Day 1 - km 0

“ I feel like all the cells in my body are in 'panic’ mode, I am terrified. Yesterday, I surprisingly encountered my very first wild tarantula before going to bed and heard coyotes roaming around and howling for most of the night.

Today is the big day! I have this knot in my stomach, my pack feels heavy, and I just want to cry. What am I doing here? “

Day 5 - km 145

“ Ration your water, ration your food, ration your energy; the desert is definitely an interesting environment ”

“Sometimes I want to complain.

Complain because it’s hot, I’m out of water, my feet hurt, and I’ve been going uphill for the last 10 miles. But then I walk by someone who’s having a restful break in the shade, sometimes a 75-year-old person, sometimes a person probably weighing three or four times my own weight, but fighting through this life-changing experience and giving me their biggest, authentic smile as I am passing by. And then I realize that complaining isn’t an option, because we are walking on this same path and in those same conditions.

We all chose to be her, to suffer and to push through, and I am lucky enough to be young and healthy, so complaining isn’t an option. I just need to take up my courage and keep going.”

Day 9 - km 253

“ I woke up so puffy this morning. My body hurts, my mind hurts and it’s the first time that I allowed myself to think about quitting.

I miss home. I miss Lily. I miss not being in pain all the time.

I am tired, exhausted. I did my first marathon yesterday and it litteraly destroyed me. I will take a day off trail to rest, take care of my body, my mind and I will be back on track tomorrow. I hope! “

Day 11 - km 298

“ Today, I looked at myself in the mirror, and for the first time, I though that I was beautiful. After a couple of rough days in a row, some infected blisters on my feet, I had decided to take a couple of days off to rest, heal and take care of my body. I am so grateful to be able to heal so fast when I properly take care of myself.

Thank you body! “

Me : “ Wow, I’m craving seafood right now! “

Sugarwolf : “Hey, I’m actually on a seafood diet;
I see food and I eat it! “

Day 16 - km 427

“ Today, I learned the concept of having a PHD in ‘Awesomeology’ ! “

“ I am standing here, in front of a giant tree, and I think that life is teaching me a lesson right now. As I am walking in a burnt forest where absolutely everything died in a massive wildfire back in 2015, this giant tree is still standing tall and proud. Its bottom has burned, up to approximately 1/4 of its height, but it’s still standing there with its green branches and all of its energy.

This tree is teaching me to stand tall and proud even when everything else is burning all around me, that it’s not because the world is collapsing around me, that I necessarily will fall with it.

Keep standing tall and proud about who you are!”

“ I think I finally got my trail legs! I am feeling strong, powerful, and unstoppable. I don’t have to stop on as many breaks anymore; I might still be slow, but when I get going, I am going!

But with trail legs also comes the well-known ‘hiker hunger’. I could literally eat an entire bear, and I think I would still be hungry! ”

Day 17 - Big Bear Lake Grizzly Cafe

“ ‘ The trail always provides’ as we like to say! My friend Sugarwolf and I got into town both starving. We stopped in this lovely little cafe for the biggest breakfast burrito that I’ve ever seen in my life. The waitress was very kind and the food was amazing, even though we both weren’t able to finish our burritos as they were so massive. When we were about to pay and leave, the waitress informed us that some kind person had prepaid food for every hiker that would stop to eat at the Grizzly Cafe that day.

The trail always provides! “

Day 18 - km 456

“ I am lying on the ground, surrounded by my trail family, all wrapped up in my sleeping bag as we decided to cowboy camp tonight. I am here, in the middle of those desertic mountains, sleeping outside on the ground, I can hear life moving underneath me: spiders, scorpions, and many other interesting creatures. As I am about to fall asleep, a luminous light is shining right in my face and makes everything around me so bright.

The full moon is rising up from behind the mountains. The full moon will take care of us tonight. I am feeling alive.
Thank you”

Day 25 - km 611

“ I am sitting here, on a rock, looking at this tsunami of clouds slowly yet dramatically rolling into the valley. It almost feels like the end of the world is coming, even though life still exists down there. But I made the choice to wake up above the clouds this morning, and not down into the valley. I made the choice to sit here, on that rock, instead of living my life down into the valley, where everything seems nostalgicaly grey. “

Day 31 - km 758

“ The last two days broke me down.

I thought that I was strong and unbreakable, but I was wrong. For the first time since I started this journey, I broke down, sat in the middle of the trail, and cried probably all the tears that I had in my body. I started to doubt about the reasons why I am doing this and my capacity to do it.

I thought that I was strong, but am I strong enough to walk to Canada? I don’t know anymore.

Am I even strong enough to go back home? I don’t know.

The trail is wonderful, but it breaks you. It will break every part of you and test your limits. And you just have to accept that you have limits, that you are probably a little bit more broken than you’d like to admit and get back on your shoes and keep walking. From now, let’s take it one day at a time and slowly build myself back up and maybe even get stronger then I was before. “

Day 41 - km 1126

“ The end of a chapter, the end of the desert!

Thank you desert for everything you thought me, for all those long water carries, the heat and loneliness. I’d be lying to sat that it’s been a passionate love story between us, I mean you pissed me off a couple times and you made me question my existence a lot. But I know that, just like everything in life, I’ll be missing you sooner than later.

It’s now time to rest for a couple of days, switch gear, switch mindset and get ready to go because ‘the mountains are calling and I must go!’ “

Day 42 – km 1126

“ After going through this roller coaster of emotions in the last couple of weeks, I have decided to push my limits and see what my body was capable of. I pushed hard, I suffered, but I also felt more alive than ever before. My trail friend Steve and I walked over 220km in the last five days and surprisingly; I survived! It was painful and uncomfortable, for sure, but it made me feel alive and incredibly strong!”

Day 49 – km 1201

“I have looked at the mountains getting closer and closer every single day for the last week. My trail family and I officially made it to the Sierra! I can see the snowy 4,000m peaks and Mt. Whitney. Unfortunately, the reports we receive on the satellite aren’t good. Will we be able to push through or will we have to find a different solution?”

Day 51 – km 1201

“The mountains are impassable at this time. The heat wave hitting the Sierra is turning snow-covered passes into life-threatening sections and many strong and endurant hikers are self-evacuating from the mountains.

I was certainly not ready to drive away, but it is the only solution that keeps the Sierra dream alive. A 16-hour drive to the Canadian border is awaiting. Is it over? Is it time to go home?”

Welcome to Washington!

Day 55 – the end of the mile markers

“We made it to the Northern Terminus today and somehow, it felt unreal! I thought that I would see it only in three months still, but here we are. The plan was to hike from Mexico to Canada, now the plan is to hike from Canada to Mt. Whitney, exactly where we left off. I have mixed up emotions, but it feels like a whole new journey is just starting!”

#fromnobotosobotowhitney #snowbo

“The Cascades are beautiful; I can finally recognize plants and mushrooms! I feel home.”

Day 61

“I know that I couldn’t appreciate the highs without the lows, but I am having a hard time getting out of this low right now. I still have a hard time with the change in plan to hike south, but I know that it’ll settle with time.”

Day 68

“The sun is slowly rising above the mountains, lighting up everything in this golden magical color; it feels like the whole world is slowly waking up.”

Day 72

“Some days, I want to quit and go home, because I’m exhausted, in pain and I am feeling empty. But I still keep going. And then I ask myself ; What actually keeps you on trail?

Is it the scenic view? Is it the people? Or am I simply afraid to go back home?

Because What is home now?”

Day 80 – HALFWAY!!

“Washington is now behind, and I am entering Oregon like a new adventure is beginning. Even though the views were amazing, Washington was hard and definitely beat me to the point where I wanted to quit and go home, but I have managed to push hard and get through.

I also got really emotional when crossing the Bridge of the Gods, the border between Washington and Oregon, because I knew that from now on, there will be more miles behind than ahead, even though there is still a long way to go. They say that the PCT is somehow the best and yet, the worst thing you’ll ever do in your life, and I think I'm starting to understand why.”

“I admire every hiker that I meet on trail, because I believe that it takes a lot of craziness to decide to walk across the country! So let’s do it!!”

Day 89

“They said : You’ll see, Oregon is flat!

But I guess I got lost in the translation somehow.”

I woke up to the golden light of the sunshine on my face after sleeping on my tarp, by this cute little alpine lake, hiked to a road crossing where Sugarwolf and I got a hitch to a lovely hostel in Bend. After a well-deserved shower and some good food, my wonderful trail family purchased an extra ticket for me, due to my finances running low, to attend an outside representation of Bon Iver in the sunset of a warm summer evening. As the sky turned pink and the acoustics of Bon Iver lifted the air; I felt in peace and my heart was full of love for life.”

Day 90 – The end of the Journey

“Sometimes I like to look back at all those miles that I’ve hiked, and it seems unreal. 2,290 km over 89 days of sleeping outside, eating dry food, walking in the heat and pushing myself every single day to see how strong my body was and where the breaking point was, it there was even one. But as much as I might have felt unstoppable, there is always a breaking point, and after 89 days on trail, I finally reached it.

“My mom always told me to never quit on a hard day. Little did I know that I wouldn’t get back on trail after hitchhiking into Bend, I can now say that my last day on the PCT was magical.

Thanks for being a part of this adventure, for being here, and feel free to
watch the journey recap here!