As a child, growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I had heard of the Cascade Crest Trail. I probably even hiked a bit of it. It lived in an almost-forgotten spot in my mind…until 2012.

That year, our family spent Labor Day camping east of the crest. We stopped on our way home, at a little Chevron station on top of Snoqualmie Pass. PCT hikers know exactly which Chevron this is…it’s the mail stop for the majority of the Snoqualmie Pass resupplies.

When we arrived, the place was crawling with PCT hikers. It took me a second, but then I realized why they were milling around, with semi-battered Priority Mail boxes. And that’s when I felt it: an almost tangible punch in the gut, which said “you know, you can do this too.”

Long story short, I made plans to do a short section in August 2014. I would hike from the Bridge of the Gods, in Cascade Locks, OR, and meet family and friends a hundred miles north, at a campground near Mt. Adams. It would be the longest hike I had done, and the longest with no resupply by a factor of three. I was nervous, a little unsure, and very excited. And I also hoped that this would be the beginning of many miles along the PCT.

My journey starts here.