Well it is the middle of a global recession (or whatever you want to call it), I have a nice secure well paying job with excellent benefits that I enjoy.
So I of course I do what anybody would do and hand in my notice.
I can probably hear lots of people at this point asking why, well I have a dream.., or maybe it is a plan (well it will be a plan with some more planning)
Over the length of the trail it passes through 25 nation forests and 7 national parks.
The trail roughly parallels the pacific cost by about 100 to 150 miles, heights range from 140ft to 12,153ft.
For more information and some great pictures check out this Wikipedia article
I will be starting the trail in early April, flying from Dublin to San Diego on the 28th of March and starting hiking a few days later.
If I last the whole 6 or 7 months that I hope to be on the trail then I am planning on spending an additional 6 months traveling mostly around south east Asia and such, no specific plans for this portion of the trip exist yet but I hope to visit the following countries, New Zealand, Australia, India, China, Japan, Bali etc etc etc (South America?)
What on earth would make me do something like this, well it all started with a little headache one evening in August 2010 when I was sitting at home. Well to be honest the worst headache I have ever experienced along with almost passing out (anybody who has experienced migraines can probably understand)Well this was a brain aneurysm bursting in my head, with in a week I had undergone brain surgery to correct this, followed by 5 months off work and an additional month or two of getting my energy back.
Well a near death experience like this can change your perspective on things (how near depends on the numbers you look at)
Two things that were always on my retirement bucket list were hiking the PCT and traveling around the world a bit more.
So I decided instead of waiting for retirement I might as well do it now while I had my health (or what passes for it), I had originally been thinking of 2013 or later but as anybody that knows me if I procrastinate about something or put it on the long finger it is unlikely to happen. So taking the bull by the horns I started to plan for 2012.
My first plan had been to take a sabbatical from work for the year but this was not to be, so first obstacle in my way, I think it took all of 5 seconds to decide I was going anyway. So my notice was handed in within 5 minutes of the news a sabbatical was not possible (Sorry for the shock guys)
I think that very roughly covers the What and some of the Why.
So I guess some more information about me for anybody that does not know me.
I'm in my early thirties from Dublin in Ireland, I have been involved with the outdoors for years firstly as a Scout then a Scout leader (taking a break from this for now due to the health reasons above, but as I see it once a scout always a scout)
My other main hobby is diving which probably does not have any bearing on the hike but will probably be important for the latter half of the trip.
Well that probably sounds too like a lonely singles advertisement but so be it.
Probably the only item left from the title is How, I will hopefully give some more information on this in later postings but at the moment the plan is one foot in front of the other.
Don't expect too many interesting updates between now and April, they will mostly be information around my plans and maybe equipment and such.
I hope to start daily posts once I start on the trail (probably posted in batches as I manager to get Internet access)
My next post will likely be a combined FAQ and explanation of some of the terms I might be using in the blogs.
