General Reflections

It’s been a bit more than a month since I’ve returned. I’ve seen family, friends, and feel well adjusted now. The first few days back where overwhelming. Being back in the city was a lot, and it took some time to get used to it. Seeing people again was great, and I’m glad to be home.

There’s been some time to reflect. Overall, the trail was amazing. I can’t write the full experience of it, or tell it to people who ask. It’s not possible for me to convey the views, the challenge, or how it’s made me feel. So, if you ask me how the trail was, I’ll do my best, but really I’m a poor communicator when it comes to this. Just know that it was beautiful and terrible, and though it an amazing experience I’m not looking to do something like it again anytime soon. I like the people in my life too much to be away from them for such a long period of time.

Finances

I looked back at the finances of the trip, and have some good-enough ideas of costs. Here is the total of how much money I spent March 25th - August 13th:

Total: $12,716.70 CAD

Breakdown of the biggest categories:

• Paying rent in Montreal during that period: $3000
• Resupply: $2,400.21
• Town food: $2,147.04
• Uncategorized and Cash Withdraws: $2,200
• Postage: $400
• Transportation: $300
• Lodging in town: $300

Notes

These calculations don’t contain any of the gear I bought before the trail, only gear that was bought on trail. Also, without rent being paid in Montreal, the total cost for the trail is just under 10,000$ Canadian. Initially when budgeting for the trail, I thought I would spend around $8000. The Canadian dollar doing so poorly while I was doing the trail contributed in part to the increased cost, as well as the western states being expensive. Finding a meal in town for under $15 USD was tough. On trail, I told myself I wouldn’t worry about money spent on town food, but would limit the amount of nights I would pay for lodging in town. This worked out pretty well.

Rest days

I didn’t take many zero days (no miles hiked). I took more at the start, partially because I was with more people and was having a social time, partially because it’s recommended to take more rest in the first few months to avoid injury.

• Total: 11
• Socal: 4
• Sierras: 5
• Norcal: 0
• Oregon: 2
• Washington: 0

I’m happy with the amount of rest days I took. If i took too long in town, I would start to feel antsy and want to get back on trail.

The blog

I’m really glad with the medium used to update my progress on the trail. Since it wasn’t as easy as posting a short video or pictures on Instagram, it made it a bit more deliberate when I wanted to post an update. Each blog post took about an hour to write up and upload. It was a bit annoying at times but looking back I’m really satisfied with how it turned out.

That’s all, I might convert this PCT blog into a normal blog, and archive the PCT section.

Thanks for being a fan, Coach