On Foot documents the preparation for, and execution of, a northbound walk on the Pacific Crest Trail, including the parts that remain unresolved until they are already underway.
The intention is simple: begin walking in spring and continue north as conditions, access, permits, and judgment allow. The details are not fixed. Fire damage from prior seasons, flood impacts, reroutes, closures, snowpack, runoff, and ordinary life all shape what is possible. The trail that exists on paper is not the trail that exists on the ground.
Recent history matters. The 2024 and 2025 water years were recovery years following prolonged drought. Reservoirs are fuller. Vegetation has returned. Hillsides that were brown are now green. That recovery is welcome, but it carries consequences. Increased growth means increased fuel. Whether this year ends above or below average, fire potential is rising, and with it, uncertainty. That uncertainty has to be treated as a baseline condition, not an exception.
The starting window is intentionally flexible. Late April appears optimal based on snowpack, runoff timing, and personal risk tolerance. Starting earlier increases prolonged snow travel. Starting later increases exposure to high and fast-moving water. I am swift-water rescue trained, but that training informs caution, not bravado. The goal is not to test limits unnecessarily, but to stay within margins that allow sustained movement.
At present, no permit is locked in. I intend to start and solve that problem as I go, pivoting based on whichever permit becomes available rather than waiting for a perfect alignment that may never arrive.
This project exists to document how preparation works under those conditions. Entries fall loosely into three categories:
- Preparation — planning, revision, tradeoffs, and constraint-setting
- On Trail — decisions made while walking, under real conditions
- After — reflection once movement stops or changes
Not every plan will survive contact with weather, fire, access, or the body carrying it. That is expected. What matters is how those changes are noticed and addressed.
This project documents preparation and progress as they happen. Plans will change.