Last steps to the Mexican Border!
If you'd asked us before the trail "is 77 miles a long backpacking trip," we would have respond with a resounding yes. Prior to the PCT, our longest backpacking trip was in Olympic National Park, where we hiked 60 miles over 5 and a half days, but after well over 2500 miles of hiking, the end of the trail felt impossibly close. You know how when you're driving in a car, scenery way in the distance creeps towards you at an ant's pace, while trees, brush, and signs right on the side of the road whip past in instants? That was Mexico for us - for months, the idea of "hiking to Mexico" was this abstract idea, this hypothetical and impossibly huge goal that we'd set our minds to, this milestone impossibly distant on the horizon, at the end of the country, inching towards us at 3 miles per hour, and now here it was, now within reach.
NOBOs have it easy. While we started the trail deep in the wilderness of Washington's Cascade Mountains, over a hundred miles from our first opportunity of town food, beds, or showers, NOBOs have plentiful food and lodging options right off the bat. Lake Morena (20 miles from the border) has a malt shop with incredible milkshakes and loaded fries. Mount Laguna boasts several delicious restaurants and affordable, cozy cabins. Then there's the aforementioned pie in Julian! We loved the opportunity to put our "trail diet" to good use, and had lots of indulgent food in this section. We also found last (and first) unexpected trail magic in Southern California from "Girl Scout" who hiked the trail in 2006. Thanks for the SOBO love!
I'd say it didn't really hit us that we were truly finishing until the day before, 20 miles from Mexico, when we were refilling our water bottles at Warner Springs. In Southern California, you always check where your next source is before you leave good water, but this time, when we went to check the water report, there was none to be had! Literally 0 water, for the rest of the trail (not that far!), and suddenly it was very apparent that our trail lives where coming to a close. We filtered our last water, set up our last camp, cooked our last ramen bomb, packed our bags for the last time, as the finality of the section came into focus.
A few miles before we reached the border, I noticed some movement around a corner, and told Daphne "heads up! hikers coming," but as we rounded the rock, some friendly faces jumped out to surprise us! I felt so lucky to celebrate the conclusion of our PCT not only with my absolute favorite hiking partner, but also my parents. What a wonderful section to end on, with incredible views, gorgeous cacti, delicious food, and the best company. It was difficult to really grasp that our trail was ending, as I kept asking "Can you believe we're here," a frequently repeated phrase from me. As we hiked the trail, that phrase changed meaning as we grew into experienced veteran thru "hickers."
Before we knew it, the trail was at its end. While we were so excited to rest and recuperate from the adventure, it was inevitable that we would miss many parts of our trail lives. We knew we would miss waking up on the trail every morning, miss the simplicity of walking south, a singular direction, and of course, miss the trail itself and the incredible community it sustains. Goodbye PCT.
