadian borders in Campo, CA and Monument 78, WA, respectively. It is somewhere between 2,650 and 2,700 miles. The most recent estimates put it at around 2,663. It goes through 9 mountain ranges, 26 national forests, 7 national parks, 5 state parks, and 3 national monuments, as well as 6 of the 7 North American eco-zones (no tundra). Most people say it goes from Mexico to Canada, because that's the way most people hike it. In fact, about 90% of the 700-800 people who attempt the trail annually go northbound. But we're not. Why are we so badass? The main reason is weather. Since most people in our group will (hopefully) be graduating in the end of May, we won't be able to start hiking until mid-June, meaning we won't finish until as late as November. This would be impossible going northbound, because that would put us high in the North Cascades during the beginning of winter, where heavy snow and avalanches are inevitable. So, although it will still be muy snowy in Washington when we start, it won't be getting snowier. I also really like the idea of finishing in my home state. Going southbound will also hopefully mean we have a less rainy trip with fewer bugs. These are good things.

These are most of the people going with me:

Clockwise from top: Kyle, Salty Pete, me, Zoe.
The goof in the flowery red hat isn't coming.

Future Hiker Trash


I will hopefully be using this blog as an effective procrastination tool in the future, so until I have some real work to avoid, I'm going to go play in the snow.

-TH