Photos courtesy of Stefan Lofgren
Stefan Lofgren pauses to take in the view from Goat Rocks Wilderness along the Pacific Crest Trail this summer.

Lofgren takes a break from his 2,658-mile hike under the shade of an ocotillo plant in the southern California desert.

Lofgren

Sole survivor

Elma man hikes the Pacific Crest Trail in record time

N.S. NOKKENTVED, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published December 4, 2001

OLYMPIA -- On May 11 he set out on foot from a village on the Mexican border; less than three months later he arrived at the Canadian border.

Stefan Lofgren, of Elma, had walked the 2,658 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, averaging 32 miles per day. People he met often asked him whether he ever slowed down or stopped to enjoy himself.

"Well, slowing down or stopping to enjoy myself would imply that I don't enjoy walking. And this would be a pretty crazy thing to do if I didn't enjoy walking."

Lofgren took a four-day break to visit his girlfriend in Lake Tahoe, and to "eat like a fiend," he said.

Completed in the early 1990s, the Pacific Crest Trail winds from Mexico through California, Oregon and Washington to Canada. Thousands of hikers and horseback riders use the trail each year. Most cover only a few miles, and others complete the entire trail in a single season.

About 600 have hiked the entire trail. This year about 290 people set out. In most years 40 percent to 60 percent of those who start, complete the trail. Those who hike the complete trail take 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 months.

Lofgren did it in less than three months, making him one of the fastest to hike the trail. Along the way he learned about lightening his load, and, with plenty of time to think, to apply that to life.

The first day he hiked 21 1/2 miles -- his shortest day. The first 500 miles through the desert were the toughest. From his desert hiking experience, however, Lofgren had learned to start by 1 a.m. and walk 15 or 20 miles at night -- and then a few more miles in the cool of the morning.

He soon worked up to 30 miles per day. Though northern California and Oregon he walked many 40- to 45-mile days. He spent 15 hours on his feet most days. He wore out two pairs of Hitek Discoveries -- 1,100 miles on the first pair and 1,400 miles on the second. But more important than shoes were the footbeds -- he used Superfeet insoles, he said.

He carried enough food for three or four days at a time. He ate oatmeal with raisins, cranberries or nuts, and other grains. Crackers with cheese, hummus and salami was lunch, and dinner was pasta with various sauces and Spam, tuna or some other meat.

To resupply himself, Lofgren had packed 26 boxes of food and left them with friends along with instructions on when to send them. They were addressed to general delivery at post offices in towns closest to trail points every 90 to 120 miles.

On Aug. 6, he walked into Manning Provincial Park in British Columbia, just across the border from the North Cascades National Park. His time was 83 days and six hours of walking and four days of rest.

Born in Olympia in 1971, he graduated from Montesano High School. Lofgren is a park ranger in the summer and fall most years, and a ski patrol member some winters. He had been a climbing ranger for the National Park Service for about 12 years. In 1991 he had walked 500 miles from France to Yugoslavia; and in 1995 he walked the length of Sweden -- 1,350 miles.

"So I had a good idea of what long distance walking was all about," he said. And after years of backpacking, climbing and hiking, he thought his outdoors skills had matured.

"Boy was I wrong," he said.

He set off carrying about 20 pounds of gear plus 6 pounds of camera gear and thought that was frugal. But early on he met hikers who carried only about 10 pounds, yet they seemed to have everything they needed.

By the time Lofgren reached Lake Tahoe -- about 1,100 miles into the trip -- he had learned how to reduce his own load to about 12 pounds. He left Tahoe with new, lightweight gear he had ordered two weeks earlier.

He had become an ultralight convert. A tent should weigh no more than 2 pounds, a backpack no more than a pound, and a sleeping bag no more than 2 pounds, he said.

Many other hikers on the trail had made some of their own gear, he said. Designs for lightweight gear are available on the Internet, and several companies make gear designed for walkers who want to lighten their load.

And as his load became lighter, the days and miles became easier. "The brain at 3 mph leads to some amazing insights, as you can expect, and I was able to make an outstanding parallel to life from the trail," Lofgren said.

People marveled at his pace and wondered what he carried in the small pack slung from one shoulder. For them, the hike was unenjoyable but "worth it" -- not unlike the way many people live their lives, burdened with possessions. Puzzled at first, he realized why the moment they turned around, eclipsed by 40-pound packs.

"Our culture and our society is largely based on acquiring stuff, a house, a car, furniture, whatever," he said. "All this stuff and the debt that follows, is like those heavy and tortuous packs of yore."

But you can't just buy a lightweight pack and still carry all that junk, he said. Living simply, like hiking with less, requires replacing things with skills and awareness.

"I think this was the biggest thing I learned on the trail," Lofgren said.

N.S. Nokkentved covers the outdoors for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5445.

To find out more

- For information about the Pacific Crest Trail, contact the Pacific Crest Trail Association at www.pcta.org or call 916-349-2109.

- Lightweight backpacking gear

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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