PCT Days fills hiker boots with trail magic as backpackers recharge on 2,650-mile trek
Free Merch - a calling card at PCT Days in Cascade Locks was in full distribution mode via arm launches. These hats from Hyper Lite backpack company were getting cheers and jeers depending on how far they were flung against the wind and into the crowd.
By Tom Peterson
Cascade Locks, Ore., Aug. 19, 2020 - Between the pie eating contests, $5 beers and raffles and drawings for thousands in high tech camping gear, one thing remained true at Pacific Crest Trail Days at Cascade Locks Marine Park.
More than 100 vendors offering free gifts and raffles while selling everything from hiking shoes to water straws were at hand on Saturday, Aug. 19 at Cascade Locks Marine Park. Thunder Island was a wall of individual hiker tents as the event drew hundreds from all over the world as they contemplated conservation, the trail and the deeper meaning of trail magic or paying it forward.
Wanderlust and a willingness to dive into the deep end of adventure just for the sake of testing oneself remain alive and well.
And the varied and fascinating people it brings from around the world into one place over several days is as deep as the PCT is long - that would be 2,650 miles.
That loop or magnifying glass on Jacob Brown’s hat helps him look at plants in minute detail and also helps with his photography. He’s a botanist from Arizona who spent a few days at PCT Days in Cascade Locks in his meandering from Mexico to Canada.
Jacob Brown of Chandler, Az., walked by with a loop on the brim of his hat. His trail name is Yotes.
He is a botanist and range management specialist with the USDA.
He’s also a thru-hiker making his way from the border of Mexico to Canada and he was chilling for the day at Cascade Locks..
“I use the loop to take photos and look at plants,” he said.
And if he could hike anywhere in the world?
Mount Thor with a vertical drop of more than 4,100 feet in Canada near Greenland.
“Mount Thor on Baffiin Island in Canada,” he said without hesitating. “It’s got the largest vertical drop in the world. It looks Looney Tunes. I saw it in my books at the herbarium. There is a vast ecology of alpine plants there. I need to find that.”
Lucky and Stinga at PCT Days.
Sarah Harwood or “Stinga”, 28, of Melbourne, Australia was a bit more practical.
Te Araroa trail in New Zealand.
“I would hike the Te Araroa (trail) in New Zealand,” she said. “It’s new, fresh and fun. And it’s a much cheaper plane ride for me. The PCT has been expensive.”
Slim Jim
While standing in line at the Outdoor Research we ran into “Slim Jim” or Ashley Perry, 23, of Tampa, Fla.
“Over my lifetime I would like to complete the American Discovery Trail,” she said, noting the trail covers more than 10,000 miles if hiked in both directions as it cross the lower 48 states.
The American Discovery Trail
“I work in mental health with (military) Veterans,” she said noting she put together hikes to improve mental health at her job back home. “It improved my own health too, and I have met a lot of my friends that way. I try to hike as much as possible.”
And what about that trail name, Slim Jim?
“That came from a dumb dare,” she said. “I like Slim Jims and my friends challenged me to only eat slim jims over a two-day hike. I ate 40 of the snack size in a single day.”
All for a good cause - while there was no admission price for PCT Days, The Columbia Gorge Food Bank was taking donations. We were greeted by Breen Goodwin, the Transitional Exec. Director with the Food Bank in the Port of The Dalles.
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