Beyond the Mountain Path
Finishing the Pacific Crest Trail. Starting a newsletter. Looking ahead.
Starting a newsletter
Thank you for reading the first issue of Beyond the Mountain Path, a newsletter to share my photography and writing in a slower paced environment. I’ll be sharing pictures and words, old and new — stories behind the images, natural curiosities, published and unpublished, connecting you to my world and often remote, wild places.
After committing to keeping a daily journal on my first ever thru-hike from Mexico to Canada, this newsletter only seemed the natural continuation. Beyond the Mountain Path came about from a love of wild places, walking and photography — borrowing the name from a song which played on repeat throughout my most all encompassing journey to date.
Lately theres been something of a void in sharing my photography, at a time when I have so much new work, this could be just the place to share it. This year taught me that if the timings right, do it while you can. Life can change in unexpected ways when you take yourself down a new path, and so I walked, continuously for four and a half months.
Finishing the Pacific Crest Trail
Walking has been a part of my photographic practice since I first started, both a way to find inspiration and as a way to make sense of my place in the world. It’s taken me to Everest Base Camp in Nepal, the Scottish highlands, Patagonia and remote parts of New Zealand.
This journey was something completely new to me, my first long distance thru-hike heading northbound on the Pacific Crest Trail — a continuous 2650 mile (4264 km) trail that winds its way through California, Oregon and Washington. The trail boasts around 149,000 metres of elevation gain over the course of ten different mountain ranges, (notably the Sierras and Cascades) stretching from Mexico to Canada. (see map here)
Walking half the trail was my original goal, but those plans changed in a matter of days as I met other temporary (and some full-time) dirt bags who were going the whole way. Walking alongside nurses, engineers, carpenters, farmers, bricklayers, divorcees, honeymooners, who had all put their lives on hold to walk the entire trail.
Allowing four and half months for one trail means you come as close to completely disconnecting from daily life as you ever will, in other words it was all consuming. Beautiful, gruelling, meditative and highly addictive. I wasn’t expecting to find such motivation and calm, all from simply walking north — I’m feeling incredibly lucky to have experienced this trail, a migration of sorts with people from all walks of life. But theres no denying I’m dealing with the inevitable comedown as I return to the tail-end of a British summer.
I’m trying to bring forward some of the good habits I picked up, whilst shaking off the bad (eating up to 4000 calories a day, not showering for days). Life was incredibly simple when stripped down to the basics — on trail my daily worries simmered down to finding a flat campsite, collecting water and debating whether or not to add peanut butter or plastic cheese to my instant ramen.
Looking ahead
It’s been something of an adjustment coming back to regular life after a journey on this scale, though I’m treating it as a fresh start. So in the spirit of that, I wanted a new place to share my work — be that photos, ideas or stories that a need place to be seen outside of my usual channels.
Some updates! — early next year I have an exciting article for Lodestar Anthology’s upcoming issue, both written and photographed by myself. I’m planning a trip to New Zealand to start shooting a couple of new projects early 2025, something I’ve wanted to develop since I was there in 2019. Before I can tell you more about those I’ll be sharing some stories from earlier this year. Riding on top of a collectivo in the Peruvian Andes, the Salkantay trek to Machu Pichu and different trails throughout Patagonian Chile & Argentina.
I’ll be writing a multi-part series about my journey on the Pacific Crest Trail in sections — Southern California, The Sierras, Northern California, Oregon and Washington. Passing through open plains and wildflower blooms in the desert, near-fatal Sierra river crossings to losing the trail in waist deep snow up the San Jacinto Mountains. A journal style observation of daily trail meditations through the unforgettable wilderness of the American West.
In many ways walking the Pacific Crest trail was life changing, it’s flipped my understanding of life upside down. You learn a lot about yourself. Theres unexplainable satisfaction in being exhausted everyday. It hurts. Memories from your childhood will come flooding back. You will have deeply profound discussions about life, love and death, but ultimately, you’ll just wind up talking about what you want for dinner.
Thanks for being here, if you wanted to reach out regarding anything in this piece or just wanted to connect please do! I’m new to Substack.
Rory
As I navigate the intricacies of Substack I’ll be offering a signed 10x8 print, delivered (mostly) worldwide to Founding Members of my Substack. To those who have paid already, I’m taken back by your generosity, thank you for being here!
Excited to hear more about your journey!
Loved reading this intro to your epic PCT adventure Rory! Looking forward to read and see more.