Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike

Once Hiker Trash, Always Hiker Trash

In a few days I’ll be heading to Campo, California to start the Pacific Crest Trail, beginning a long walk from the Mexico to Canada.

I’ll be joined again for this hike by my niece, “Sparky,” who I hiked with in 2023 on the Appalachian Trail.

Pace Setter, now Mrs. Blevins, is going to be supporting and visiting me a few times as I head northbound, but she has adventures in her plans for this summer as well.

As you may know, April is a long-time reading and writing specialist. Her focus for the past few years has been tutoring children with dyslexia.

Last fall, she was invited to work as a reading coach this summer Camp Spring Creek in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina. The camp is highly regarded for using the Orton-Gillingman method of instruction, April’s specialty!

At camp, she’ll have her own private suite, complete with her own office for one-on-one tutoring sessions. Students stay for six weeks so the camp has a ton of outdoor activities – including BACKPACKING and HIKING! April is thrilled at the mix of two of her passions in one job.

When April decided to take the position, she suggested that since she would be gone this summer that I should thru-hike the PCT. We worked out the details to hurricane-proof our home, Avemar, and now we have a plan! We’ll both be in the mountains and hiking!

I am not going to post full YouTube videos on this hike like we did on the AT last year but I do plan on recording a short YouTube Short ever day. I will also keep sharing the “One Year Ago Today” notes from the 2025 Appalachian Trail thru-hike.

Finally, both for this article and because I won’t be staring at a computer screen programming an app anymore, the Hiker Trash app is ready for the Apple Store for iPhones and the Google Play store for Android!

If you are a through hiker on long trails or would like to log your day-hikes, join the tramily and download the app. If you just want to follow along as I log my daily miles for this 2600 mile through-hike, click here to see my progress in your web browser.

Happy Trails!

Uncle Bill