1st Attempt to Thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail
In 2020, I began my first PCT thru-hike attempt at the trailhead nearest the Northern Terminus, which is ~30 miles south of the Northern Terminus. Since one cannot enter the United States from Canada at the Northern Terminus, I hiked up to tag the terminus before beginning my journey south to Mexico. After about 150 miles, I began to notice pain in my feet that didn’t go away. I hiked the entire state of Washington and made it to Bend, Oregon before I gave in to the pain.
I had hiked too hard too early on, and destroyed the extensor tendons on top of both my feet. I had stubbornly (and irresponsibly) hiked through the pain, about 500 miles more, until I just couldn’t anymore. It took over six months before I was fully recovered. Lesson learned!