Trail Angel and Trail Magic on the Pacific Crest Trail | 2022

May 13th, 2022

Trail angles and trail magic. As a weekend warrior hiker/backpacker these phrases don’t really fill me with a ton of excitement although, I have been the beneficiary of both a few times during my hiking career. For the thru-hiking adventurer, these terms bring excitement, joyful relief and overwhelming gratitude.

Trail angles are local folks who provide trail-weary thru-hikers something in the way of support that comes in the form of a lift to town, some tasty treats or a refreshing beverage or water fill-up. This support is called trail magic. Could these long-distance hikers complete their journey without the assistance of these random angelic Good Samaritans? I sure think so, but it would surely make the challenge of hiking thousands of miles over a five- or six-month period substantially tougher.

I’ve had the opportunity to play the role of trail angel a few times in my life while driving along highway 395; my favorite stretch of road in the entire world I might add. You often see a Pig-Pen cloud of dust hovering around some backpack toting hiker on the side of the road with their thumb out and a cardboard sign broadcasting their destination. Every time I’ve given a ride to one of these smelly vagabonds, I’m treated with overwhelming gratitude and an enjoyable conversation of hiking adventure stories, both theirs and mine.

In 2022, I’ve found myself on several sections of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) here in Southern California at a time when many thru-hikers are making their way north. The greetings and short trail conversations have been fun and pleasant. In April, I had a wonderful time hiking to the top of Pacifico Mountain along the PCT. I ran into so many interesting thru-hikers that I decided I was going to return to the trailhead on another day and bring some amazing trail magic for the lucky group of hikers that would be rolling through at that time.

To be completely honest, I had a great deal of apprehension the morning of my planned outing and I almost cancelled the event. Was I going to come off as weird and creepy? What if I buy all this food and no one shows up or even worse, all the hikers are vegans or on a ketogenic diet?? Well, we only had one vegan, but she was happy to drink some sugary soda and eat a cookie. The other twenty-five or thirty hikers where highly carnivorous and not a single girl or guy gave me that, “ewww…creepy old guy, get away from me!” look. It was an amazing day and I was so happy I didn’t chicken out. The hikers were fed and I got a kick out of all the excitement. Next year will be even bigger and better.

#pacificcresttrail #PCT2022 #pct #trailangel #trailmagic #thruhike

For more information on trail angels and trail magic:
https://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/thru-hiking-long-distance-hiking/trail-magic-and-trail-angels/

Music featured:
Fire and Bones
Biddy Sullivan
https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/WsLnW43cg4/

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