After four months of hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail from southern California to the Oregon-Washington border, a 23 year old Colorado man says he feels like a different person.
During a stop in McCloud while hitch-hiking home, Dustin Swartz, who works as an electrician in Denver, recounted a trek that included trapping and eating small game, memorable scenery, and some frightening moments when bears came into his camp in the Yosemite area.
He called his adventure “the greatest experience of my life” and noted that his dog, an Australian Shepherd Border Collie named Charlie “has never been happier in his life. He now loves to chase lizards, squirrels, and rabbits.”
The hike concluded after Swartz injured his knee at the Bridge of the Gods that crosses the Columbia River about 40 miles east of Portland, Ore.
He said he plans to continue the trip next year.
“I feel like a different person,” he said. “I have more confidence in myself. I’ve faced and met many challenges and have learned a lot of things about others as well as myself – what I can do and some of my limitations.”
Swartz was sitting in front of the McCloud Post Office writing in his journal when he agreed to be interviewed. He had a dog-eared and stained trail guide book on the bench beside him, and Charlie was asleep at his feet. His large backpack and ski pole walking sticks identified him as a traveler.
“I just love this little town,” he said with a smile.
He said he decided to take his hike earlier this year when he was feeling the burden of working and paying bills and felt a need to “just get away and do something different... I pretty much sold everything I owned, including my Mitsubishi 64 inch 1080 TV and purchased the gear I would need for the trek.”
He made his way to southern California and got on the PCT April 15 at the Scissors, Crossing in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
“Charlie didn’t go good at first, it was pretty tough on him and tough on me as well,” said Swartz. “I’d never done a lot of hiking, so we just learned along the way.”
Occasionally he and Charlie detoured from the trail, visiting other places along the way, then returning to the trail at a different location.
“Overall, we probably hiked about seventy percent of the trail,” he said. “I carried rice, along with other non-perishables, but we did eat a lot of rice.”
He also carried a sidearm and a compass.
“I did some trapping along the way, eating a squirrel and a rabbit now and then. We also caught and ate a raccoon,” he added.
Swartz pulled out a dried squirrel skin from between the pages of his journal, held it up, and said with pride, “This is the first squirrel I trapped and ate.”
He said he also carried a book on edible plants, but saw few along the way.
One of his most memorable camps was in Yosemite. “It was beautiful there,” he recalled. “But it was scary at the same time. There were a lot of big bears in that area, and a couple visited our camp. Charlie’s hair raised up on his back and he growled, and they would leave.”
Swartz estimated that he saw about 300 other people on the trail.
“At Castella I saw a group of about 20 Boy Scouts doing some trail work... Crater Lake was awesome, as well as Ramona Falls.”
McCloud, Calif. —
