Day 157 : The monument

4th October 2013
Manning Park to the northern terminus of the PCT on the US-Mexican border, and back again
Mileage : 16

I made up my mind this morning to accept that my PCT adventure was over. I have hiked about 2460 miles over the course of about 5.5 months, and should feel proud of my accomplishment. The final thing we had left.to do was to go to the border monument and have our pictures taken at the border, so we got up early, drove to Manning Park and started the final hike on the PCT. The PCT terminates at the Canadian border, but as the border crossing is in the wilderness there is an eight mile hike from there to Manning Park in British Columbia, but obviously for US it was an out and back hike starting and finishing at Manning Park. The weather was absolutely gorgeous for that final hike. Cold and clear, with stunning views of the snow-capped Cascade Mountains it was the perfect way to say goodbye to the trail. We covered the 8 miles to the border and soon enough arrived at the monument. It was a bittersweet moment when saw it. I have seen the monument so many times in countless blogs that i read prior to my hike, and couldn't quite believe that i was there. I didn't know if my mixed emotions were due to how i finished my hike, or simply due to the fact that my adventure was over. Nevertheless i was glad to have gotten there at all and to be done with it all. Many photos later it was time leave it all behind and return to Manning Park, and the next adventure, whatever that might be. Arriving back in Manning Park we had dinner with Cuddles, Atlas, Aloha and Toots and enjoyed a final dinner among friends. Before long though it was time to head back to Hope, and say goodbye to Manning Park, and that night i slept better as i slowly started to accept that my hike was truly over.