Lyla, Truman, and I will be thru-hiking the PCT starting March of 2022. Thru-hiking means completing a long-distance trail from end to end in a continuous footpath trip. We will be hiking northbound (NoBo) from Mexico to Canada and we expect the journey to take us four months. 

Thru-hiking entails carrying all of your food, water and supplies between resupply points. Hikers have to pre-determine their resupply points (towns or post offices where hikers replenish food and other supplies such as cooking fuel). When thru-hiking it is ideal to replenish supplies every few days, in our case approximately once every 5-6 days because we try to avoid getting off trail as much as possible. It also depends on how long you’re willing to go without a shower! Hitchhiking from a road crossing of the trail into a town to buy food and supplies is necessary to avoid road walking dozens of unnecessary miles.

Not every town has a grocery store so resupply options can be limited in some sections. When the time comes we will prepare a few “resupply boxes” and send them to post offices in towns that lack resupply options so we can have food and other necessities without worrying about getting too far off trail.

“Trail angels" (volunteers) assist hikers with food, water, and transportation to and from resupply points to trail heads. Anyone who helps a hiker is a trail angel, whether they see themselves as such or not. In the southern part of the PCT trail angels literally keep hikers alive by cacheing water in the most desolate desert sections where it is scarce. 

Permits are required to hike or camp along some sections of the trail, especially through National Parks and Native American land. A passport is needed to cross the Canadian border.