In 2018, Rob took a shot at walking the 1700 miles of the PCT from Mexico to Oregon. However, knee injury, twisted ankle, surgery of someone very close to him, and smoke from fires in the mountains, motivated him to get off the trail more than originally planned.

Although he ‘failed’, he:

• Hiked 657 miles,
• Walked up 108,638 ft (20.6 vertical miles), and
• Burned 162,366 calories (as estimated by the AllTrails app he was using).

He decided that “Enough is not enough!”

In 2019, Rob was joined by his son Ken as they started to thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada. His son Ken is coming along.  Once their experience no longer have the ‘Wow!’ effect on them, they stopped short.  However, they did:

• Hike 1070 Trail Miles (which required hiking 1183 miles altogether)
• Walk up 37 vertical miles
• Burn over 250,000 calories each
• Went over 8 major Sierra passes including Forester, Kearsarge, Glen, Pinchot, Mather, Muir, Silver, and Donohue
• Hitchhike 13 times
• Uber 7 times
• Go through 3 pairs of shoes each
• Suffer through 53 zeros (days with no trail miles) due to weather, dental, and family obligations

A few other statistics from their PCT 2019 trip:

• Maximum Mileage in a Day: 27.8 miles including aqueduct
• Average Daily Mileage: 15.8 miles
• Maximum Elevation Gain in a single day: 5974 ft.
• Average Daily Elevation Gain: 2508 ft.
• Maximum Pace for an entire day: 3.3 miles per hour

In 2020, ‘Kedger’ and ‘Top Rock’ were ready to go again — packed and permit in hand.  They had been back in the unnatural world long enough to take in sufficient ‘ugly’ and were ready to get back to ‘Wow!’  They had planned to head up to northern Oregon, to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood, to begin a southbound journey back to Tuolumne Meadows.   However, concerns of spreading COVID-19 to the small towns along the trail ended their 2020 hiking before it began.

In 2021, the team took off from Tuolumne Meadows where they left off in 2019 and began walking the remaining distance to Canada.  The  adventure was going well… until they began approaching the California-Oregon border.   Smoke from wild fires continued to reduce the visibility until it was eliminating the primary reason Top Rock and Kedger were hiking which is to see beautiful scenery.  Soon the days became just watching the backs of the shoes of the person in front of you.  After crossing into Oregon, and evaluating conditions ahead of them, the team decided to stop for 2021.  Two days later, the PCTA sent an email to all hikers encouraging the same action.

• Trail Miles: 646 miles (>700 miles of all miles)
• Days on trail: 47 (52 days total including 5 zeros and 5 neros)
• Average Daily Mileage:  10.8 miles
• Average Daily Mileage when Hiking: 14.9 (Neros had a significant impact this year)
• Maximum daily mileage: 25.3 miles
• Maximum Elevation Gain in a single day:  8,360 ft.
• Average Daily Elevation Gain: 2,403
• Maximum Elevation Loss in a single day: 4025 ft.
• Total “Trail” time: 391.4 hours
• Total moving time: 298.3 hours
• Average actual moving time per day: 6.3 hours
• Maximum actual moving time per day: 9.8 hours
• Average moving pace: 2.3 mph
• Maximum moving pace: 3.1 mph
• Minimum moving pace: 1.5 mph
• Total calories burned (Kedger): 225,424
• Maximum daily calories burned: 7,386

Hopeful that 2022 will have a calmer fire season and bring back quality long distance hiking to the PCT.  The pair is looking at picking up at Ashland, Oregon where they left off in 2021 and walking the remaining distance to Canada.  Stay tuned.  If they get back on trail, you’ll find them here.  Also, check out the Blog for the latest updates.

Fair winds

Rob (Kedger) and Ken (Top Rock) will be carrying Garmin inReach Global Satellite Technology.  The technology enables you to send and receive messages, track and share the journey and — if necessary — trigger an SOS to get emergency help from the 24/7 global monitoring center.

To locate us, click one the links below. (You may need to zoom in on the US west coast to find us and possibly click “View All Tracks” on the upper right portion of the map display.)

Garmin inReach Map for Rob (Kedger) (https://share.garmin.com/Kedger)

Garmin inReach Map for Ken (Top Rock) (https://share.garmin.com/TopRock)

The Pacific Crest Trail

There is a LOT of information about the PCT and other long distance trails available via the internet.   Here are a few of my favorite sources of information.  If you’re looking for something in particular, contact me and I’ll try to help when I can.

Favorites Information Sources:

• Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA.org)
• PCT Water Report
• Craig’s PCT Planner
• Dixie’s YouTube Channel  and her website Homemade Wanderlust
• Darwin onthetrail’s YouTube Channel
• Halfway Anywhere
• Postholer‘s Pacific Crest Trail Snow Conditions
• California Department of Water Resources Data Exchange Center Snow Water Content Charts
• Book: Zach Davis’s Pacific Crest Trials (Note, it’s trials, not trails!)
• Book: Yogi’s Pacific Crest Trail Handbook
• US Forest Service

I’ve used, and will continue to use, dozens and dozens of additional sources, but these have been my favorites.