I think there are pros and cons to both, honestly. It is fantastic to do a full thru-hike at least once in your life. But if sections fit your lifestyle more right now, then do that and just soak it all in. You and me are about same age. Probably both know by now now it’s not the destination it’s the journey. So, go live it in the way that makes the most sense to you and just be present and each day and love it for what it is.

Thank you and good luck to you! Hopefully 2024 will be a more suitable year for northbounders than this one is shaping up to be.

I'll see ya out there

Thank you very much! Hope you enjoy your hike! I’ll be in the desert section starting March 14th

So glad you watched and enjoyed! Yea the flowers in the desert were really amazing. Such perfect timing!

😂 thank you! That post-trail depression is pretty real but this experience I had out here has forced me to start evaluating my values, beliefs and it continues to change me. It’s like I saw something out there and I’m still trying to figure out what it was, what it means.

@@JDPPDXYou were alive , truly alive as your ancient ancestors were for thousands of years and your soul and even genetics awoke and yiu became whole alive in body and mind...travelling and being , really being a Human. Societies’ sugar coating has been lost and you are a real person now, that will never change. Congratulations to you!

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you so much!

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you very much. Glad you enjoyed it.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. Haha yea my mind is always going. I have thoughts on almost everything and it’s not always healthy but, I do enjoy hiking and looking for the deeper meaning in things. Cheers!

Thank you to both! Glad you enjoyed it.

Beautiful memories, and future dreams for us both. Cheers, Clint!

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you! What sections did you hike in 2022? Yes, that section in Nor Cal, somebody referred to it as the I-5 to I-5 section and I thought that was a great reference for it, is pretty underrated. Some of the trail was in such shit condition, but other than that, probably one of the better sections of the whole trail.

@JDPPDX I thru hiked from Mexico to Canada (minus the Cedar Creek Fire section). I jumped up from Burney Falls to Timberline to Canada and then went back to finish Nor Cal and Oregon.

Thank you!

I’m glad you can relate to the commentary. Such a tornado of thoughts and emotions. I was hoping it would especially resonate with other hikers so I’m glad to hear it did with you. Thanks for commenting!

Glad you liked it! There is much much beauty to see on this route.

Well dang, there is a good chance you will see a lot of the same conditions that I saw. Starting on that date means that 4 of the 5 sections will be pretty ideal, but the Sierra will be type 2 fun, only able to be appreciated once it’s over.

@@JDPPDX One of the reasons I was so interested in your video was precisely because of your start date. I know the Sierra will be challenging. Fortunately I'm used to a lot of type 2 fun - I thru-hiked the AT in 2021. Thanks again for sharing your video. It was very well done.

Thank you for the compliment and so glad it brought back memories. Cheers!

Hey Debra! I remember you! Yes, Stehekin is such an awesome place. That bakery is just amazing! Hope NZ was awesome for you. Please stay in touch!

Congrats on finishing! Glad you enjoyed it! That’s the challenge, right? To stay connected to this life and the ideals. Otherwise, was it worth it?

Glad you enjoyed the vlogs as well as this summary. I’ll be on the Arizona Trail in a week. Hope to be able to start vlogging again then.

Thank you Paul! Cheers!

I will say that walking towards home, feeling that constant pull, then getting there finally, is pretty amazing. Not all hikers get that so it’s extra special for us.

I appreciate that!

That’s awesome! Thank you for relaying the effect it had on you. Dream away!

Thank you very much!

Thank you, Shaun. I tried to do something different with it, so I’m glad it worked out.

Thank you April! I just responded to your text so I won’t duplicate it but, thank you. Cheers!

Thanks for your comment! Yes, was an epic adventure. So much that it’s been hard to move on from it. I vlogged the whole journey and this is sort-of a compilation of my vlogs. My style was trying to capture more of the emotional side of the trip, so I kept that theme going with this recap. Cheers!

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for this nice comment.

Wow, thank you!

Thank you so much for your comment and your support of my photography!

Haha! Thanks Tom. Yea it’s all the same footage and a lot of the same music as my vlogs, just with a twist and obviously stitched into one long movie. Happy New Year to you Tom!

Thank you and good luck on your upcoming PCT hike!

That’s a huge compliment! Thank you! Yes, we have a lot of beer here! 😂 I love the Washington Cascades far more than the Oregon Cascades. You are so lucky but I guess, we have a longer season to enjoy them here. Cheers!

That’s awesome! Nice to virtually meet you. You were in front of me then probably the whole way, but not too far.

So glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for the comment too. 🍻

Glad you enjoyed it!

Hey Pa’at! I remember you guys. You probably know but the video of you finishing went viral and I saw it all over IG. Really touching moment that was captured. So I knew you had made it to the terminus. Congrats on your finish! The fires must have been very soon after you got there.

@@JDPPDX The viral video clip was fun! Outside Magazine even did an article. Your section videos were watched by everyone following us so they could get an idea of what we were experiencing. Ash was falling as I left the border. I told everyone I met coming in to hurry up and get there before the trail was closed. Lightning started another fire off the trail a bit as I neared Harts Pass. I was so glad I pushed hard to the end and so sorry for hikers who couldn't make it.

Thank you so much! Glad you liked it. It’s honestly such a hard experience to summarize, and I could talk about it for so many hours, so glad I could provide a little bit of a summary in not very many words.

Good luck fellow hiker trash!

So glad!

Thank you so much for all of your support, Joan. Glad you are enjoying the calendar. I definitely wanted to address the suck part of the hike along with the highs. I always felt like that part was missing from other documentaries but it really so much of the experience. It’s a lot like life I guess. Accepting it isn’t perfect and you aren’t perfect, and at times it’s down right savage, but you are at peace with that and just keep going anyway, hoping that at least maybe tomorrow will be a better day.

@@JDPPDX yes, exactly. Ever since my NOLS kayaking course in 1973 my personal motto has been, “Keep paddling, lean into the waves and trust your own hands to get you safely across.” Keep up the great hiking, photography and perseverance.

Holy crap! That’s really kind of you. Thank you.

Glad you enjoyed it!! Cheers!

Hey John! Thanks for this nice comment. I think heading towards home was super motivating in the first 2/3rds of the hike. Wanting to get home, and walking in the proper direction, jives with the brain pretty well. Arriving at home was pretty exhilarating, but leaving was pretty rough. Having a trail family to hike with, and knowing I’ll be back in 5 weeks, made it easier.

Thank you too!

Glad you enjoyed it!

I believe I am! I will definitely keep taking you along. Cheers!

Haha! Yes I remember. Hope to see you out there again this year.

Thank you and congrats to you as well! I was definitely hoping my experiences would resonate with other thru-hikers. It’s such a roller coaster of crazy highs, and some very low lows, sometimes in the same day. All the while, you are growing and changing as a person in the background, only to be fully realized once you get home. I always felt there was a little hole in the market, if you will, for a vlog or documentary to get into that part of the experience. Cheers, my friend!

Wow, thank you!

It was really awesome for me to put this together!

Thank you!

Thank you so much! It’s a long watch but, thanks for checking it out.

@@JDPPDX I watched the whole thing. It was incredible! Thank you for putting it together.

Glad you enjoyed it

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks so much!

I’m jealous. Should be so much fun! Sierras will be hard but epic in its own way. Rest of trail will be really ideal timing with that start. Have a freakin blast!

Hey Joe! Thank you man. Cheers.

Happy to share this! I hope you can fulfill this dream! It’s life-altering and only fully appreciated once it’s over. Cheers!

Glad you enjoyed it!

Many thanks!

Glad you enjoyed it! Greetings from Oregon!

Thank you very much, and good luck! I’m a firm believer in the early start for so many reasons, but you just have to be willing to mountaineer your way through a lot of the Sierra.

Oops! Moment.

Thank you! Yea I think that summarizes how fatigue and just general discomfort can cloud over the trip so a person doesn’t fully appreciate the beauty of the experience in the moment.

Awesome, thank you! 🍻

Hey Crow! Thank you. Subscribed to your channel as well. Cheers.

Welcome aboard! AZT episode 1 is loading currently. Cheers.

Thank you very much! Well, I am really into backpacking and photography. I started hiking the PCT in sections in 2019. In 2022 I decided to go all-in and do a thru-hike. I think I had seen enough of the trail and the lifestyle to know it was awesome, and had enough stagnation in my regular life to make doing this seem irresistible. There aren’t many ways in life a regular person can have this level of adventure with no special training or skill. It’s guaranteed epic adventure if you just show up and keep walking every day. But it definitely comes at a price, and I’m paying for it now. My life is completely upside-down. I threw away all my stability to be able to be here.

It really is!

Thank you very much, David! Glad you enjoyed! Cheers to you! Have a wonderful 2023🎉

I hope you get to finish!

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you for the feedback! Yea a couple of the black screens might linger too long. There isn’t any way to change it and reload it here. KZfaq doesn’t let me. But for any future use, I definitely could. I would make some other changes too. Video was done on an iPhone 12 Pro Max and a DJI Pocket 2 gimbal. Mostly, the wet feet issue was wherever there was snow or heavy snow melt along the trail. This was the Sierras like the whole way up until about Sierra City. So like 500 miles maybe. Feet were wet like the whole time during the day. My tactic was to use two pairs of socks. I would put the wet pair of socks on the back of my pack to dry while I hiked. This way, at the end of each day, I had a dry pair to put on for sleeping and to start the next day. I just kept rotating and drying them like that. Worked really well. I wouldn’t change that technique. You have wet feet a lot during the day but as long as you have dry ones for camp and sleeping at least, my feet held up well.

Thank you for this, Joel. I appreciate it. Not the first start date of the year, which is March 1st. I started on the 16th of March, so there were people ahead of us, but not many. Its really motivating to be walking home! Honestly, that helped me make it through the trail. That, and actually being able to hang out at home for a while during the hike. We were way in front of those fires, but I had to go back and do the section through Mount Jefferson in September because of that Lionshead skip. I met a lot of the displaced hikers when I did that. So many had to skip Oregon. So many skipped, and they almost caught us in Washington but not quite.

You got this! Hey that’s how I started out too. I got about half done in sections, then decided to thru-hike. Thank you for you comment, and happy trails to you!