>>2124047Hiked it a couple years back, it was an amazing 5 months. There's an unbelievable amount of beauty out there, sparked a lot of personal change for me, and was a catalyst for a major pivot in my life path. I'm lucky that I took the opportunity to hike a once in a lifetime trail like that while I was young and responsibility free. As you get older, you're going to lose more and more freedom, you'll have a career, a mortgage, car payments, a partner, maybe a family, all these things will tie you down and make it harder and harder to just take off for half a year. If you want to do something like the PCT, it's easiest to do while you're young. Amazing experience.
You don't technically need hiking experience, but your odds are far better if you have plenty of experience and know what you're getting into. You've got to be determined, and you've got to be realistic, hiking the PCT won't be easy, there will be days where you're miserable, hurting, tired, wet, or getting feasted on by mosquitos, and want nothing more than to just be back home. You've got to be willing to push through. If you can do that though, it's an intensely rewarding experience
>>2124469Lmao ok pussy
>>2124463WA and OR are amazingly beautiful, sure there's plenty of hiking below treeline, but there's plenty of alpine too.
>>2124588Massive amount of people who have permits never get to the trailhead, and another 50% of them drop out by the time you reach the halfway point. There's of solitude to be found on trail if you want it, hiking southbound is much less trafficked as well.
>>2131586Average budget is 1000$ per month, you can spend a fair bit less if you're frugal. Keep a budget on trail.
