So, at the time that my girlfriend told me she wanted to hike the PCT and eventually Triple-Crown, I had not even considered doing any of the three trails. I've been hiking since I was very little, and I love it, but that sort of endeavor hadn't even crossed my mind. I'd heard of the PCT and the AT, just hadn't given any thought to doing them. Now, though, it seems like an amazing, life-changing experience, and just the time to do it. I mean, I'm currently working retail and going to school. I don't have kids. Don't own a house. I have no hard-set responsibilities.
After a bit of consideration, we decided to tackle the PCT first. The AT is shorter, easier, and more forgiving of mistakes, which makes it more attractive to many, but that's also a reason to put it off til last. If we end up finishing the PCT and CDT and then have to put doing the AT on hold for whatever reason, we can do it in our 50's or 60's without too much problem. The CDT, being the hardest, we figure shouldn't be done first. Get a long trip under our belt before that one.
Which leaves us with the PCT. We know people all up and down the West Coast, so that makes resupplies and emergency management a little easier. We also have a large chunk of it right in our backyard, living in Washington, so if winter comes early or something, we can more easily finish any sections we had to skip at another time. Also, we are planning to hike a couple/few of the Washington sections of the trail this summer, so if we have to just haul through some of those sections to make up time, we won't feel like we've really missed anything.
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