Not with a bang

2417 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail from May 2 to October 18.

To be honest, not finishing the trail this year is heartbreaking. Thruhikers pour every ounce of themselves into an immense but arbitrary goal, and coming up short is humbling. A high snow year in the Sierra Nevada and raging wildfires in every state on the trail slowed us enough that we ran out of time for the season.

That said, our hike was more incredible than I could have imagined. We survived the Sierra and saw it in a way few people get to. We pushed our hiking limits - longer water carries (29 miles), resupplies (10 days) and daily milage (33). We slept looking up at the Milky Way, and under highway underpasses. We crossed swelling rivers, hiked straight up mountains, glissaded down them, ate wild berries by the handful, designed our own fire alternates, and postholed for days on end. We chased our dream and never looked back.

None of this would have been possible without our trail family, the unexpected kindness of strangers, notes of encouragement from friends, and our parents back home mailing our resupply boxes and gear.

The biggest love and hugs to No Trust, Trailblazers, Slowbos, Officially High and everyone that flipped to try and hike as much trail done as they could.

We have 200 more miles in Oregon somewhere in our future before we can really call this trail finished. In the meantime, I look forward to catching up on the last two months of photos.

• HB