Dash & Dirt

Alright, friends, Penelope here, ready to spill the beans on how this city-slicker turned thru-hiker ended up walking from Mexico to Canada. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t a meticulously planned, years-in-the-making dream. Nope, it was more like a cosmic nudge fueled by a serious case of the “back-to-reality blues.”

See, I’d been living the dreamy Maui life for a couple of years, soaking up the sun and the slow pace. So, when I moved back to Los Angeles… well, let’s just say the transition to regular life and work hit me like a rogue wave. The daily grind felt, well, grindy.

One particularly uninspired day at work, my mind started wandering to distant shores. I began a casual Google search for “remote vacation ideas,” probably picturing a secluded beach with questionable Wi-Fi. And then, BAM! Like a digital lightning bolt, I stumbled across the world of thru-hiking. The Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide Trail… and this mythical-sounding Pacific Crest Trail.

Confession time: I had never even heard of the PCT before that very moment. Seriously! It wasn’t some lifelong ambition; it was a complete “wait, people do that?!” kind of discovery. The idea of just… walking for months through incredible wilderness completely captivated me.

And here’s where the “I’m that person” part really kicks in. Instead of just adding it to a someday-maybe list, something inside me just clicked. I dove headfirst into research (okay, maybe more like enthusiastic Googling). And somehow, against all odds, I managed to snag a last minute permit. It felt like the universe was giving me a giant, dirt-covered wink.

Fast forward about a month, and there I was, standing at the Mexican border, ready to embark on a 2,650-mile adventure. Now, for the truly shocking part: I did not train. Not even a little bit. My “training” consisted of a few longer than usual walks in my neighborhood. And to top it all off, my very first time ever backpacking and sleeping in a tent was my very first night on the PCT. Yep, you read that right.

However, I wasn’t completely green. While the hiking and backpacking part was new, I did have basic wilderness survival skills, and I’ve always had a great sense of navigation. So, while I might not have been the outdoorsy type, I definitely knew how to not die or get completely lost. This meant I could focus on learning the backpacking part, knowing I had a decent baseline for staying safe out there.

Looking back, it was a completely impulsive decision, fueled by a desperate need for something different. It was a leap of faith into the unknown, guided by nothing but a slightly frantic Google search and a whole lot of naivety (balanced, thankfully, by some practical outdoor common sense!).

So, if you’ve ever felt that pull towards something wild, something challenging, something completely outside your comfort zone, let my ridiculously unplanned PCT adventure be your proof that if I can do it – a total newbie who literally learned how to pitch a tent on night one – then seriously, my friend, you absolutely can too. The trail has a funny way of taking care of you, even if you show up completely unprepared. Sometimes, the best adventures are the ones you stumble into, guided by a little bit of wanderlust and a whole lot of “why not?”

Stay tuned for more tales from my PCT journey!