Walks A Ways: Overall PCT Day 143

2026 PCT Day 27, 10 September 2026 (Thursday)

Overall PCT Day 143

"100 PCT (%) Done"

Start Location:	Warm Springs River, Mi. 2067.7	Destination:	Timberline Lodge, Mt. Hood, Mi. 2100.1
PCT Miles Day 143:	32.4	Cum PCT Miles:	2648.4
Non-PCT Miles Day 143:	0.2	Cum All Miles:	2872.6
PCT Miles Remaining:	0.0
Elevation Gain Day 143:	5381	Cum Elevation Gain:	447,197

First A Note About Miles: Because there are various alternates to the Baseline (Redline) PCT routing, some mandated, some official and optional, the miles in my stats do not exactly match the official PCT mileage.

Last night was the warmest night in Oregon in a while. But this morning was actually pretty cold. I did just barely managed to get one more 10 x 10 in.

Although today’s trail was pretty nice, it was almost entirely in dense forest. Therefore, there were not a lot of photo opportunities.

But all that is besides the point, because today I did it, I completed the PCT. I wasn’t entirely sure whether I would complete it today or tomorrow. But the trail cooperated, mostly, and I pushed pretty hard all day. It definitely was not an easy day as can be seen in the stats. And just to make one final point that the PCT is not an easy trail to complete, the very end was very hard. The last 5 miles were basically just straight up. And in the last couple miles you come out of the forest and into the Open. It was actually very windy today, and you could really feel the full force of the wind once out into the open. Near the end, with just about a half a mile to go, the wind was blowing very hard right into me, and the trail was still steep. It was a struggle just to move forward one step at a time. It was like the PCT just didn’t want to let me get to the end.

But I did get to the end. I walked every inch of the PCT from Mexico to Canada, over 2600 miles. And that doesn’t even count all the additional miles that were not technically PCT miles. I didn’t walk the entire trail in one continuous foot path like I wanted, but that was out of my control. No matter how you slice it, it was a long, hard hike.

But I am not done hiking yet. I am going to continue on the PCT for the next two days until I get to Cascade Locks Oregon. Cascade Locks is the end of the Oregon section. It is also on the big Columbia River with the iconic Bridge of the Gods (named after a Native American Indian legend), and it has a PCT monument. I don’t know why, but it just seems more appropriate to end the hike at a location that has a PCT monument. This might seem a bit silly, but some people would say that liking the entire PCT is kind of silly. So what’s a few more miles.