Day 128

Mile 2638.3 to PCT Northern Terminus Monument

PCT Miles: 16.9 (27.0km)

Total Miles: 2655.2 (4248.3km)

Since early in the morning, I felt that today was meant to be emotional. Today was my last day hiking the PCT.

I woke up at 5:30 with Pete and Nick breaking out camp already. Pete’s wife was at Hart’s Pass waiting for him: they would drive together back home in south Idaho. Nick still has one month of visa and decided to stay in the US until the last day he can. He is going to Seattle now and then “we will see”.

After shaking their hands (an act that is not very common on the PCT: for hygienic reasons hikers usually greet each other with fist-bumps), I said “yeah dudes. Nice to meet you both. See you next time!”. Pete laughed. “Next time”. We all knew this is the last time I’m seeing both of them.

Soon after 6am I was already on my last ascend and my last pass on the PCT. I heard this morning from another hiker that this is actually the highest point in Washington that’s part of the PCT. It was cold and at some point it started to rain. I couldn’t have cared less.

I crossed paths with at least 15 other hikers coming back from the Northern Terminus Monument: most hikers don’t cross to Canada and instead, after finishing the PCT, they go back to Hart’s Pass and find a ride back to civilization. You could see that most of them had red eyes showing that they had been crying recently.

For the last time I saw Ranger, Hélène, Ghost, Ranger, Ruud, Marieke, Jägermeister, Wind-up and Golden Shower. At every hiker coming on the opposite direction, the same gesture repeated: a fist bump followed by a “congrats, you did it!”. Despite the excitement, everybody (including myself) looked absolutely exhausted.

The last three hikers that I crossed with before reaching the terminus told me the same thing, as if they were trying to somehow alert me. They all said that reaching the terminus was very emotional, that they started crying as soon as they saw the monument and kept crying for a few minutes. I was not sure what to expect.

The last person ahead of me was Ghost. Ruud and Marieke were the closest hikers behind me and they were more than one hour back. When I crossed paths with Ghost coming back from the terminus, I knew that I would be alone at the monument for as long as I wanted. I would have all the time I wanted to be emotional.

And there it was. In a small clearance in the middle of nowhere, at the border between the United Stated and Canada, the end marker of the Pacific Crest Trail: the Northern Terminus Monument.

I cheered with a beer that I had brought from Lion’s Den, took a few photos, signed the trail record. Sat down and relaxed for a bit, ate a few snacks. I waited for the tears to roll down my face and for my emotional discharge to start.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that it just wouldn’t happen. And I believe I know exactly the reason why.

For me, the decision to hike the PCT (or the other long distance trails that I hiked before) never had an emotional factor. The main aspect that thrills me on those hikes is the adventure itself. I really enjoy the physical challenges and all the research and planning around these hikes. I like to learn knew things (I did so many things for the first time in the past four months, like wild camping or glissading a frozen mountain).

My two main rules for the PCT (1. don’t die and 2. make wise decisions) are straightforward rules to make sure that I’ll (literally) stay alive and complete my objective. Finishing the PCT has always been my main goal and every step I took (literally) in that direction came from a very analytical decision, not emotional.

I always trusted that my body would be able to deal with all the challenges imposed by the PCT. During the past 128 days, I had only one blister that really bothered me (Bloopu 🫶), a discomfort on my right knee and ankle (in and after the Sierra, when I broke my pole and had to hike with only one) and the soles of my feet that complained a bit after hiking for almost 5 weeks for more than 500 miles without a single rest day in NorCal and Oregon. I didn’t have a single headache. I’m happy to report that I had zero stomach issues. My body is my temple.

By the way, one of the most challenging tasks during the PCT was to kept this diary here and writing every single day on trail. I’m really proud of myself that I kept up with that! I hope you all enjoyed 😊!

I finished my beer and look at the time. Twenty minutes had passed since I arrived at the monument. I felt weird to be enjoying such a long pause. My brain apparently still hadn’t had processed that it was all over. Well, to be honest I still had to hike 8 miles to arrive in civilization in Canada.

I got up, pack on my back for the last time and continued to hike for four more hours. No tears, no epiphanies, no emotional rollercoaster. I’m just feeling the bliss of finalizing something that I have worked so hard to accomplish. I’m feeling complete.

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Thank you so much for each and every one of you who followed me along in this adventure. All the likes, comments and follow requests that I received here really (really!) motivated me to keep going. I hope I could inspire some of you to go out there and seek for your own adventures (maybe hiking the PCT? 🙃).

Thank you for my official support team! Special thanks to my friend Bruno who clearly had a lot of free time in his hands to keep commenting a lot of nonsense. And a super, mega, huge thanks to Chris who did so much (maybe too much!) to help me with the logistics over here. Thank you, thank you, thank you 🙏!

If you enjoyed the PCT, I encourage you to check out an incredible hike that I did with Maike 💜 (and Tani 💙 and Kyra 💚!) last year: the Shikoku Henro Pilgrimage. It should be visible on my trips now (it was on Maike’s account but apparently we can share a trip with multiple accounts now). Go, check it out!

Once more, thank you all so much! See you all next time 😉!

Bruno

💜💜💜