Los Gatos, CA

Well, here we are, back in the fast-paced urban setting.  Today was our second full day of lounging around, smelling clean (for the most part), and not having to put on sour clothes or wet shoes.  What does a thru-hiker do now after changing our daily routine of spending nearly 5 months walking where  we enjoyed physical activity, mental and emotion freedom, and simplicity while living the ultimate dream?  Currently, we find ourselves a bit restless, wanting the long lasting daily endorphin high that has quickly come to hault.  We managed to spend time in the pool, and hot tub, as well as doing some well needed stretching and foot care.  Melissa cooked an Indian dish, Kitcheree, with heaps of fresh veggies and I did some baking of cookies and banana bread.  We have found ourselves laughing at some of the modern conveniences we have done so long without, but enjoy some of the comforts as well.  We had a hard time sleeping our first night off the trail in Vancouver due to the excessive street noise and loud thumping from the club next door, but have since enjoyed more pleasant and roomier sleep.

Melissa and I successfully completed our post hike surveys for the Pacific Crest Trail Association and I took a few moments to add up the elevation given in each section of Halfmile’s PCT Maps.  Pre-hike I heard elevation totals for the entirety of the trail vary from 250-500 thousand feet, but if Halfmile and his GPS are correct, which I would say the majority of hiker favor his maps to Eric the Blacks, we came up with a grand total of 534,290 feet gain, I don’t believe this includes Mt Whitney, or any other side routes for that matter, but who is really counting.  534 plus thousand feet of gain and as you know what goes up, comes down, and I think Melissa and I both felt the downhill more than the up in the final big climbs.

We are again very thankful for the love and support given by family and friends, who took time to share a note of encouragement or put some love into baking and/or packaging some goodies for us to enjoy.  Your generosity and kindness is appreciated and we are excited to present our outdoor education communities with their scholarship awards and see the change that is created in many young hearts.

We are proud to announce that InspireOut has raised $5,500 towards scholarship funds for children to attend outdoor education! We can’t wait to present the Web of Life Field School, Klamath Outdoor Science School, and Great Basin Outdoor School with these gifts for students. Thank you so much for your dedication and support to our cause. It has touched our hearts dearly and will change many children’s lives. CLICK HERE to see the many beautiful people who supported our cause. Make sure to also see our long list of TRAIL ANGELS who helped us to complete our journey.

Lastly, our Washington picture album is up – although there are not near enough pictures because of all the darn rain!

We look forward to catching up with each of you individually and sharing stories.  May you continue to enjoy the final days of summer.

~Swift & Buckeye

Oh! And stay tuned for the future endeavors of InspireOut as we start to develop our backpacking school!

Countdown leading up to our arrival…

Sunday, September 12, 2010

“I can’t sleep!” Swift grumbles as he tosses around his sleeping bag.

“Grrrrmmmmph. Me neither!” I replied.

To our surprise, there was no rain dancing on our tent Monday morning. We crawled out of our bags around 5:30am and started our normal routine of breaking down camp a wee bit earlier than usual as butterflies did loops and lunges in our stomachs.

What was not part of our routine was the trail magic we were privy to at Harts Pass (the last roadway to cross the trail before Canada). When we arrived at this pass the night before, we were excited to see fellow hiker and trail magic extraordinaire, Serpent Slayer, grilling up double cheeseburgers with grilled onions for all of us crazy hikers. He thought of EVERYTHING we could possibly need including a shelter, warm/dry clothes, and green olives (ok, I didn’t need them per se but they were gooood). At this point we had come together with 7 other thru-hikers – Comet, Flash, Dreams, Hurricane, Lone Ranger, and, of course, Milksheikh and Cliffhanger. We celebrated our second to last full 30 mile day of hiking by sharing stories around a fire.

Monday, September 13, 2010

In the morning, the magnificent Serpent Slayer made us blueberry pancakes before we set out on our last full day of hiking – 31 miles to the Canadian border. The sun streaked its golden rays as it rose over the steep Northern Cascades. We couldn’t of asked for a more gorgeous day as we climbed and descended these majestic mountains for the last time.

After I reached a ridge on the trail and started to follow the hillside, tears dripped down my face.  Swift turned back to me and smiled as he whispered what we both were just realizing, “Those are Canadian Mountains.”

We had our last snack break with Cliffhanger and Milksheikh on the top of a ridgeline before making our final 8 mile descent to the border. “I think this is our best snack spot on the trail,” Cliffhanger commented.

As we descended, I smiled at our friends. Cliffhanger was teaching Milksheikh the Canadian national anthem (Cliffhanger is from Buffalo, NY and used to sing both anthems at the start of sporting events – a fact we all learned two weeks prior).

“Ohhh Canada…” I hear Milksheikh practicing up ahead and giggle. Swift and I walk together a ways back, simply in awe at what was happening.

The countdown began. “5.2 miles from this creek… 3.8 from this pass… 2.2 from this campsite…” and then…

“Look!! There is the border!” Swift shouted.

Up ahead you could see the cut out treeline dividing the US and Canada. We hollered and our fellow thru-hiking buddies responded in the distance. I started the last switchbacks down to the terminus. The vision I have been dreaming about for the past five months was about to become a reality.

As I followed the last bend of the trail, I saw the Northern Terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail and all our fellow hikers taking pictures of my expression as I walked up. I turned to see Swift following close behind. He immediately wrapped his arms around me and we both started to cry tears of joy.

We did it! We hiked the entire Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada, 2663.5 miles!  We are physically exhausted but mentally we have never been stronger.

So much more to come! We are currently traveling back to the US.

~ Buckeye