Josh Garrett finishes PCT in record time

Josh Garrett completed the 2,660-mile Pacific Crest Trail in 59 days, 8 hours, 14 minutes, breaking the speed record. Josh Garrett completed the 2,660-mile Pacific Crest Trail in 59 days, 8 hours, 14 minutes, breaking the speed record. Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Josh Garrett finishes PCT in record time 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

In the Southern California desert, 100 miles from Mexico with about 2,500 miles to go, hiker Josh Garrett questioned his sanity and health.

"I had doubts if I could continue," Garrett said. "It was 100 degrees, I was shooting for 41 miles per day, and I collapsed from heatstroke."

He curled in a fetal position, shivering from exhaustion despite 100-degree heat, and started vomiting.

"I had to be taken off the trail, go into town," said Garrett, who was near Julian in San Diego County. "I stayed in a hotel room, took a cold, cold bath, drank plenty of icy drinks and tried to eat some food."

That is when the transformation happened. "In 24 hours, I was ready to get back on the trail. I couldn't believe how I felt the day before, but I started marching north again."

Garrett, 30, an exercise physiology instructor and cross-country coach at Santa Monica College, completed the 2,660-mile path last week in 59 days, 8 hours, 14 minutes, a record according to the Pacific Crest Trail Association. He averaged 45 miles per day, slept an average of four hours per night and tagged the PCT northern trailhead monument at the Canadian border at dusk Thursday.

"I cried, I broke down and bawled pretty good," Garrett said. "My girlfriend (Karen Dawn) was waiting for me at the monument with her arms wide open. What a sight. A long time coming."

Prior to this year, the record was 64 days and change, set by the Bay Area's Scott Williamson in 2011.

The PCT, many feel, is the world's greatest hike. It roughly follows the crest of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges, and tops out at Forester Pass, elevation 13,153 feet, just north of Mount Whitney.

It also crosses the Mojave Desert for roughly 700 miles en route to the Dome Land Wilderness at the southern end of the Sierra. The PCT also includes the Hat Creek Rim in Lassen County, a 30-mile stretch with no water.

"I had to deal with these long waterless stretches," Garrett said. "I made sure I hydrated with electrolytes, not just water. I carried little tablets that dissolved in my water.

"There was a lot of thirsty walking," Garrett said. "The longest I went with an empty water bottle was about 10 miles. I rationed my water until I could find a clean source. There were times I wished there was a stream of Gatorade running along the trail."

Hardship is something that Garrett empathizes with. He is a devout animal lover, from dogs to chipmunks to a fascination with moose, and dedicated this hike to help farm animals. He has been a vegan for two years, completing the PCT without meat or any animal products in the hope of raising "awareness about animal cruelty."

"I want to raise money for Mercy for Animals," which sends workers undercover into slaughterhouses and factory farms to videotape any unethical treatment the animals endure, "which shockingly is the norm."

Garrett dedicated his record PCT hike to raising money for his animal friends. As the word gets out about his feat, he has raised $8,000 already. For information and a fun video of Garrett, go to www.mercyforanimals.org/veganhiker.

"I constantly reminded myself, as painful as it was to do the hike, as miserable as it was at times, it was nothing compared to what animals on factory farms and slaughterhouses go through," Garrett said.

After the third day, when he broke down in the desert, "I almost let it go. Sitting in that hotel room in Julian, I questioned if I could continue," Garrett said. "The same night, I was back on the trail and I walked through the Warner Springs area at sunset, I was feeling good again. I knew at that point, I could make it. I had the faces of animals suffering in the videos I'd seen (from Mercy for Animals) burned in my mind. I wasn't going to quit on them."

With the pain also came euphoria. Garrett said his encounters with wildlife helped propel him forward.

A rattlesnake in the Mojave, a giant buck with a huge rack south of Mount Rainier in Washington, and a black bear just north of Kennedy Meadows at the entrance of the southern Sierra helped him connect to the land in the moment, he said.

"At night, the forest seemed to come alive, like the sounds of the birds," Garrett said. "While hiking at night, I'd shine my headlight into the woods and I'd see the eye shine from deer and other critters looking at me."

He had magic moments from seeing the grandeur of the landscape as he crossed America, south to north.

"The High Sierra was a highlight," Garrett said. "Atop Mather Pass, looking at the lakes below and the surrounding mountains, you could see for a hundred miles, incredible vistas."

Other sites where he felt a profound power of place included Glacier Peak Wilderness in northern Washington ("just like a magical wonderland, so green, so much water"), the Jefferson Park area in northern Oregon ("very green, lush, snowmelt, clean water"), and the northern Cascades in northern Washington ("I didn't see a soul, it felt incredibly remote").

To make it work, Garrett's pack averaged about 20 pounds, as light as 15 pounds with no food, and as heavy as 35 pounds with five days of food. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, sponsored the hike and hired people to make sure Garrett was supplied with food, medical and foot care at road crossings.

Garrett said he wore out five pairs of shoes, a Brooks Cascadia model designed as a trail runner. "They're good for about 500 miles."

He'd wake up each morning by 5:30, pack his gear, get on the trail by 6 and walk until 1:30 a.m. to 2 a.m., eating snacks along the way such as Probar, packets of peanut butter, vegan jerky comprised of wheat gluten, Uncle Eddies vegan cookies and his "bonus item," vegan marshmallows.

The idea to hike the entire PCT started on the trail a year ago with Mackey, who said he was impressed with Garrett's endurance.

"He challenged me to go after the record," Garrett said. "He thought I could do it. I thought if I could make it worthwhile for the animals, I could consider it. It was important for me to show people that we don't need to eat meat or animal products in order to be healthy and strong. I hope I've been a good example of that."

Once he completed the trip, he slept in a bed at a hotel for the first time in two months.

"After sleeping on the hard ground for two months, it wrecked my back," he said with a laugh.

"I've been sleeping on the floors of hotel rooms ever since. I sleep on the floor at home, too."