A little history...

This past year has been a roller coaster. I graduated a little over a year ago and I was filled with all sorts of hopes and dreams about where I would go from there. However, three days after graduation, I had a major surgery on my ankle and unfortunately had to move home to recover. During this time I had a lot of time to reflect on what I wanted to do and what I needed to do to get there. Turns out, it’s not so easy to find a job in the field that you want without experience or a master’s degree. So I was at a crossroad. I was living in Eastern Washington, when I wanted to be on the west side. I was looking for any work, when I wanted to look for work in restoration and fisheries. And I walked with a limp. So what to do?

I ended up landing a job at a winery as a lab tech, still living in Richland. It was all good until the 60-hour weeks and 12-hour days started to wear on me, and then having to rotate between nights and days. Without sounding negative, let’s just say I wouldn't wish that schedule on my worst enemy.

One of the best things that came from working there was the idea of never wanting to do it again (the cheap wine and overall experience of working at a winery wasn't so bad either). The idea of hiking the PCT also came to me during one of those 12 hour night shifts while I was sitting there all by myself. So I began doing a little research and looking through videos of previous hikers and I decided that was what I wanted to do. I started ordering gear and planning, which takes most people 6 months or more to get everything in line. Things got really real when I put in my two week, and that was the point where there was no turning back…