No offence to Cheryl Strayed, but hiking the Pacific Crest Trail is a stroll compared to the epic journey a pair of men with Vancouver ties are poised to finish Wednesday.
Strayed has been in the spotlight for her hike, detailed in Wild, the movie adaptation of her bestselling book. But Jake Alleyne and Liam Harrap’s 5,500-kilometre hike of the Continental Divide Trail is, frankly, far more impressive.
The former University of B.C. students, both 25, set out from their front doors in Jasper for the Mexican border on April 25 and detailed much of the journey on their website, adoorstepadventure.com.
On Tuesday night, more than eight months into their journey along the drainage divide of North America, they were in Deming, New Mexico, some 55 kilometres from the Mexican border and their finish line.
“It’s very exciting and daunting,†said Harrap, reached Tuesday night. “I just realized a few days ago while hiking that there’s only a few days left and you don’t have to get up and hike 50 kilometres every day. It’s the end of walking. I still can’t comprehend it.â€
Alleyne, a former Surrey resident, said the transition to life off the trail felt intimidating. Exciting, but intimidating.
Of the thousands of kilometres the pair covered, some 400 were skied and about 120 were snowshoed. The rest was hiked. When they took a side trip, they returned to the exact point they had left.
When the pair left Jasper, it was still snowing. Liam’s 42-kilogram pack and Jake’s 48-kg pack were laden with ski equipment and snowshoes. After skiing the Great Divide Traverse — an adventure in its own right — they cast aside their skis, donned their walking shoes and slowed things down considerably.
They hiked through a brief spring and a long summer. By late October they reached their halfway point and in November they scaled Colorado’s Mount Elbert — the highest point in their journey — after 201 days. During their trip they climbed 100 mountains, some of which required ropes and crampons, said Harrap.
Fall and winter brought with them days of hiking through snow. By those late months, most of the other hikers had gone. In the 2,000 kilometres from Montana into Colorado, they didn’t see another person along the trail.
Even when they did meet people along the way, they sometimes kept a bit of distance for the sake of courtesy. They got pretty dirty and they smelled pretty bad, the pair confessed on their website.
Harrap quickly become known by his trail name, “Muppet,†given his Animal-like hairdo and beard. Alleyne was known as “Ducky,†a moniker given to him for his apparent tendency to waddle from time to time, according to an account on their website.
The pair, who had been friends since elementary school, faced some challenges along the way. They hitchhiked from outside a prison in Canon City, Colorado. They ate a half-eaten banana that had been thrown out the window by a car during a blizzard, and they got lost from time to time, sometimes in the snow. Of course there were also blisters.
“Just yesterday I got these two bad blisters on each foot,†said Alleyne. “We’ve been out here 250 days, so to get these on the second-last day, it’s like, ‘Really? Haven’t I gotten over this?’ â€
The Continental Divide is a difficult place to find water — even standing water. They sometimes walked more than 25 kilometres before finding a source, leading them to collect water wherever they could find it — even in a cattle trough on one unlucky day.
But they experienced some luxury along the trail as well. There was the Krispy Kreme doughnut burger, some natural hot springs, the odd backcountry hiking hut to protect them from the cold, and a complimentary stay in a luxury cabin with some Crown Royal to take away the chill. Then there was the bath in Yellowstone National Park — their first in six months.
At last came to their destination state, New Mexico.
“Thinking back to the start, it doesn’t seem like the same trip. It doesn’t seem like the same year,†said Alleyne. “The length we’ve been out here it’s ... surreal to think about.â€
Both hikers’ parents came to visit their sons at various points along the trail, and Harrap’s father will meet them at the finish. The boys have already bought a bottle of champagne to celebrate.
When they return home, the two will work for a company that runs heli-ski lodges. But first, there’s a cruise, something Harrap has wanted to do for years.
“I think I’ll be content to do nothing for a couple days,†he said. “At least now I won’t feel that guilty for stuffing myself.â€
As for the bushy facial hair, come Wednesday night, one man will be free to shave, while the other — whoever is losing in their ongoing cribbage tournament — will be forced to wear a moustache for a time period equal to their time on the trail.
So far Harrap is in the lead, but only by two games.
“I’m not asking to play,†he said, adding that he hoped Alleyne would forget until after they’d reached the finish line