PCT Day 125 + 3 – PCT Northern Terminus via EC Manning Provincial Park, BC
August 11, 2026
Total PCT miles: 0
Non PCT miles: 17.7
Total: 16 miles / 28.5 km
Total elevation gain: 3038 ft
Total elevation loss: 3038 ft
Steps: 40922
Remaining Distance: 0 miles
For more than a decade, I’ve dreamed about hiking to the Northern Terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail.
I always imagined I’d approach it from the south. I’d thru-hike the trail, cover those final few miles, and eventually seethe Northern Terminus appear through the trees after hiking all the way from Mexico.
That isn’t how things worked out.
The PCT north of the Bridge of the Gods is currently broken up by multiple wildfire closures, and the trail leading to the Northern Terminus itself is closed because of the Ptarmigan Fire. I’d already made peace with ending my northbound hike at the Bridge of the Gods.
But I wasn’t ready to give up on seeing the Northern Terminus. If I couldn’t hike north to it, I’d hike south. I wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass me by.
Getting to Canada
After leaving Cascade Locks, I travelled back to Portland and started figuring out how to make this happen. I called E.C. Manning Provincial Park and confirmed that the Canadian approach to the border was still open via the Windy Joe and PCT trail. They warned me there was a considerable amount of windfall.
After hiking more than 1,800 miles, a few fallen trees didn’t sound particularly intimidating.
The following morning I left Portland at 6:00 a.m. on a Greyhound bus bound for Canada. Things immediately became more complicated when my connecting bus in Seattle simply didn’t show up. Communication from Greyhound was terrible, and suddenly about 50 people were all trying to reach the same customer service line to get rebooked.
Rather than wait and hope there would still be a seat available by the time I got through, I bought another ticket on the next bus.
It worked, barely. I arrived in Vancouver with less than 30 minutes to spare before the car rental office closed. From there I grabbed the car, stopped at Walmart for food and snacks, obviously including ketchup chips. I also picked up a small bottle of champagne.There was something satisfying about putting that bottle in my pack.
I spent the night sleeping in the car at a rest area before driving the final hour to E.C. Manning Provincial Park the next morning.
One More Hike
I arrived at the trailhead around 6:00 a.m. There had been a lot of smoke during the drive, although thankfully it had cleared somewhat by the time I started hiking.
For once, I got to slackpack. No tent. No sleep system. No several days of food. Just what I needed for a day hike.
My pack felt wonderfully light. Unfortunately, my body didn’t.
Apparently giving myself two days without hiking was just enough time for my body to realize just how much it hurt. Within minutes of starting, my ankles, Achilles, legs and back were reminding me why I’d decided to end my hike in the first place.
Still, today was different. I knew exactly where I was going, I wanted to be there and I wasn’t going to let the pain stop me.
The first few miles up the Windy Joe trail were straightforward, although most of the day’s climbing was packed into a relatively short section.
The trail then branched into the PCT. Except this time I was walking south. After four months of trying to move north, there was something wonderfully strange about hiking the wrong way.
From here condition of the trail began to deteriorate. Between roughly mile 3.4 and the PCT Camp at mile 4.2, I counted 140 blowdowns.
Yes. I actually counted them. Fortunately, most were relatively easy to climb over, crawl under or walk around. Beyond PCT Camp things improved for a while, but eventually the trail became considerably rougher.
The section between approximately miles 6.4 and 7.4 was some of the worst trail I’ve encountered. It was badly overgrown, covered in blowdowns, and in places the trail simply disappeared. Navigation became surprisingly difficult and several of the fallen trees were challenging to get around.
I crossed a damaged bridge after the monument 78 campground crossing my fingers that it would actually hold me or that I wouldn’t fall off.
Then, through the trees, I saw the very top of the Northern Terminus. I stopped and smiled.
With every step closer, more of the monument appeared through the trees and that smile just kept getting bigger.
After more than a decade of dreaming about reaching this place, I was finally here.
Not from the direction I’d expected.
Not after hiking every mile from Mexico.
But I was here, Mile 2655 of the PCT
I had the Northern Terminus completely to myself. I signed the register and realized nobody had signed it since July 25. With the trail closed on the American side, I knew there was a pretty good chance nobody else was coming.
So I stayed.
For nearly two hours, I sat alone at the Canadian border beside a monument I’d thought about for years and took it and the clear cut marking the US and Canadian border all in. There was no great epiphany but also no tears or sadness.
I opened the champagne I’d carried in, took photos, wandered around, and mostly just sat there trying to absorb where I was and everything that had happened to get me there.
There was no rush. And honestly, I didn’t want to leave.
At the Bridge of the Gods, I’d already decided my thru-hike attempt was over. I’d called Mel, my parents and friends and told them I was coming home. I’d accepted that I wasn’t going to walk the remaining 500 miles through Washington.
But somehow this felt different.
As long as I was sitting beside that monument, some tiny part of the journey was still unfinished.
Leaving meant there was nowhere else on the PCT I needed to get to.
Leaving meant it was actually over.
Eventually, of course, I stood up, put my pack back on and took one last look at the Northern Terminus. Then I turned around and started walking north.
Back into Canada.
After 125 days, 1,830 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail and one final 17.7-mile hike from the wrong direction, there were finally no more miles I needed to walk.
Remaining distance: 0 miles.
Maybe I didn’t reach the Northern Terminus the way I’d dreamed about for all those years. But standing there alone, champagne in hand and a ridiculous smile on my face, I realized that didn’t matter nearly as much as I thought it would.
I made it, I was ready to go home.
Ben,
Thank you for sharing your amazing journey with us.
We enjoyed the wonderful beauty in your photography and the wise insights in your posts.
Keep doing you!
We are so proud of you.
John and Stephanie