This is the second chapter in a series exploring a Pacific Crest Trail hike that began on April 16, 1996 and didn’t end until my partner Peter Miles Bergman and I had doubled in age and fulfilled a 23-year-old pact, completing a TAOist thruhike. In the first chapter I looked at how the planning of…

This is the first of a series exploring a Pacific Crest Trail hike that began on April 16, 1996 and didn’t end until my partner and I had doubled in age and fulfilled a 23-year-old pact, completing a TAOist thruhike. Anyone who has tried to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, or any long trail, will…