The Hiker

My dad, Chris, Adam and I at Yosemite in 2000

For those of you who don’t already know me my name is Matt Ramlow and I am a 23 year old 6'8" Midwesterner who has always dreamed of exploring the West Coast. I have finally decided to take some time out of my life to actually live a little. I was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio where I got my first tastes of the West and backpacking through an awesome road trip camping in a RV with my parents and two brothers, Chris and Adam. I got my first sample of what to expect on a PCT hike with the blazing temperatures down in the Grand Canyon and the spectacular panoramas of Yosemite Valley. I continued to develop a taste for backpacking through Boy Scout backpacking trips out to Isle Royale and Philmont. Before heading out east for college I made a short detour to Utah working as a wilderness ranger for the Wasatch Cache National Forest during the summer of 2007. I got a bit more in touch with my inner mountain man and realized my passion for backpacking and being out on the trail.

My dad and I after finishing our hike at Philmont in New Mexico

The idea of completing a thru-hike didn’t first hit me until I did a week long solo hike on the Appalachian Trail in Massachusetts and Connecticut the summer of 2008. On my way south I ran into several different thru-hikers and was amazed by each of their stories. Some were fulfilling a lifelong dream in their retirement, some were at a critical cross-road in their life, and some were even attempting their second AT thru-hike and jumping off the trail late the previous summer. While I love nothing more than hiking with my friends I also found the process of being out alone in the woods to be very awakening being alone with your thoughts and really getting to know yourself. After my trip I realized a thru-hike is an experience I want and need in my life.

Me working as a Wilderness Ranger in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest

So four years later after graduating college I have finally decided to take my life off the standard career track and see what its like to go hike in the woods for 5 months. I was very fortunate to find two amazing internships working with within the carbon market to fill the gap between my college graduation in 2011 and the relatively tight window of time to complete a PCT thru-hike. My most recent internship with the Pacific Carbon Trust even took me out to Victoria, BC near the northern terminus of the trail giving me the chance to warm up with some amazing Vancouver Island hiking before I take off in May.

Why the PCT?

Many people have asked me why I have decided to hike the PCT. While I might like to pretend I have some profound spiritual reason to go on this hike, or some important cause I want to hike for, I can’t really say that is my motivation. To be entirely honest I want to hike the PCT to do what I love; sleeping out in the woods, climbing mountains, and challenging myself both physically and mentally.

Do I hope to get something out of this hike? Maybe, but to be honest from some of the experience I have heard or read about from other thru-hikers I don’t think it is productive to have expectations beforehand. I want to hike the PCT not necessarily to change my perception on life but just to mix things up a bit and see what it is like to live on the trail. Plus I can guarantee that there will be many times on the trail that any romanticized expectations of what I hope to get from this trip will seem almost foolish. While this will be an amazing experience through some of the most scenic landscapes in the US it will also be countless hours baking under the sun, dying of thirst, swatting mosquitoes, trying to haul my aching muscles out of bed each morning, fighting through blisters and getting soaked for days. My attitude it to try take this time to truly live in the present out on the trail and enjoy both the good and the bad. I can’t wait to get started!

Me on a camping trip this past summer in Dolly Sods out in West Virginia