Below Zero: When 2,650 miles isn't enough...

Wanna hike 2,650 miles?  Sounds like fun, right? Walking up and down the most gorgeous mountains, deserts, and valleys in the country is a dream.  But what if you wanted a bigger challenge?  Well, for two guys that challenge might just be one of the most dangerous and adventurous quests I've ever heard about.  Justin Lichter and Shawn Forry have decided to tackle the Pacific Crest Trail this winter.  That's right. 2,650 miles in the snow, cold, and ice. Extreme!

October 21, 2014 - Trauma and Pepper set off from Manning Park, Canada to hike 2,650 miles to Mexico

This trek has all the classic challenges of a normal thru-hike: injury, fatigue, weather, illness, solitude, terrain.  But Trauma and Pepper (their trail names) will have to face the unusual difficulties of winter: lack of resupply.  When people hike the PCT during the usual time period, April - October, the roads leading to or close to the trail are perfect places to walk into a town or grab a hitch for food and a zero (mile) day.  But during the winter, the majority of those roads could be closed, completely socked in with snow, leaving no access to supplies.  Their itinerary shows some stretches of 100+ miles without a resupply and there is always the possibility of the access to planned food drops could be inaccessible too.

Besides the topic of resupply, extreme winter weather is a serious issue.  There have been normal seasons were people have had to skip the Sierras all together because of snowpack.  What will happen is 2014-2015 is a high snow year?  What happens if someone gets hurt?  There are many serious questions that put doing a winter thru-hike onto the high-risk list.  Although winter thru-hikes of the Appalachian Trail have been successfully done, the AT doesn't have to compete with the altitude challenges of the PCT.

What's to be expected for the majority of the trail? Whiteout.

But enough of the negative, what are the positive outcomes from this incredible adventure?  Breaking new ground, setting new records, complete solitude.  There's a lot to look forward to on this journey and luckily they are blogging about it (Lichter and Forry).  They made it to Cascade Locks in just three weeks (they are traveling SOBO). And their latest post, yesterday, puts them in Bend, Oregon.  Having underestimated the trail conditions, they had to bail for a day to regroup.  No-snow travel time they were making 30-35 miles a day. Two feet of fresh snow without snowshoes dropped that down to 10-15 miles a day, only averaging one mile per hour. Thanks to the help of wonderful trail angels, they'll be back on the trail tomorrow and trekking on to Mexico.

There's beauty around every corner and that's the lasting memory of the journey.

Photo Credit: Shawn Forry