Which Way Is North?

Mother Nature always wins. We’re home. Off the trail. After having to hitch-hike around a 99-mile trail closure near Mount Rainier and hike in day after day of smoke, we decided to go home. This wasn’t an easy choice. It’s been heartbreaking to give up the dream of hiking from Mexico to Canada in a single season. It certainly isn’t how I imagined my hike to end. As more time passes, I expect to reflect on the experience as a whole, but for now, all I can think about is the sting of the abrupt end. At the time of this writing, there are eight trail closures due to wildfire in the northern half of the PCT. In the northernmost 1000 miles, there are just two sections where 100 continuous miles are open. As you can imagine, it’s smoky everywhere. After hiking in heavy smoke for all but one day in Washington, driving through smoke the length of Oregon, and several days of smoky hiking in Northern California, we decided to end our hike. The trail through Oregon and Washing...