Huff… step. Huff… step.

I lift my head up enough to see the top of the ridge before the glare of the sun snuck under the rim of my baseball cap. About thirty more postholes or so to the top of Dick’s Pass.  With every slushy knee high step in snow, I start to get more and more excited for the view, and less focused on the immediate exhaustion of the climb. The tips of the trees at the top of the pass become clear and soon I see Heather Lake in the distance! We did it! We made it to the top of Dick’s Pass in Desolation Wilderness near Lake Tahoe! I jump for joy and look around for Justin (who makes climbing a mountain look like a hill). I span my view around the top of the pass and my eyes lock in on a man with a long beard and frazzled red hair.

“HI … CAN YOU HEAR ME? I’M AT THE TOP OF ANOTHER PASS. BOY, IT IS WINDY. I JUST WANTED TO SAY I MADE IT TO TAHOE AND I LOVE YOU. THANKS FOR THE FOOD!!” he yells into his phone.

“Are you kidding me?!” I thought. I made it all this way up to this pristine remote pass in the wilderness to find a man on his cell phone?!

Justin and I start to take pictures from the top as the hiker ended his phone call and ran over to us.

“I’m so sorry about being on my cell phone you guys – you see I am on this long hike from Mexico to Canada and I haven’t been able to connect with my girlfriend.”

I was still caught up on the Mexico to Canada part.

On that mountain a dream was born. Justin and I decided we were going to hike the entire Pacific Crest Trail the following year. We wanted our hike to be bigger than just a walk so we decided to raise money towards a cause we truly believe in on our journey. Today, InspireOut stands for that same dream – we provide programs to aid both youth and adults in finding their inner strengths while appreciating the natural world we all share. Join us for an adventure of a lifetime!

Below is a video of Melissa from our 2010 Pacific Crest Thruhike