We are starting to find our groove at home. Both of us are getting back to work, and are feeling like our daily routines are shifting back to what we were used to doing prior to the PCT. This doesn’t mean that our minds don’t drift off back to the trail, though, pretty much everyday! We still find ourselves day dreaming about our trip, especially if we see pictures from it flash across a screensaver. It’s crazy how a picture can immediately transport you back to the exact place and time, and we definitely have a few of those…LOL.

One of the challenges we are dealing with is trying to go through all of our pictures and finding some favorites. Picking the ones we want to use for photo books, compilation videos, and art for our walls at home. We definitely don’t have a lack of pictures/videos to choose from, but trying to narrow those down to the ones we want to use, has become the hardest part! Here are a couple of videos with all of the different PCT signs we ran across, as well as a compilation showing a daily picture of our tent site. We had these ideas in our heads before starting the trip so it has been fun to put them together. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Tent Pictures from every campsite
Signs of the PCT

Amy is taking on the challenge of looking into what it will take to possibly make our adventure into a book. We aren’t positive this will happen, but thanks to many of you, we have been steered in the right direction to at least start the process. Working in the healthcare field makes us feel like a duck out of water when it comes to writing, so publishing a book feels like a huge undertaking. However, Amy seems pretty excited about it so we will see where it goes from here.

I am going to continue to work as a physical therapist but I am ready for a new challenge as well. I have been talking about opening up my own outpatient PT clinic for years now. The PCT forced me to quit my job, which was probably the biggest push I needed to start down this path. I am not sure there wasn’t a day over the past six months that I didn’t think about how I envisioned my practice and how I would go about it. Well, now that I am back, I am 100% committed to making this dream a reality. I am hoping to be up and running by 2021. This will fill my plate with things to do, but I am super excited. I feel like I did on our first day walking on the PCT, excited about what lies ahead!

Over the past week, it has been fun to see on social media all of the hikers we had met along the way who are finishing up the trail. We even saw a video of someone at the northern terminus just 6 days after us, in a total white out snow storm. Boy, did we have perfect timing there! It’s amazing, the connection you can have with people that you had only met for a day or two. The bond that is made while hiking the PCT is truly special. The only bummer for those of us who completed the trail this year is that the Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA) has decided not to recognize our completion of the trail. It seems they feel that with the pandemic going on, no one should have been hiking. The PCTA never revoked anyone’s permits, or told any of us to get off the trail so this doesn’t make sense. I don’t think any hiker that we met really cares too much, since none of us hiked the trail for a piece of paper or a medal. It just seems odd to me that the PCTA would turn its back on people who have been supporters of their cause for years.

Amy and I are both excited for next week as we will have a reunion with Mantis and Pants!! They are making a road trip down the west coast and plan to stop by to visit. We are excited to see them again, enjoy some good food and drinks while reminiscing about our adventure.

We will post the other compilation videos as soon as we finish putting them together. Until then, please stay safe and, as always, thanks for reading. Brian (aka Link).