Take a (long) hike! Hendersonian walking Pacific Crest Trail

What do you do to get away from it all?

A trip to the beach? A boat ride on the lake? A walk in the woods?

Henderson native Jessica Crafton, 25, wanted a bit more than that. So she hit the trail.

Crafton, the daughter of Henderson County residents David and Sue Gail Crafton and a 2009 graduate of County High, is hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.

The PCT is a 2,650 mile stretch which starts at the border of Mexico and winds its way through California, Oregon and Washington state before ending in Canada.

"I'd been in school for 20 years," she said. "I just needed a break. I needed some quiet time to gather my thoughts."

After graduating from Western Kentucky University in 2015 with degrees in chemistry and art history, Crafton decided to get out of her head for a while and journey through the mountain ranges of California, Oregon and Washington state with nothing but what she can carry on her back.

"I'm hiking with a backpack. I carry a tent, but generally I cowboy camp, which is when you lay down in a sleeping bag and sleep under the stars," she said. "I've got a battery pack" for charging her cell phone and other devices.

"And I'm eating everything dehydrated. I'm so sick of it. I have oatmeal every morning, a curry dish every evening and a ton of Pop Tarts," Crafton said. "I never thought I'd ever be sick of Pop Tarts, but I am."

"Once you hit a town, you put down as many calories as possible. Anything green you want it," she said.

"I might be able to get a real shower every two to three weeks," Crafton said. "Generally, you want to camp next to a water source so you can bathe ... and wash your clothes."

Her dad, David, said, "my first thought when she told us about the trip was her safety. But we researched and got familiar with what was involved. Then it became about the logistics of getting her there."

"She is getting to see a lot of things you don't normally see just driving down the road. And it's required a great deal of effort and stamina on her part."

"I am very proud of her," Crafton said. "She's learned a lot from it. A lot about herself. I'm definitely proud of her."

The trek will take roughly five months. When Crafton had cell phone reception and could contact The Gleaner, she'd been hiking approximately four months and had just entered Washington state.

"I started out walking six to eight miles a day and have worked up to walking 20 to 30 miles a day," she said. "I'm feeling it a lot. I've put on muscle mass, but I've lost some weight."

While grateful for the time of solitude on the trail, Crafton said she's to the point where she wants social interaction.

"I spent the first three months in silence, and now I'm done with it," she said, adding that the other hikers she sees help feed the need for human contact.

"I can wake up some days and see no one, or I can see one or two people," Crafton said. "Then there are some days I might see 30 people. The trail has become so populated. It's called the 'Wild Effect' because thousands are now hiking the Pacific Crest Trail."

Crafton said the "Wild Effect" is named after the 2014 film starring Reese Witherspoon. The movie is based on Cheryl Strayed's 2012 memoir, "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail."

"I think people say, 'If Reese Witherspoon can do it, I can do it,'" Crafton said. "It's brought out a lot of people (to the trail) who otherwise wouldn't have come."

Sometimes hiking solo, sometimes hiking with friends, Crafton said she enjoys the relationships formed with other hikers along the PCT.

"It's such a community out here, and you keep up with everyone" by word-of-mouth through other hikers or "you leave messages for each other on bulletin boards" set up along the trail, she said, adding that hikers look out for each other.

"We all have trail names," Crafton said. "Someone along the way gives it to you, but you decide if you want to keep it. Mine is Blackbird. At the beginning of the trail, I was playing 'Blackbird' by the Beatles and (another hiker) started calling me Blackbird."

Crafton said she kept the trail name because it links her with family and friends back home.

"In my old life, my nickname was 'Bird,' so it was a piece of home," she said.

The PCT requires much from those willing to accept the challenge.

The physical and mental strain is a given, but Crafton said a person's emotional strength is also tested.

"One of my biggest fears is the dark, so I'm challenging myself" by sleeping outdoors at night, she said.

"It's scary. One night we heard footsteps coming out of the trees. It was a bear. It was terrifying because our headlamps, which are red tinted, shone on it, and all we saw were red eyes staring at us," she said. "Thankfully, bears are skittish, and it walked away."

It's not necessarily the large animals which cause problems on the trail, Crafton said.

"The mice and the chipmunks are the biggest concerns out here," she said. "They don't leave your backpack alone so you have to make sure you pack your food securely" or they will chew through it.

Despite the chipmunks, the physical exhaustion and sometimes loneliness, Crafton said hiking the Pacific Crest Trail has been the journey of a lifetime.

"You are able to experience California, Oregon and Washington in a behind-the-scenes way," she said. "It's so beautiful, it's mind-blowing."

Of the more than 2,500 miles of breathtaking scenery, Crafton said if she had to narrow it down, then the Sierra Nevada mountain range was her favorite. In particular, she said, the Selden Summit Pass because "It's the most beautiful," she said.

While in the Sierra Nevadas, Crafton also climbed Mount Whitney.

"I woke up at midnight and had to hike in the dark because both of my headlamps had crashed on me," she said. "After five hours, I made it to the top. It was physically the hardest thing I've done. I made it up just in time to see the sun rise, and then I fell asleep" on the mountain.

With less than one month left in her trip, Crafton said the thought of closing this chapter of her life is very "bittersweet."

"I've prepared for this for a year and to know it's almost over is very sad," she said. "But five months of silence and solitude gets really old. Now, I'm always thinking about job interviews and hobbies that I want to get back to ... Everything you really love to do."

Crafton said she is also ready to once again have unlimited access to smoothies.

"I can't wait to get my smoothie game back on," she said.

"This trip has been the most amazing thing I have ever experienced," Crafton said. "I think every single person in the world could benefit from a trip like this."