10 Years Ago Today, I Finished The Pacific Crest Trail
Oct 11, 2026
Ten years ago today, on October 2, 2016, I reached the northern terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail at the Canadian border.
I had been walking for 162 days.
This is not a film about the entire PCT. It is simply a small piece of that final day — waking up in a cold Washington morning, walking the last frozen miles, and fi
AI GeneratedMay contain errors
Last day of the PCT. It's 6:30.
Freezing. It's freezing.
Cooking the ramen to warm up.
My tent is frozen and I feel like ----.
8 miles to the monument. See you there.
10 years ago I woke up
in a frozen corner of Washington state.
After 5 and a half months
and more than 2600 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail
there was only one day left. I don't remember thinking about
what the journey had taught me. I remember being cold.
I had imagined this day
for thousands of miles
through the desert, through the sierra, through Oregon,
through fires, rain, hunger,
exhaustion and all those ordinary days in between
and then
suddenly
there
was nowhere
left to walk.
Ten years later I look at these words
and I can still remember the person
who wrote them. Are we still the same person?
I don't know. But that stubborn guy from 10 years
ago? Thank you man. 10 years have passed,
some memories have faded,
some people disappeared
from my life. But that morning
in Washington still feels strangely close. I thought I had
reached the end of a trail.
I didn't know it yet, but I was only getting started.