STROLL THE STATE’S SPINE
Cheryl Strayed’s “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail” — a best-selling 2012 memoir and later a successful film — introduced a large new audience to the allure of the West’s most storied trail. “Wild” is a tale of physical and emotional perseverance, with Strayed struggling with grief as much as with the monstrous pack she lugged for thousands of miles of steep, unforgiving trail.
And it’s wonderful as light reading while relaxing in the shade of a tree by an alpine lake, worry free, with nowhere to be.
The Pacific Crest Trail isn’t the exclusive province of through-hikers, the hard-core long-distance walkers attempting to cover every step of the 2,650-some miles from Mexico to Canada (or vice versa). Those gutsy few number in the low hundreds each year. The majority of hikers just come for a taste of the trail’s most glorious sections.
Taking a bite-size approach to the trail has many advantages, not the least of which is avoiding five months of intense work. Throughhikers often clock upward of 20 miles a day; day hikers can linger over the wildflowers, take a cooling dip in a highmountain lake and still have energy to stay up stargazing. The trail frequently passes near a peak, but not over it, or tantalizingly traces a ridge above a lake that it never quite reaches. Peaks and lakes are detours to throughhikers — they’re destinations to the rest of us. Christy Rosander, who sectionhiked the entire trail, and runs the website Lady on Rock, dedicated to hiking and adventure, still returns to sections of the trail, sometimes with her grandchildren. “The PCT is well marked and main-
tained, and gently graded,” said Rosander. “You can be inexperienced, out of shape, young, old — just do less or go farther.”
Heft a pack and do a short overnight, or stay in a cushy mountain lodge nearby and explore the trail by day.
With dozens of trailheads and hundreds of miles of scenic trail in Northern California alone, there is no shortage of options for trail adventures. Word to the wise: As the name implies, the Pacific Crest Trail follows high places. Take altitude seriously; give yourself time to acclimate, or choose lower-elevation sections for day hikes. Extra water, food, sunscreen and a flashlight are always recommended. Always bring a map.