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The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) publishes a magazine with a circulation of 70,000. We’re happy to share that our Pacific Crest Trail thru hike story graces the cover of the Fall 2013 issue. The issue also contains a glowing review of our PCT photography book.
Read the cover article (pages 16-19) and book review (page 21) by clicking below:
A week from today we’ll be giving a Lightweight Backpacking on the Pacific Crest Trail presentation in Anna’s hometown, Cincinnati. Here’s the blurb about the event:
Date: Sunday, August 18, 6 PM
Location: Roads Rivers and Trails, 118 Main Street, Milford, OH 45150
Anna Sofranko and Chris Alexander hiked the entire 2600-mile Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada. They walked across deserts, over snow covered mountains, and through old growth forests. In order to complete the trail before heavy snow fell in Canada they had to hike about 20 miles each day for 5 months. Dramatically reducing their gear weight allowed them to cover such long daily mileages enjoyably and free of injury. In this presentation they’ll share stories from the adventure, lightweight backpacking tips, and beautiful photos from their book Pacific Crest Trail: A Journey in Photographs – https://wanderingthewild.com/book Come join us for an exciting evening!
We’ll hang around after the presentation to answer questions about the PCT, the John Muir Trail (which overlaps with the PCT), lightweight backpacking, or whatever else you’ve been curious about as you read this blog.
Hope to see you there!
Anna rock hops across Evolution Creek in Kings Canyon National Park
This isn’t the summer we had envisioned, but we’ll roll with it. Shingles ended our Appalachian Trail thru hike in April. Now, months later, North Star is still under the weather. Regaining her full health remains our number one goal. With our short-term sublet coming to an end, we decided to settle down in Fort Collins, Colorado, sign a longer term lease, and make this our home.
Unveiling the storage unit
We began by moving our possessions out of a 5 x 10 ft storage unit in California and into our Colorado sublet. Fifty square feet of storage for two people’s possessions seemed small when we left to thru hike the Pacific Crest Trail, but the trail changed our perspective. We realized one backpack was enough for each of us. Soon after completing the PCT, we wrote a blog post titled “Five Lessons from the Trail”. One lesson, quoted below, is especially relevant to our current situation:
Fewer possessions is freeing. We found that the less we had, the happier we were. Each possession was not only physical weight to carry, but also mental weight. Carrying just one set of clothes meant no decisions about what to wear in the morning. Instead of carrying chairs, which could break or get left behind, we sat on the ground or on logs. Taking only the food we needed made meal choices simple. We didn’t bring bowls and plates, all of which we’d have to clean. Rather we ate right from our pot. With less items to think and fret about, our minds could relax and be open to all the beauty around us. The simple lifestyle is truly freeing.
Moving was a great opportunity to put that lesson into practice.
Wandering the Wild 