This is how the story of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail starts, people often write about the inspiration and the gear lists. After that, it fasts forwards to the southern terminus and the story goes from there, I mean, people want to hear about the PCT, about the hiking.

What about the two weeks before you get on that plane for San Diego? This story is about my experience of going from office worker to homeless (technically) hiker. It seems so insignificant in the grand scheme of things but no one told me how stressful it was and how much of it becomes your PCT experience.

PS I am a terrible blogger who didn’t take any photos, I guess I usually only point my camera at mountains not the mandane everyday stuff. 😛 So here’s a photo of me playing with my friend’s cute dog/pig 🐽 in San Diego.

Who Am I

I went to school to study math, it’s funny how in university, math stops using numbers. and I now work at an insurance company as an actuarial analyst. What is that? I use statistics to determine the premium for insurance products (well basically I am the guy that make your insurance rates go up… Sorry).

I’ve moved around a lot but I have been in Calgary for the last two years, pretty much living in the same apartment. Over time, I made some really close friends and I’m pretty used to the city life at this point. Also, my apartment has a lot of stuff. A lot. I finished work on Friday, March 2nd I am suppose to fly to San Diego or on the 14th. So that gives me 12 days to go from office worker to hiker. This is how that went.

Friday March 2nd

Last day of my job, said good bye to coworkers and my 8 year old PS3 that I sold that day. That day I also got the most incredible email of my life, telling me that I am now a P3 hiker for the PCTA, with two of my favourite companies, Salomon and Osprey as sponsors. It was one of the most exciting moments of my life. Look at my profile here. https://www.pcta.org/p3/p3-hiker-david-xiao/

Saturday March 3rd

It’s Hikerday, I mean Saturday. I went on a hike to celebrate my new found freedom. Spent 10 minutes on top of a Ridge pretending to point at things for a timelapse and then realized at home that the camera was on the wrong setting. Charlie made us sloppy joes at night and we watched a bunch of travel documentaries. 🙂 This is what freedom feels like?

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Sunday March 4th

Pretty much spent the whole day writing my blog for Monday because you know… I’m good at procrastinating.

Monday March 5th

First official packing day. Why do I have so much stuff? I keep digging up clothes I haven’t worn for like 2 years. That night I got together with a few close friends and had a pizza party where I realized I suck at making pizza but I sure am good at eating them.

Tuesday March 6th

Day 4: This is starting to be pretty repetitive. Oh no is this what hiking everyday going to feel like? Neh. Going to MEC becomes the highlight of my day.

Wednesday March 7th

Nathan convinced me to spend the day cross country skiing with him in exchange for spending time to help me clean. It’s a win win so that was a no brainer.

XC skiing turned out to be fun if you over look almost dislocating my shoulder, jabbing my face with the ski pole plus numerous falls. I realized that I am not good at skiing but really good at falling. I walked away without any injuries after like 10 falls. Pretty useful hiker skill.

PS eating 1500 calories at subway only requires a footlong sub and 3 cookies.

Thursday March 8th

Spent the day walking like an old man with all my muscle pains and thought about how risky that cross country ski day was for me hiking well being. I literally gave up skiing, one of my favourite activities to make sure I don’t get hurt but cross country skiing is perfectly safe right? Wrong.

Friday March 9th

Realizing how much stuff there is left to do. Didn’t get to go to the strip club for 8 dollars steak sandwich lunch. Also, last night I will sleep in my own bed. Damn..

Saturday March 10th

Most of the furnitures are gone. Sold or stored away. I’m starting to feel a little less anxious than before. The more things I clear out the happier I felt.

My friend Dawid and Dwight threw a huge good bye party for all the people that are parting ways. I ended up bumping into someone I have known since Jr high and someone else I played rugby in Burlington Ontario with.

I stayed till most of everyone else have left and the final moments was like an end of a sitcom. The few of us and the hosts sat down on the couch and start talking about the interesting events of the evening. Everything quieted down and it felt like they are about to dim the lights and close the curtains.

Sunday March 11th

I drove up to Edmonton with a few co-workers to visit Mike who has ALS. (I am fundraising in honour of him, please see: Hike to Conquer ALS) Before arriving, I was scared and sad because I have only seen him healthy and I didn’t know what to expect now.

Turns out, I just stress too much. He was so happy and positive, his energy made everyone around him happy and my fears disappear. We ended up going for a walk/ride where her 2 year old daughter Maddie got a ride on his wheelchair to the playground. She was so happy to play on the swings that it took some bribes of snacks and insistence to get her to Mike’s lap to ride back home.

On the drive home from Edmonton, I realized and exclaimed that we forgot to take a photo. To that my co-worker responded, it feels more real this way, you don’t take photos when friends are visiting another friend.

Monday March 12th

The apartment is still a mess and I spent the whole morning on tech support for my blog. I was in a state of frastrating after spending so much time on the phone ans was so overwhelmed by the stuff left to do in the so little time, I was feeling hopeless. Then Nathan came through big time on the cleaning promise from Wednesday. He saved my sanity and it proves once again that things always comes through eventually and you just can’t stress about things.

Tuesday March 13th

The day was a blur, spent the day wondering around the near empty apartment, trying to clean or pack the left over things. Zoning out every once a while at how different life will be in a few days.

Saw my closest friends for the last time that night. I was so happy to have the pleasure of showing them hotpot for the first time. Feels like it will become my temporary legacy.

Afterwards, we found desserts necessary so we went to the convenience store with a soft serve ice cream machine and Anthony decided to fill up a XL cup with ice cream while we giggled like drunks or 4 year olds. Oh we watched Wild after that. Wild of all movies. I guess that’s pretty fitting.

March 14th and beyond

officially homeless and stress-free. All I have with me are what will fit in my backpack, ready to take on the world. Was wondering why my backpack is so heavy until the TSA agent at the airport pointed out I tried to bring 3 litres of water past security. Oh boy, we are off to a great start…

Anyway, I hope this was interesting… Well if you made it this far then maybe it was. It was interesting for me because I lived through the stress, excitements and those precious happy moments and this article remembers the days before my life changes and I start the adventure of my life. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know how it goes.