To be clear, my perspective is that of a person who started in Mexico, ended in Canada, only left the trail by car at three points (always retracing steps so that no section was skipped), took about 7 zero days and most important to the blog stayed vegan the entire way.
2005 was a record snow year. Those that left from the late April kick-off found themselves wasting time in the desert, taking an extended stay in Kennedy Meadows or making their hike some kind of a flop or flip-flop. Many got off at Kennedy Meadows and headed up to Canada to hike south. Some went to Oregon, hiked south to Kennedy Meadows, then went back to Oregon to start hiking toward Canada. It was also a record year for North to South hikers. I had one last class to finish to wrap up my Bachelor's degree, and thus couldn't leave until May 21st. Although this was a very late departure by most standards, it set us up for the Sierras perfectly and we still finished in the middle-front of the pack on October 2nd - before winter arrived.
I had planned for several years to hike the trail with a buddy of mine, but alas, he met a girl while traveling in Italy and decided to extend his stay. Fortunately, through mutual friends, I heard that another friend, Dena, was in a similar situation - so we got to talking. We agreed that the struggle to keep morale in the first month would be the hardest, so not knowing each other particularly well we set a plan to hike together until Kennedy Meadows at which point we would re-assess our hiking partnership. Now, it is needless to say that we hiked the entire trail together and became very close friends. Fortunately, too, Dena is vegetarian and nearly vegan - so it was nice to share in that facet of the experience as well.
It seems like a good time to mention that I was in a relationship with another girl at the time, who I am now married to, so, if any potential hikers/readers are interested in our thoughts on maintaining a relationship while out on the trail, don't hesitate to contact me. Tami, my wife, was critical to my success on the trail. Although I pre-packed all of my food, considerable changes were made to my diet and I definitely kept her busy in addition to the weekly trips to the Post Office. Furthermore, she visited me 7 times: at the Sauffley's in Aqua Dulce, Kennedy Meadows, Sonora Pass, Alpine Meadows, Beldon, Seiad Valley and Crater Lake. We lived in Berkeley at the time, so obviously it was more convenient for her to visit than if we lived in say, Boston.
Of course, it wouldn't be right to go on talking about the people who made this trip possible for me without talking about my parents. Both of my parents were extremely supportive of me throughout the trip. My dad offered to pick me up in Kennedy Meadows and drive me to Canada if the snow was an impassable. My mom met me with hot, calorie-loaded food at Crater Lake, Willamette Pass, McKenzie Pass, Santiam Pass and Mount Hood. Dad hiked with us the day from McKenzie Pass to the Santiam Pass and even bought me a new camera when an unplanned swim in the Sierras put an end to my first one. Once again, without them, I doubt that I would have completed the trail.
A few other tidbits about our approach to the Pacific Crest Trail...
Although we met amazing people along the way and didn't dislike anyone that we did meet, I did not hike the PCT to be part of a trail community. I hiked the trail for many reasons, but all of which were about my individual experience in the wilderness. Starting a month after the kick-off meant that we met very few other hikers for the first few weeks. It wasn't until Northern California when we began to pass hiker's and cross paths with South-Bounders and Flip-Floppers that we met most of the people that we did.
Since, my experience on the trail was about being in the wilderness (where it still exists) and not about a 4 1/2 month nomadic party, we strove to not get into cars. In fact, the first time that we did get into a car was at Beldon/Quincy, 1300 miles into the trip. After that, we got into vehicles only two other times, at Stephens Pass and Stehekin. So, it is possible to actually walk the whole way - though, I must confess, having people visit us with hot vegan food trailside every couple weeks definitely made it easier for us.
Ultralite... the PCT was my first major sojourn into the ultralite paradigm and I must say that I am hooked. No, I didn't have the lightest pack on the trail, but with a typical base weight of only 14 pounds, my pack was much lighter than I had ever experienced. I couldn't fathom thru-hiking any other way. Very few sacrifices were made, in my opinion, and when hiking 30 miles a day there is little time to enjoy most of the things one might weigh their pack down with anyway.
