After my first, rather brief encounter with the Pacific Crest Trail in 2013, my hiking ambitions went quiet for a long time – until I rediscovered my old passion on the Arizona Trail in 2023. So this time it was to be a new attempt on the PCT, and I was even able to convince Kathi to accompany me – despite her skepticism about heat and desert. In this report, we explain why we decided to do this section, how our journey went and what awaited us along the way. It was definitely something completely different to our hike on the Camino Primitivo.
Why we chose this section
I started a section hike on the PCT back in 2013 – but to be honest, I didn’t get very far back then. Just 540 kilometers from Campo before I had to go back to the office. After that, I didn’t hike at all for a long time – until I rediscovered my old passion on the AZT in 2023: carrying large quantities of water through the countryside in high temperatures.
High temperatures aren’t really Kathi’s thing. But I’ve been nagging her for months about how beautiful the desert is, how great it’s all going to be – and that we’re even traveling relatively early in the year for this section and therefore won’t have too many problems with the heat. In the end, she gave in for my sake – and I think, looking back, she actually liked it.
If you know the PCT well, you might notice that there are still over 100 kilometers between the section I hiked in 2013 and the point where we start this time. This is because there is currently (2025) a major closure in this area. As I only hike the trail in small stages anyway, I will try to catch up on this section as soon as it is open again.
The journey
The journey to the PCT actually went pretty well – apart from the fact that I always get incredibly nervous when it comes to flying. I’ve flown many times before, but what I want to avoid at all costs is missing the plane. That’s why I force everyone who flies with me to arrive very early. Even if we travel by train, I plan so that one or two trains can be canceled and we still arrive at the airport at least two hours before departure.
This time the situation was a little more relaxed: My parents were kind enough to take us straight to the airport. So we went to London on Good Friday. We arrived there at around 10 p.m. and had a 16-hour layover. As I had my spending pants on and didn’t feel like sleeping at the airport again, I booked us a hotel room near the terminal. You have to watch our journey to the hotel in the video – there’s an autonomous pod system there, which I personally probably found more exciting than most other people.
The next morning we shouldered our hand luggage again and returned the same way. This time, however, they wanted 20 euros (for two people) to use the pods. The bus connection would definitely have been cheaper – but as I only had my spending pants with me, we paid that too. We then had an overpriced salad at the airport for breakfast before checking in and boarding the plane for 9.5 hours.
It was a somewhat unusual flight. It was our pilot’s last flight before his retirement, and many of his friends accompanied him. At the airport, he gave a little speech to all the passengers and during the flight he kept talking about the people who were with him – how they had met and what they had in common. It was actually quite sweet. And even though long-haul flights become rather unpleasant after the third movie in wooden class at the latest, we arrived in Los Angeles quite safely. The flight should have taken two hours longer, but we had a tailwind – lucky us.
Due to the reports of the last few weeks, we were still a little worried about whether we would be allowed to enter the country at all – whether we might be sent straight back. But we were lucky: after the long queue at immigration, we were allowed to enter the country – and this time our suitcases were even with us and not left in London like in 2023.
Afterwards, we took the hotel shuttle back to the hotel, went to the supermarket across the street – and then straight to bed.
The next morning, we took the hotel shuttle back to the airport and from there the rental car shuttle to the rental car station. We had rented a car for three days so that we could deliver one of our resupply packages ourselves, do the last bit of shopping – and drive along the beach at least once more before continuing on to Santa Clarita. From there, we wanted to take a cab to our starting point.
