When Gillette native Jordan Thorn neared the end of the Appalachian Trail, severe illness and inclement weather nearly did him in before he reached the finish.
As he got closer to the finish of the Pacific Crest Trail this fall, it was the wildlife that caused a bigger struggle. It wasn’t the black bears, mountain lions or bobcats that roam the remote areas in Oregon and Washington, but something much smaller on the attack.
“The mice were so, so bad, it's wild,” he said. “They just destroyed the netting on my tent. I don't know if they were trying to make nesting material, but from halfway through Oregon I kept finding them in my tent.”
He kept his food outside in a bear can to try and minimize the problem, but sure enough he’d still hear scurrying behind him as the rodents returned day after day. The mice never went for his food, just annihilated his tent.
They began trying to climb in his backpack as well and on the last day they ate a hole in his water bladder.
“They were just terrorizing me,” he said. “You hear people worry about mountain lions, and you want to keep the bears safe and not fed, but man, it's the mice. It was all the little vermin that I had all the time.”
Thorn managed to put up with the pests and reached the end of the trail Sept. 30, five and a half months after he started. It was his second of the Triple Crown trails and a moment that had been in the works for almost six years.
Delayed Hike
Thorn originally planned to tackle the 2,650-mile PCT in 2020. He received a permit, but then COVID hit and he was unable to go.
In 2023 he decided he wanted to try again but missed the permit window for the PCT, so he shifted his focus to the Appalachian, completing that rugged 2,197-mile trail in 2024. He then took some time to recover before deciding to give the PCT another try.
“The wanderlust hit and I applied and got a permit one day off from what I wanted, so I figured it was finally time,” he said.
The PCT stretches from the Mexican to the Canadian borders through California, Oregon and Washington. The southern terminus is near Campo, California, on the Mexico border. The trail ends at the northern terminus at Monument 78 on the U.S.-Canadian border.
The AT is generally considered physically harder because it is steeper and wetter. However, the PCT is considered logistically and mentally tougher due to long waterless stretches and less access to towns.
It is also longer, higher and logistically wilder, but with a more gradual slope.
“I kept telling people it's a luxury cruise line for the vast vast majority of it,” he said of the PCT. “California is notorious for terrible trail maintenance and blowdowns and burn sections, but otherwise it’s just phenomenal. It's graded for pack animals, so at most you're only ever doing like 600 feet per mile, unless you're in a national park because they have their own rules for trails and stuff. But generally you're never going more than 14% of a grade, which is super nice.”
Luxury Cruise Hike Begins
While Thorn describes it as a ‘“luxury trail,” it isn’t easy for everyone. Roughly 2,000 to 3,000 people attempt to thru-hike the trail annually. The completion rate typically ranges between 15%-35%, with an estimated 600 to 800 people completing the PCT each year.
In California, the trail crosses the Mojave Desert, with long waterless stretches, climbs through the high San Gabriel and San Jacinto mountains, and enters the High Sierra (including Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks).
It winds past volcanic peaks, alpine lakes such as Crater Lake (the deepest in the U.S.) and dense evergreen forests in Oregon. Through Washington people traverse the rugged Cascade Range, Mount Rainier area and North Cascades before reaching the Canadian border.
Before the trip, Thorn said, he didn’t do much to prepare due to a lingering knee injury from his AT journey. He was worried about how well the knee would hold up, but said he didn’t have many issues.
He arrived in Campo on April 13, the night before he was set to begin after a trail angel (volunteers who help long-distance thru-hikers with food, water, transportation, lodging or gear) picked him up at the airport in San Diego. The town is half a mile from the border. At sunrise on April 14, Thorn hiked to the border for pictures and then started on his way.
During the trek, there’s a physical therapist who traveled along with the bubble of people. A "trail angel" would provide free rides.
“It's really easy in comparison to any other trail,” he said. “You have people that are following along and supporting us. That’s far and away the most people I've been around on trail. So it’s the most social trail I've been on in all my ventures.”
Being around more people made the mental difficulties much easier. He could share his struggles or hear a fun story from other hikers to help improve his mood on a bad day.
He also came across several international hikers, about 1 in 5. He said about half of those he met were from Germany.
Jordan Thorn (second, from right) hiked with a group nicknamed the United Nations early on during his hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. (Courtesy Photo) 
Jordan Thorn (right) celebrates reaching the northern terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail on the U.S.-Canadian border in Washington. He is pictured with fellow hikers Astro and Lizard. (Courtesy Photo) 
Jordan Thorn celebrates after reaching Mount Whitney in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. It's the highest peak in the contiguous U.S. (Courtesy Photo) 
Jordan Thorn (left) and fellow hikers known as Astro and Lizard stand in front of Mount Rainer in Washington. (Courtesy Photo) 
Jordan Thorn explores an abandoned mine during his hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. (Courtesy Photo) 
Jordan Thorn is pictured at the northern terminus of the 2600-mile Pacific Crest Trail on Sept. 30. It is located on the U.S.-Canadian border in Washington. (Courtesy Photo) 
Jordan Thorn is pictured at the southern terminus of the 2600-mile Pacific Crest Trail on April 14. It is located on the U.S.-Mexican border in California. (Courtesy Photo) 
Jordan Thorn is pictured at the northern terminus of the 2600-mile Pacific Crest Trail on Sept. 30. It is located on the U.S.-Canadian border in Washington. (Courtesy Photo) 
Jordan Thorn is pictured at Mount Baden-Powell, a peak located in the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California. (Courtesy Photo) 
Thorn on the way back to Hart's Pass after touching the border and doing the 30 mile yo-yo at the end of the trail. The cloud inversion made for a beautiful exit. (Courtesy Photo)
Fewer And Fewer People
The farther he went, the fewer people he saw, though, as some people just do sections of the trail. Toward the end Thorn was coming across about a dozen people a day.
While the people are always what “make a trail super phenomenal,” Thorn said visually the High Sierra was hard to beat, describing it as a “unique, beautiful wilderness with very harsh, rugged terrain.” Coming out of Yosemite National Park while in Emigrant Wilderness was also one of his favorite vistas because he hiked through four different terrains across the ridgeline.
“You can see thousands of feet down to the river below you, you look behind and the mountaintops of the High Sierra are still looming,” he said. “Then you get into desert mountains. It was just a very cool section that I was not expecting in that area.”
The ruggedness and beauty of sections in Washington surprised him. He said pictures couldn’t do justice to the contrasting colors and jaggedness of the terrain.
“The whole last week was just incredible vistas,” he added. “It could have been a postcard or a painting just all day long for a week.”
The most difficult part of the trail for Thorn was the burn zones in the final 150 miles of northern California. The Dixie Fire in 2021 has led to 150 miles of unbroken burn. He said a lot of people jump ahead because there’s minimal shade.
When he reached Seiad Valley, the last California town heading north, it was 107 degrees, he said. So he and several other hikers sat at a cafe in the town waiting for the sun to start setting to proceed.
“To go for weeks upon weeks through a burn section and have the sun beat on you and really not having much of a reprieve was probably the hardest portion because those burn sections they don't get a ton of trail maintenance, so you have the blowdowns and the trail might be degrading and falling away,” he said.
Jordan Thorn (second from right) and his early trail family called The United Nations, meet Max, the dog in Idyllwild that the town famously elected for mayor. (Courtesy Photo) 
Thirty-five miles into Jordan Thorn's longest day (he hiked 40 miles) while trying to get into Bend, Oregon to meet his cousin that lives there, he took a photo of Dumbbell Lake at sunset. (Courtesy Photo) 
A group of hikers in glow-in-the-dark paint prepare to depart Hikertown to walk the Los Angeles aqueduct in the desert. It's notoriously one of the worst sections of trail as it can get up to 115 degrees during the day and have 8 miles of completely flat terrain, so the vast majority decide to do it at night. (Courtesy Photo) 
Jordan Thorn (back, fifth from right) and other hikers enjoy some trail magic of hot dogs and pancakes at midnight about 14 miles into the Los Angeles aqueduct night. (Courtesy Photo) 
Sunset at Mount Hood was Thorn's favorite camp site. He had three waterfalls and constant rock fall in the valley below he was listening to throughout the night. (Courtesy Photo) 
A group on hikers including Jordan Thorn (standing, fifth from right) April 13 in Campo, California, the day before they would all start. (Courtesy Photo)
Stocking Up and Terrorist Rodents
In mid-August he attended trail days, a hiker festival in Cascade Locks, Oregon, featuring industry people who offered giveaways, and free gear replacements and fixes.
Resupplying is difficult in Washington, with small towns only offering a gas station or small general store. Normally people sent a food box ahead to themselves on the trails, but because of the fire closures Thorn went to Seattle, where he restocked.
He went through five pairs of shoes during the trip, one for each section – desert, Sierra, Northern California, Oregon and Washington.
“I only had like 100 miles on the last pair because I was having difficulty getting shoes while I was in Washington, and ended up picking up a pair in Seattle,” he said. “I had tried to mail myself a pair that I had bought earlier in the summer. The shoes and a bear (storage) can were supposed to get there three days before I had arrived at White Pass, and then it arrived three days after I had already gone.”
Thorn ended up borrowing a bear-proof can for his food, which ended up being more about stopping the mice. Early in the trip he also contended with small bugs that loved to go for his eyes and climb in his nose and ears.
He estimated he killed at least 30 little black flies every day during the desert stretch.
The critters and gear issues were the most aggravating part of the trip. Most of Thorn’s equipment is 15 years old and miles of wear and tear finally caught up with some of it.
“I had a whole list of stuff that I was keeping track of as I went along, because the second day I left a titanium spoon,” he said. “Another 20 miles down the way, the shorts that I walked the entirety of the AT through, and never had any holes, the whole butt has ripped out.”
In the Sierra section, while trying to make food last, he ended up in a calorie deficit, which led to some brain fog. This contributed to him walking away from $100 worth of gear at one point, including a towel, a knife and a buff.
Fires And The Finish
Unlike his AT hike, where he started late and had to race to finish before winter set it, Thorn gave himself plenty of time to complete the PCT at a less-hectic pace. It was a good thing too, as fire closures slowed him down.
A section in Washington was closed throughout the summer because of the Ptarmigan Fire.
“We got the announcement from the PCTA that they've opened a corridor in that fire closure,” he said. “In the announcement, they're like, ‘It's 10 feet wide. Do not leave the trail. You have a narrow, narrow corridor to get your pictures, complete your walk and come back.”
From Snoqualmie Falls to Rainy Pass he was only able to do about 20 miles at a time between closures. At some points the trail was not passable, so the PCTA gave an alternative allowing for an unbroken footpath.
However, much of the alternate route was just road walking, so Thorn opted to catch a ride with a fellow hiker and jump ahead to Rainy Pass.
“The section that was closed is supposed to be some of the absolutely most beautiful, gorgeous vistas and trail of Washington,” he said. “I didn't really want to do a road walk. You know, it's where RVs go to die because it's just a dirt road with no view, and it's really disappointing. So my plan is just to come back next year, and hopefully the same section of trail isn't on fire.”
Jumping ahead was frustrating, though, because until that point every mile could be traced back to Mexico. Because of that, reaching the northern terminus on Sept. 30 lost some of its sense of achievement.
“I wasn't sick this time at the end, so it felt a lot better that way,” he said. “But getting to 2,400 miles with no gaps and then having to jump ahead was frustrating,” he said. “Finishing out at the terminus, it honestly felt more just like picture day. You know, go get a school picture kind of deal.”
After reaching the terminus, hikers have to travel 30 miles back to the nearest town in Washington. That was when more of a sense of victory set in as Thorn saw people he hadn’t seen for about a month.
They all offered congratulations and farewells.
“That was where it really hit that it was coming to an end,” he said.
He said he's thankful for the people he was hiking with, including The Fellowship, Sunrise's Acolytes, Princess's Crew and Team No Pants, as well as the trail angels and the generosity of all the communities he went through.
“The trail's always there, but each class is different because you have different people coming through, and it makes a whole different journey of it,” he said. “It kind of builds your faith back in humanity, just seeing the generosity to complete strangers is just really nice.”
A trail angel also gave him some good advice when he had finished his journey.
“He said, ‘This has been your whole life for six months and probably the only opportunity you're ever going to be able to go and do something like this,’” Thorn said. “‘But the thing is, your friends and family are going to hate you if that's all you talk about. So you have two weeks after you finish. After that, you’ve got to shut up and go back to normal life.’”
What Comes Next
While he plans to take some time to rest and recover, he already has some future hikes in mind.
Thorn plans to try to get back to the 198-mile section he went around on the PCT next year to walk before any fires hit the area. He also would like to complete the Vermont Long Trail on the East Coast soon, as he walked part of it while doing the Appalachian Trail before it veered off.
“If I'm in the area, I would like to go and redo the 100-mile wilderness of the AT when I'm not sick and actually get to enjoy the beauty because it's supposed to be some of the most phenomenal views of the entirety of the Appalachian Trail,” he said. “I was just trying to burn through it since I was feeling so terrible.”
He’d also like to eventually tackle the Continental Divide Trail.
“There's a saying that you either do one or three, nobody just does two,” he said. “Even as I was finishing out this one, I had a lot of other hikers asking me, ‘Oh yeah, so CDT for next year, or 28?’
He’s considering doing the CDT in two parts, as it goes through Rawlins and he considers that a good midway point.
“You go up through Glacier (National Park) and hit the Canadian border,” he said. “And if you time it out right, you could come back to Rawlins and then go touch the Mexican border. That's probably the most likely scenario that I'd do just because going through the desert, it’s not a fun place to be.”
