Day 104: Canada
Today’s blog is going to start at the end and work backwards to the morning because well.. by the end of the day I found myself standing at the Canadian border.
Sandman asked me yesterday how I felt about reaching the end of the PCT and truth be told, I didn’t know.I still didn’t know when I turned the last switchback and saw the infamous PCT monument marking the Canadian border. This had been a dream for the last three years.
My pace slowed as I took in my surroundings and felt the gravity of the moment. My eyes watered and my skin crawled -- I’d done it. I’d hiked from the Grand Canyon to Canada, something that seems crazy even to me. Sandman looked at me and said more than asked, “touch it at the same time?” We’d hiked 83 days together at this point and been through a lot of ups and downs. It felt right we’d reach the monument at the same time.
Sandman is the first hiker of 2021 to make a continuous footpath from Mexico to Canada, and I’m hella lucky to have hiked with him the last few months. He completed his he journey in 95 days!
We took a few photos, signed the register, shared a cinnamon roll to celebrate, and made a beans n rice dinner. We spent time reminiscing and laughing.
Before I decided to not finish the loop, I didn’t plan to see the Canadian monument at all. Instead, I’d just take the right turn to get on the Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT)... I’m glad to have seen it!
Before making the last 3.6 mile hike to the border, we set up our tents and hung most of our food. We’d have to backtrack the miles to reconnect with the PNT in the morning so we saved ourselves carrying the extra weight.
We met three hikers (Squatch, Jazz, and Lee) that we’d been bumping into for awhile. They’d caught a hitch further up trail so had caught up. They were coming back from the monument and were absolutely stoked. It was fun to be there to congratulate them. Back in Stehekin, Sandman had to resupply out of the hiker box since a fire had closed off the road to the town he’d had a box waiting on him. The hiker box had contained a shload of PayDays which he’d snagged. When we met Squatch on trail today, he gave us his extra food and we discovered all of those PayDays in Stehekin were his! It was a hilarious moment because he’s like, “I’m so sick of paydays, I hope you’re not”. Sandman goes, “not yet”, but I bet he will be soon!
The rest of the day made for some beautiful hiking. The weather was in the mid-50s and mostly cloudy. We met a few more SOBOs, including a lady who must’ve been 80 years old.
Miles: 33.8
Total Miles: 2,754
and for those who’ve been following since Day 1, I thought I’d reinstate something:
Poops in the Wild: countless
Poops in a toilet: slightly less than countless
Poops in Canada: 1