Why We Decided to Thru-Hike

My wife and I were friends for a long time being dating. Years ago, she stumbled on the infamous book, "Wild," by Cheryl Strayed. She thought Cheryl Strayed's story was a raw source of inspiration, achieving something outside of the social norm and discovering strength within herself along the journey.

She joined the cliche influx of women who decide to the PCT to better understand herself, make peace with the past, and gain some independence. If you met Alissa, you'd know she loves to push social norms and do things that are challenging. She began reading books and looking at data points for the trail.

But... she wasn't that outdoorsy, so she came to me for backpacking advice.

I didn't know what a thru-hike was, but I was in awe that people embark on these journeys. I wasn't shocked that Alissa would want to. She has a tendency to be a bad a$$. We had countless discussion about different backpacking topics- the pros and cons of different gear, estimated daily mileages, and how to resupply.

Alissa wanted to know many creative ways to start a fire. She lit the apartment on fire. Unfortunately, fire alarms have a tendency of going off when my wife is around. She has gotten better though... I think it's been 3 weeks since she set one off now.

Alissa dropped the PCT dream to move to Ukraine. She moved in with a host family in Ukraine to teach English to children on a whim instead of pursing the PCT. Her reasoning for the country Ukraine? Simply, that she didn't know anything about the country.

After she returned from Ukraine, she kissed me and the rest was history. All the while, I yearned to do her PCT dream myself. A couple months before our wedding, I brought thru-hiking back up. She was supportive and completely on board. Over the next couple months, we debated the between the PCT and the Appalachian Trail (AT).

Alissa was registered for school in 2019 spring semester, pushing our timeline until the end of May or early June. The AT SOBO (Southbound) matched better for our needs at the time. We research both trails. We wanted to, but it was still a debate of whether we could with school, her research, work, social commitments, and everything that ties us to our own lies.

Because of poor financial planning (on my part), we were stuck in a bad financial situation early fall of 2018. To pay off my school payments before collections became a problem, we both needed to work full-time. Alissa was able to put her scholarships, research, and other schooling on a hold for 2 years to help me.

"In every crisis, there's opportunity." -Chinese Proverb

Instead of being depressed, we viewed the time off school as an opportunity. After paying off those bills, we now have 2 years of time. We decided instead of hurrying along the rat race that life can be, we would use the time to accomplish some of our dreams. We had a 5 minute conversation and decided to commit to the trail we both wanted to hike all along, the PCT. September 2018, we started the gears in motion to make our dream a reality.