In 2018, Rob took a shot at walking the 2650 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
Hoping that 2022 will have a calmer fire season and bring back quality long distance hiking to the PCT, the pair picked up at Ashland, Oregon where they left off in 2021 and started walking the remaining distance to Canada. Their hopes were dashed. Not only were the fires back with a fury, but the long winter created strange dynamics on the trail. Fires burning behind them motivated hikers to jump forward, first to northern California. Then with new fires starting there and in southern Oregon, hikers jumped to the middle of Oregon. With the lingering winter, southbound hikers (SOBOs) were unable to start. Seeing their hiking window dwindling, many SOBOs were motivated to jump south … also to the middle of Oregon.
Where were Top Rock and Kedger hiking? Well, from the California/Oregon border north. to the middle of Oregon. The first few days they’d see only a handful of hikers. However, a few weeks later, Kedger counted 30 hikers walking by in the time between stopping for lunch and beginning to eat lunch. Ouch! When they stopped by Shelter Cove to pick up their resupply box, the clerk reported having well over 500 resupply boxes. The boxes had filled the store room and were stacking up in the aisle of the store.
With a fire closure in front of them, more fires reported to the north, herds of hikers coming up behind them and walking towards them, having just crossed the 2000 mile marker, and a clean exit to a regional airport to their right, Top Rock and Kedger made the call to get off trail for 2022.
Our two basic rules: 1) It’s got to be fun. 2) We have to be able to see things. With those rules being broken, it was time to stop.
- Trail Miles: 284 miles (346 miles of all miles)
- Days on trail: 24 (51 days total including 1 zero and 27 days for knee injury)
- Average Daily Mileage when Hiking: 14.4 miles
- Maximum daily mileage: 23.3 miles
- Maximum Elevation Gain in a single day: 2480 ft.
- Average Daily Elevation Gain: 1634 ft.
- Total “Trail” time: 148.5 hours
- Total moving time: 207.1 hours
- Average actual moving time per day: 6.2 hours
- Maximum actual moving time per day: 8.5 hours
- Average moving pace: 2.3 mph
- Maximum moving pace: 2.8 mph
- Minimum moving pace: 1.6 mph
- Total calories burned (Kedger): 96,509
- Maximum daily calories burned: 5,599
For 2023, with fingers-crossed and endless optimism, the team hoped that we will have a calmer fire season and that snow will melt very quickly to bring back quality long distance hiking to the PCT. After picking up at Santium Pass, Oregon where they left off in 2022, they started walking the remaining distance to Canada. The snow did melt. And the fires stayed away for most of the distance. However, 101 miles before the border, things changed. The trail was closed due to fires and the smoke destroyed any hope of seeing great views. Although disappointed yet again, the team did:
- 555 Trail miles
- 606 recorded hiking miles
- 19.3 miles of vertical ascent
- 5000 feet max 1-day ascent
- 42 trail days
- 6 Zero days
- Burn 180,000 calories
- Averaged 2.2 mph
- Maximum 1-day speed off 2.6 mph
- Averaged 15 miles per day
- Maximum 1-dady mileage off 21.0 miles
New images and video from Top Rock in 2023 posted at Google Photos:
- Oregon (16 new) – https://photos.app.goo.gl/m7ZvxWsXqByNWuwS7
- Washington (all new) – https://photos.app.goo.gl/pNkQivW1UrzdRHTM8
Now, for 2024, once again with fingers-crossed with endless optimism, the pair will pick up near Holden Village, Washington where they left off in 2023 and started walking the remaining 101 miles to Canada. Assuming they make it, they will have connected foot steps from the Mexican border to Canada, 2655.2 miles.
Stay tuned. Once they get back on trail, you’ll find them here. Also, check out the Blog for the latest updates.
Fair winds