My first blog post, how exciting! Originally I had no intention to write a blog but I’ve been overwhelmed by the outreach of friends and family to remain updated on my trip. I decided a blog would serve as both a centralized location for people to follow along and a place for me to gather my thoughts and reflect down the road. I don’t have any heavy, profound reason for hiking the PCT, but I’ll give some background for my interest in hiking/camping, the outdoors, the environment, and long distance thru-hiking.

A few days ago I left Maryland, my home for the past 26 years, and drove 13 hours and 830 miles to St. Louis with my car filled to the brim with all my earthly possessions. On May 11 I will begin a Pacific Crest Trail thru-hike attempt heading northbound. In the several weeks leading up to my start date I’ll be road-tripping around the US, my current road trip plan is as follows: St. Louis -> Santa Fe, NM -> Sedona, AZ -> Grand Canyon NP -> Las Vegas, NV -> Zion NP -> Bryce Canyon NP -> Arches NP/Canyonlands NP -> Salt Lake City, UT -> Sawtooth Mountains, ID -> Boise, ID -> Bend, OR -> Columbia River Gorge, OR -> Portland, OR -> Seattle, WA -> Bellingham, WA. My grandfather conveniently lives in Bellingham, WA, not too far from the PCT northern terminus. I plan to leave some of my belongings with him before I fly one way down to LA to hang out with a few friends. Two days later they’ll drop me off at the southern terminus of the PCT and I’ll see how far north I make it!

A fire was sparked in me in August 2011 when myself, my dad, my sister, and several close family friends hiked a four day backpacking trip (my first backpacking trip) through Yosemite in honor of my late uncle, with a summit of Half Dome the pinnacle. I grew up with younger sisters and younger cousins, so my Uncle Jon served as a prominent role model and inspiration. I was fortunate to visit him in California a couple times while I was younger which served as my first introductions to the west coast, hiking and camping in the outdoors, environmental ideals, and a world outside Maryland. These trips, and my uncle’s passions and ideals, are highly influential for me to this day.

After graduating from college in May 2014, I moved to Baltimore. I was quick to tell people, as my post-college roommate will attest, that: “two years tops and then I’m moving out west.” But this eccentric, troubled, wonderful city grew on me. I met so many great friends, rekindled my love for running and racing though the fantastic group at the Falls Road Running Store, and had a great living situation with two of my best friends from college which included a stunning view of Baltimore from our roof.

At some point after graduating I read “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson, and “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed. These two thru-hiking stories opened my eyes to a new world and my interest was immediately piqued. I’m an avid distance runner and love the challenge and bliss of prolonged physical and mental expenditure. These thru-hiking accounts felt like a distant cousin to distance running, but a cousin with similar features. From that point on, a long distance thru-hike was on my radar as something that would be exciting to attempt at some point.

Last year I found myself in a situation where several very good friends and important people in my life moved away from Baltimore, I was injured from running, and burnt out with life and work. With my lease ending I decided the timing was right to change things up and finally move out west for a bit. I developed a plan to combine moving out west with a thru-hike of the PCT. In doing so, I hope to explore a part of the country that has for so long held my interest, spend a prolonged amount of time hiking in the outdoors, take a break from the traditional 8-5 lifestyle, and see what this thru-hiking thing is all about. What better way to explore the west coast than to literally walk through the entire thing, right?! So here I am, sitting at my dad’s house in St. Louis, writing a blog post with profuse excitement for what lies ahead over the next few months!

I struggled to come up with an appropriate title, so I decided I’m going to make my blog post titles songs instead because I love music and dislike coming up with titles. “Palo Alto” felt appropriate on several levels. A road-tripping feel, one of the times I visited my Uncle in California was in Palo Alto, and Jack River has been my favorite band of the year so far. So check it out!