Episode 72 - PCT Update #20

Stehekin —> CANADA!!! 🇨🇦

I can’t believe I’m writing this right now, but I have SUCCESSFULLY THRU-HIKED THE PACIFIC CREST TRAIL!!! LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I’m writing this message from a coffee shop in Seattle, hardly able to believe that I walked here from MEXICO. WOWOWOWOWOOWOWOWOWOOWOW!!!

Looking back now, I’m so happy (and proud) that I kept this blog up the past 5 months… it would’ve been so easy to give up, convince myself “I didn’t have the time”, and later deeply regret not having such a cool archive of my travels. Now, I can go back and relive the adventure as if I was there again, and so can you!

Thank you so much to all of you for following along the past 2650 miles, writing letters, sending packages and support, and believing in me along the way. I couldn’t have done it without you all, you’re the best trail angels out there ❤️

If this is your first episode and you’re thinking “what in the world is happening right now”, start here!

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Day 138, 9/25/2025:

5 miles with 1200 feet of climbing.

The last section! It’s finally here! After a delightful day in Stehekin yesterday, Brooke and I boarded the bus this morning to head back to the trail, and subsequently decided to stop again at the bakery and have a long break there. The bus would come back again in 3 hours, so we figured that we might as well hang out at the bakery to wait for Flo and Pablo. We ended up spending 2 hours talking with Geoff, a British dude who canoed up the entire length of Lake Chelan and was celebrating at the bakery himself. He used to work for the California High Speed Rail Commission, and even planned the section around Tehachapi to not intersect the PCT!

We got back on the bus at noon, and laughed for the next half hour as the bus driver shared dozens of hilarious jokes (including one about bruised water from a waterfall), and we were back on trail in no time. AND EVERYONE WE KNEW WAS THERE! Flo, Pablo, Sam, Sky, Charlotte, Overflow, everyone! I missed them so much!

Brooke and I hung out at the ranger cabin for a bit, and then headed north toward Rainy Pass. Right before we left, I went to the bathroom shack to lighten my load, and I shat so hard that I got a cramp; It was so painful that I thought I might have appendicitis, and it took me a few minutes of laying on a picnic table before I regained my ability to walk normally. I can’t wait to be home.

Brooke and I hiked 5 miles to an established campsite in North Cascades National Park, and decided to camp there so that Flo and Pablo could catch up with us. We met them on Day 5 of trail, hiked the entire Sierras with them, and wanted to finish with them, too! Brooke and I set up the tent, I napped for a few hours, and Flo and Pablo arrived in the dark around 8 pm. We all ate dinner together, sharing stories from the last few days of trail and so much laughter. The gang is reunited again!

Day 139, 9/26:

25 miles today with 6500 feet of climbing. Wowza!

It was a long day of climbing today, with the first 20 miles being straight uphill. Fortunately, we’re all hiking warriors at this point, so the uphill was totally doable!

Since Flo and Pablo are back with us, Brooke left earlier this morning to get a head start on Le Dudes. She left around 7, the rest of us got up around 8, and we had a slow breakfast and coffee before departing around 9. The first few miles were nothing special, until I arrived at the National Park Service’s 6-Mile Camp, which featured the most exciting backcountry bathroom yet: a metal container that looked like a military vehicle ready to roll away. Other hikers had been commenting on FarOut about the oddity of this bathroom, so I just had to check it out. Well worth the detour.

Later, I passed two SoBo weekend warriors, who asked if I was hiking in a group of four and upon my confirmation, revealed that “the girl in front told us to tell you that she’s hungry and is ready for the stove.” Funny thing was, I didn’t see Brooke until 2 hours later, when we crossed the North Cascades Highway and received some trail magic. Keith, the same guy who drove us from White Pass to Chinook Pass, was giving out drinks and muffins to thru-hikers with Rabbit, our friend we met in Tehachapi and who’d finished a few days before. We all celebrated crossing our last paved road on the PCT, before carrying on uphill to Cutthroat Pass. I never did give Brooke the stove lol.

The scenery was unbelievably gorgeous, and I had the best time just FLYING uphill with Pablo as we reflected on our many months of hiking. Suddenly, four day-hiking grandmas heading downhill, stopped us, and GAVE US DELICIOUS AND FREE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES THEY BAKED THAT MORNING O M GOODNESS!!! The grandma-in-charge gave Pablo and I two each, and stuffed a third one into our side pouches. We got an “eat up, sweeties” before the grandmas packed up and carried on downhill. ❤️

At the top, Brooke, Flo, Pablo, and I enjoyed the fantastic views of the North Cascades before finding an ammo can geocache (which contained Dude Wipes lol) and hiking the last 5ish miles to camp. We set up our tents in the meadow in the dark before having dinner together and getting an early night in. Wonderful day :)

Day 140, 9/27:

27 miles with 4600 feet of climbing today. We’re in the home stretch now!

Now that we’re so close to the end, a series of “lasts” are happening… last time crossing a paved road, biggest climb left of trail, last geocache, etc. After a wet morning of rain in the tent, today we checked the “biggest climb left on the PCT” from that list, a 2500-foot climb up to Grasshopper Pass. Chirp chirp mofos. 🦗

Today was just a lot of chugging out miles and making it closer to the finish. Flo, Pablo, Brooke, and I hike strung out in a miles-long line, and saw each other often as we stopped for coffee, water filtration, and lunch at the climb’s summit (I gave Flo some Jolly Ranchers to power up the climb). Fortunately, we’re back in geocache land (including one hidden near an abandoned mine!), so I stopped occasionally to find 4 of them today. We eventually reached Hart’s Pass near sunset, where we were graciously offered beers and glizzies from a trail angel and carried on for another 5 miles to camp. I can practically taste the terminus now!

I must say, the North Cascades are even better than I could’ve imagined. Adrienne, you were right!

Day 141, 9/28:

22 miles today with 3800 feet of climbing.

We are SO close to the finish! The initial plan was to make it all the way to the terminus today, but I successfully convinced Brooke to hold out, camp just 3 miles from the terminus, and make it there first thing tomorrow morning. It’s her sister’s birthday today and mine on the 30th, so finishing on the 29th would give her three holidays in a row: Anna’s Birthday, Terminus Day, My Birthday. Yay!

Brooke set off ~45 minutes before me this morning, so after finding an ammo can geocache (the northernmost one on this trip!) and packing up camp, I set off after her. Interestingly, I observed some squirrels in the nearby trees that were throwing pinecones down onto the ground; it sounded just like someone taking down their tent poles, and it was fun seeing the critters preparing for winter!

Today’s terrain was rolling mountains, with what seemed like dozens of named passes being… well, passed. All day, we crossed paths with “SoBo” hikers (NoBo hikers who’d reached the terminus and were hiking back to Hart’s Pass), so tons of fist bumps were exchanged on the hike. That’ll be us tomorrow! The scenery was pretty smoky, but we still saw tons of beautiful mountains in the North Cascades.

We set up camp in a large clearing just 3 miles from the terminus. I set up a campfire for our group before it got dark (somehow using wet sticks, I was very proud of myself) and together ~10 hikers had dinner and bonded over campfire camaraderie. It was the first campfire on the PCT for many of the hikers, and a tremendous time overall. Went to bed early, excited for TERMINUS DAY TOMORROW!!!!!

Day 142, 9/29:

20 miles today with 3700 feet of climbing.

TERMINUS DAY BABY WE MADE IT TO CANADA WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 🍁🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦🍁🇨🇦

We woke up today, the day we reach the terminus, expecting sunny skies, warm weather, and a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Instead, we got pouring rain. Bruh.

Nevertheless, the show must go on. We’re so close! Since we have to head back through our campsite after we turn around at the terminus, we left 90% of our things in the tent, grabbed a few key items in our mostly empty bags, and carried down the 3 miles downhill.

We arrived at the terminus around 9 am, where Flo and Pablo were waiting for us with freshly-dried tears. Sam and Sky joined about an hour later, and we all celebrated at the end together; the original gang from the Mt. San Jacinto summit party was back together at the end (minus Zoe 😢)! We took tons of photos, popped our prosecco bottles at the terminus, cheered as dozens of other hikers reached the finish, then headed back to camp. It’s another 30 miles back to Hart’s Pass (which we have to return to since we can’t legally enter Canada from the PCT, though I did take a Canadian shit because I earned it 💩), which was made so much easier and more fun with Ze Little Present that Sam graciously donated to Brooke and I. 😉

HOLY MOLY GUACAMOLE I CAN’T BELIEVE WE MADE IT!! 5 months of hiking from Mexico to Canada, we did it!!!!!!!!

Day 143, 9/30:

15 miles with 3000 feet of climbing.

I can’t believe I’m writing this, but we finished the trail today. TODAY! After 143 days of continuous hiking, we finally made it!

And even though it was our last day, it was still pretty intense: Brooke’s flight was leaving Seattle tomorrow morning, and we still had to hike 15 miles and hitch 200 miles across pretty much half of Washington State. Stakes high enough? Let’s do this 💪

We woke up at 5:30 am, left by 6:30, and were pushing a fast pace the entire way back to Hart’s Pass. Along the way, we ran into Worm (an Australian) and Merlin (who we met all the way back at the Sierra Butte Fire Lookout), and hiked on and off with them back to the car. They were a fun bunch, and even better, Worm’s stepdad flew from Australia to meet her at Hart’s Pass and pick her up. Best part was, he rented an 8-seater car, enough for us 4 + Flo and Pablo! Yay!

We victoriously arrived at the final trailhead, and just like that, we were done with trail. I thought it’d be bittersweet, but at the moment it was just sweet :)

We drove down to Mazama, picked up some baguettes and coffee for the road, and us 8 squeezed into the car for a 3-hour drive back to civilization. We made a quick stop at Grocery Outlet in town, where we all got some final snacks and for me, a birthday balloon. Worm dropped us 4 off at Brooke’s family friend’s house in Seattle, we had a lovely dinner celebrating the end of trail and my birthday, Jackson came over from Sherwood, and we all watched Rango together. What a perfect last day on trail and 22nd birthday 🎉

Day 1 Of Civilization, 10/1:

NO TRAIL MILES! WE’RE BACK IN CIVILIZATION!

I wasn’t sure if I should add this day or not, but I decided to because (1) it’s my blog and I can do whatever I want with it lol, and (2) I spent the day hanging out with Flo and Pablo in Seattle and generally having an amazing time. So here we are :)

Brooke’s flight left quite early, so we all woke up early, packed up our (now very light) bags, and went out to paint the town red! Brooke flew home to Sacramento, while Flo, Pablo, and I explored Seattle: we visited Ballard Locks, the Fish Ladder, the first Starbucks, Pikes Place Market, the Gum Wall, the Amazon Spheres, and just for the heck of it, took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island.

The ferry was an unexpected highlight of the day, and we had a great time strolling around Bainbridge and enjoying fish n’ chips, which we got for mostly free after a local handed us a $70 gift card to “help us out with lunch” upon learning we just finished the PCT. Later, we ate ice cream, had a slight fiasco with an in-person Darn Tough sock exchange, but otherwise had a perfect time on the island. Interestingly, the ferries all have communal puzzles on their tables, which commuters and tourists alike can complete during that extremely smooth 30-minute ride.

Back in Seattle, we three headed over to the train station and parted ways; I, north to Sherwood, Pablo and Flo, south to SeaTac to rent a car and drive down to LA. The end of an era is here!