Pacific Crest Trail

Earlier this year I went on a long walk. This was my fifth start on (PCT). Hiking 500 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) through the desert is an incredible adventure that tests both my physical endurance and mental resilience. The vast, arid landscapes provided stunning views, with dramatic vistas of mountains, valleys, and unique desert flora. As usual, the weather was unpredictable. In the first 2 weeks, I experienced not one, not two, but three winter storms. At one point, I had to walk through 70 mile an hour gusts of wind. I survived all three storms but my feet were not happy and after almost 500 miles on the trail, I had to call it quits. There is always next year.

A flower bloom on the trail.

My PCT hike in 2018

This year I went on Pacific Crest Trail again, starting from Mexican border. Due to minor injury that sidelined me for 2 month (do not worry, while I was recovering, a fun photography job in Italy opened up!) and lots of smoke from fires everywhere in the mountains, I called it quits after 800 miles. So with 200 miles that I hiked in Nepal in January, my total wilderness mileage for the year is 1000 miles.

The start at the Mexican border

After the first snow storm

Sunrise in the mountains

Wildflowers are everywhere

My long walk on PCT trail

Ever since I finished the John Muir Trail two years ago, I was dreaming of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Well, I just finished 1500 mile walk, starting at Mexican border and finishing at Southern Washington border at the Bridge of the Gods (I had to skip High Sierra section due to extremely dangerous river crossings). The reason I had to stop at the Bridge of gods is because I have to photograph a wedding in two weeks. As always, photography is very important to me. So I carried 7 pounds of camera equipment on this walk. To anyone who does backpacking, it is obviously very heavy luxury item. To me, it was a necessity. Here are just a few photographs from my trip: