Hello! My name is Tommy and if you are reading this you are likely one of three types of people: a member of my immediate family (hey guys, I’m finally doing it!), my editor (please be gentle, Kendra), or one of my friends who I talked (read: annoyed) into reading my first blog post for The Trek. On the off chance that you are somebody who does not fit into these groups, thank you for taking the time to read about my upcoming thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail.
A little bit about myself: I am 27 years old, I was born in Sacramento, CA (Go Kings) and have spent most of my life in-and-around the area, and I have been working as a market research consultant since graduating from college. When I am not moving logos around on PowerPoint slides, my favorite thing to do is hike. Over the past few years, I have been gradually building my hiking resume – graduating from overnighters to multi-day treks – and earlier this year completed thru-hikes of the Tahoe Rim Trail and Wonderland Trail. I am a sucker for an in-depth conversation about all of the properties of the newest laminate fabric (cya l8r Dyneema), I have a 37-pound cocker spaniel named Gordy who isn’t the brightest but is my best bud, and on most nights I can be found coming in third place at trivia (it’s now happened four times in a row now, we really need some help), watching rom-coms with my girlfriend (or friends…I really love rom-coms), or getting crossed up on the basketball court.
With my permit application submitted, and a start date of April 28th, I want to share some of the strategies and lessons that I have learned so far in my planning. My goal in sharing all of this admittedly privileged and not-so-unique experience is twofold: (1) writing is my favorite medium for documenting my hikes and, selfishly, I want something to look back on when I am older, and (2) I hope to inspire somebody to take the plunge and do this hike themselves. It was a family friend’s blog of his 2019 PCT thru-hike (s/o American Pie) that rekindled my desire to hike the PCT and if my writing nudges one person to get out there and be a part of this community, then I will consider it a success. I believe one of the things that makes the thru-hiking community great is the premise that sharing our hikes is about adding to the zeitgeist; improving our collective knowledge and inspiring others by showing them that they too can do this.
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