Pacific Crest Trail through-hiker answers call of the wild.
By: Jillian Kalonick , Staff Writer
Packet Online News
For those living on the East Coast, it's difficult to get a perspective on the vastness of the Western states. In hiking the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail, which goes through California, Oregon and Washington, Patrick Shannon of Montgomery traveled 2,692 miles on foot — more than 15 times the length of New Jersey, or from Paris to Moscow and back again.
Inspired by his father William Joseph Shannon, who through-hiked the Appalachian Trail in the 1960s, Mr. Shannon began his journey at on April 23, 2003, at the U.S.-Mexico border and finished on Oct. 3, 2003, at Manning Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada.
"The PCT was new terrain, new adventures," says Mr. Shannon, who graduated from Montgomery High School and Colorado College. "It was not something I was sure I could do. I hadn't really done any desert hiking, and Southern California was scaring me a little bit, but I like to be challenged."
After securing a six-month leave from his job as a counselor for at-risk youth at the Carrier Clinic in Belle Mead, Mr. Shannon set out to solo hike the trail. What he found was a support network of hikers, "trail angels" (those helping through-hikers), and strangers who helped make his journey possible.
"We had people out there that had hiked the (PCT) trail a couple times, people that had tens of thousands of hiking miles on their records, and people that seemed to have left the city for the first time in their life," says Mr. Shannon, who is known as "The Northerner" on the trail.
"That was partly responsible for the family that seemed to form so quickly at the kick-off party. Experienced hikers would be going through new hikers' packs and lightening their load, making things easier for them. It made me feel at home from the very beginning."
According to the Pacific Crest Trail Association (www.pcta.org), each year about 300 people attempt the through-hike, which must be carefully timed to avoid snow in the High Sierras and heat in the desert. About 60 percent finish. After hiking for an average of 16 miles per day for 164 days, Mr. Shannon was one of them.
Perhaps just as impressive is the journal he kept each day of his trip. Using a PocketMail device, he sent entries and photographs to his mother, who built his Web site on trailjournals.com. His diary details each day's trials and adventures, hikers he met, what he carried, statistics on the journey, and his often poetic observations on his surroundings.
"It was a great experience, because I was able to vicariously live it through him," says his mother, Diane Shannon. "He's quite expressive in the journal, of his experiences, feelings and relationships, and that was kind of nice from the point of view of Mom, to understand what he was thinking and feeling."
Mr. Shannon's Web site, which has received more than 100,000 hits, connected him with other hikers off-trail, and those who wanted to follow his progress at home.
"As time went on and more people read my journal I started getting notes encouraging me to continue on," he says. "I started getting trail magic" (the hikers' term for much-needed kindness from strangers) "from people reading my journal.
"One guy read my journal and felt a connection with me. I have epilepsy and struggled a little bit with that, and this guy had also had epilepsy as a kid. He came out twice and laid out about $600 worth of food, and told me and about 10 other hikers to go to town. There was great generosity all over the trail, it was amazing."
Along the hike, trail angels gave rides to town, hosted hikers in their homes and sent packages for them to pick up during the journey. After sustaining a foot injury in the High Sierras and attempting to cross John Muir Pass, Mr. Shannon came across two day hikers who offered him and other hikers breakfast.
"That seemed to give me new life almost. I was still limping but it didn't matter that much — I was going to make it up over that pass and I did it, it seemed to hurt less and less for the rest of the day."
Mr. Shannon's journal reflects this determination throughout the hike, despite perils such as a close encounter with a black bear. (He saw a total of five on the trip.)
Upon reaching the end of the trail, "So much was going through my head," he says. "I was so excited to be there; as people came and we celebrated a little bit, I realized this was it, things were going to be over. I headed to Vancouver, but just felt weird and out of place in the hostel. It was fine, but I belonged out there — I'd adjusted to that."
Before Mr. Shannon even returned home, he began plotting a new adventure — a summer of hiking the 55 "fourteeners" (mountains over 14,000 feet) in Colorado. This April, he will return to the PCT to greet the 2004 class of hikers.
"I miss that extreme emotion I felt before and during the hike just as much as I miss the sapphire-blue lakes, majestic mountains, gorgeous sunsets, and beautiful wildflowers," he writes in his journal.
"I still plan on heading out to Kick-Off again this year. I also plan to hike the 20 miles from the border (of Mexico) to Morena. I think a lot about what it will feel like having to stop and step so quickly back into my other life. What will it feel like to see that trail continuing north and have to stop? What will it feel like knowing all that lies ahead? The trail always seems to leave me with more questions than answers."
To read Patrick Shannon's journal and see more photographs of his Pacific Crest Trail hike, visit www.trailjournals.com/northerner.
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