By Tiffany Merlo Phelps
mail@floridanewsline.com

Hallie Murta grew up backpacking in national parks with her father, fully embracing the outdoors and a very active lifestyle with her entire family. When she was 14 years old, she watched a video on how to pack a bag lighter and more efficiently by a woman who happened to be on the Pacific Crest Trail. That location caught Murta’s attention, and she immediately researched the trail. The following year she traveled to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon with her family and found where the Pacific Crest Trail intersected the park. She took a picture by the Pacific Crest Trail sign and made a mental note that she wanted to return one day to hike the trail. Earlier this year, Murta, 22, fulfilled the promise she made to her 14-year-old self, hiking 2,450 miles (she was not able to hike the full 2,650 miles because some areas of Pacific Crest Trail were closed due to wildfires) over five months from May 5 to Sept. 29. 

She began at the Mexican border and finished at the Canadian border, experiencing many landscapes and a variety of weather conditions along the way through California, Oregon, and Washington. She hiked 20 to 30 miles per day. “I went through a heat wave in Southern California to waking up to a frozen tent and being caught in snowstorms in the high Sierra Nevada mountains,” said Murta, who lost 35 pounds during the hike. The Nease and University of Florida graduate began the hiking adventure with a friend who ended up leaving, so Murta completed the hike by herself. “Thousands of people attempt the Pacific Crest Trail. We always say that you are hiking alone together. Everyone is on an individual journey, but not completely alone,” she said. 

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Q: What did you learn about yourself from this experience? 
A: It is okay to be alone. I am a very extroverted person, and I didn’t like to be alone. I was forced to camp alone, and I ended up enjoying it. Also, slow progress is still progress. You just have to keep going. I learned to keep things in perspective. There’s always someone faster than you and always someone slower than you. Don’t try and beat the trail or it will beat you. You need to become friends with the trail and take the challenges as they come. 

Q: Describe some of what you brought with you in your backpack. 
A: My backpack had a base weight of 12 pounds, excluding food and water. I packed a light tent, a blowup sleeping pad, a blow-up pillow, a sleeping quilt, a camping stove, one pair of clothes, sleep clothes, a water filter, a satellite device, and a puffy jacket. 

Q: What were the highlights of your trip? 
A: Reaching the Bridge of Gods because that was one of the places that I visited when I was 14. Once I made it here, it was very emotional. I felt like I had made my 14-year-old self proud, and it made all the hardships worth it. For me, it is the little things: the smell of a mountain stream, the view of a sunset from an exposed ridge and a sky so full of stars so immense that it is hard to close your eyes at night. It is the oasis of shade after a long hot day in the desert or the sun finally peeking out from the clouds after a cold wet day in Washington. 

Q: What advice would you give someone who is thinking about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail? 
A: You can’t go into the hike thinking that it is fun all the time. At some point, you are going to be a little bit miserable. There should be points where you feel happy and where you feel joy. I told myself that if I was miserable for a whole week, then I would go home. That never happened. It is also important to think of the hike as a bunch of little trips. 

Q: What is your next adventure? 
A: I will leave in January to teach English in Spain. My degree is in linguistics and teaching English as a Second Language. It is a six-month contract. I have always wanted to move abroad.

Photo courtesy Hallie Murta 
Hallie Murta 

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