“I’m just doing it to do it,” Gaston said. “I saw a documentary on it about 3-4 years ago called Six Million Steps. The documentary basically covered one season’s hike. It had several people that were there at the beginning and at different stages. You got to see the different perspectives of a lot of different people throughout their trail experience. After I saw that I thought that was something I wanted to do at some point.”
The Pacific Crest Trail is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie 100 to 150 miles east of the U.S. Pacific coast. The trail’s southern terminus is just south of Campo, California by the U.S. border with Mexico, and its northern terminus is on the Canada–US border on the edge of Manning Park in British Columbia. It passes through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. The Pacific Crest Trail ranges in elevation from just above sea level at the Oregon–Washington border on the Bridge of the Gods to 13,153 feet at Forester Pass in the Sierra Nevada.
“I have always enjoyed the outdoors,” said Gaston, who was born in Eden, went to school at Wall and has lived in Brownwood the last 15 years. “Some friends of mine and I have done quite a bit of traveling, we’ve gone to the Smoky Mountains and hiked most of the waterfalls there. We’ve been to Rocky Mountains National Park and did several hikes there. We went to Yosemite, we’ve been to Yellowstone, so we like the outdoors, we like the national parks and forests. A couple of Christmases ago we were in Utah and did Bryce (Canyon) and Zion and the whole Bureau of Land Management area that is the Grand Staircase Escalante. We had actually talked about doing a part of the Applachian Trial one summer and that kind of fell through, but after I saw the video on the Pacific Crest Trail that was something I really wanted to do because it goes through 10 of 11 national forests, five national parks, and national wildlife and wilderness refuges and preserves. It’s incredibly scenic country that you have to get off the beaten path to get out and see.”
Gaston made the decision last March to embark on his quest, which is when he gave his notice to Common Grounds Coffeehouse, and the preparations began.
“Some people give a two-week notice, I gave a one-year notice,” Gaston said. “I have been hiking since March. I live out at the south end of town not far from Camp Bowie. I work at Common Grounds so that’s about three miles. Since March I’ve been walking almost every day to the coffee shop. Then after the day is done I’ll usually take the deposits for the shop and walk down to Prosperity Bank, which is about another mile the road, then I’ll walk back to the shop and then walk home. I’m walking about 8-10 miles a day with about 40 to 50 pounds in my pack. When I’m at the shop I’m walking about another 7 miles a day taking food orders out. The next couple of weeks I’ll start putting in 15 to 20 miles a day. Next week I’ll probably walk out to 10-Mile Crossing and maybe walk out to Indian Creek.”
Regarding his preparation, the lone concern he’s had is the lack of elevation change Brownwood provides.
“From the south end of town to where I work at the coffee shop it’s only a decrease of about 100 feet in elevation,” Gaston said. “The first day on the trail I’ll probably climb about 1,000 feet. I think when I actually get on the trail my pack will weight much less than 40 pounds, so I’ve been trying to hike with more weight than what I’ll carry on the trail. We’ve had a super freeze then wind and rain and heat and humidity, so I imagine that’s going to get me prepared for some of it.”
Gaston will begin his trek in mid-June and intends to be back in Texas by December 15.
“I’m flying into Spokane, Washington June 14 and from there I have some friends that are going to get me as close as I can get by car to the start of the trial,” Gaston said. “The nearest point you can get to it is called Hart’s Pass. From there I’ll hike about 15 miles to connect to the trail, then on the trail I’ll hike about 30 miles north to get to the northern terminus. Once I’m at the northern terminus I’ll begin my descent to do the whole trail.”
Physically, Gaston feels he will be ready for the challenge that awaits.
“I’ve done a lot of reading of what people have done on the trail,” Gaston said. “I think about 500 permits are issued per year, and I think about 90 percent of the people who get the permits complete the trail every year. I’ve read what people have done, how they planned and how they prepared. A lot of people say you can prepare for the hike but you can’t plan for the hike. Once you get out there you don’t know what the weather is going to do. You can’t say you’re going to hike this many days and be here by this point. Tentatively I’m going to try and hike 20 to 25 miles a day, and when I get into southern part of California and I’m in the low flat desert area a lot people do 30 to 40 miles a day so I’ll probably do a lot more then.”
Gaston expects of his daily routine, “I’m going to tentatively try to get up before sunrise, tear down my campsite and then about sunrise head out and try to put in 8 to 10 hours. Say I get out and going by 6 a.m., I could have 8 to 10 hours done by 3 p.m. and I could find a good camp site in the late afternoon, early evening and just unwind. They say on average there’s 18 to 20 zero mile hike days where the weather doesn’t permit or it’s a rest day, so I’ve figured that in as well.”
The mental aspect of the march, however, could have a greater affect Gaston suspects.
“A lot of people say, and I’m guessing this may be true, is it’s the mental grind,” Gaston said. “It’s a lot of solidarity. In the documentary I watched one person basically say when you’re on the trail it just breaks you down and strips you of everything, then when you’re naked and bare before the environment then it starts rebuilding you and after you’re done any obstacle, any hardship, any challenge you can overcome. So I’m guessing the most challenging thing will probably be the mental game.”
As for the financial aspect of taking off almost half a year to hike, Gaston – who is not married and has no children – said, “Whenever I set my mind to do this I was talking to God and I told God I didn’t want my friends to pay for the trip and that I also didn’t want to labor or be toiling for my own wages for the trip. I would say that 90 percent of all the gear that I have bought has come in from the tip money at the shop. It’s unexpected, not required and people just gave that. I’ve got money in the bank and things set aside, I don’t have any debt, I don’t have any bills, and I don’t have any expenses. My living expenses should be fairly low, it’s basically going to be groceries and fuel for my stove. Overall I think I’m pretty ready as far as having what I need in that respect.”
Gaston was unsure if completing the Pacific Crest Trail will simply satisfy a curiosity or be the beginning of a new chapter to his life.
“When I come back I will definitely come back to Brownwood to see all my friends and family here, but I’m not sure what the season will hold,” Gaston said. “I’m not sure if I’m going to go back to Common Grounds or if I’m going to even stay in Brownwood and where I will go from there. Some of that may be revealed on the trail. It depends on mentally where I am afterwards. If it’s something I enjoy and there are other trails and other hikes I may look to do other things that. There’s a 1,700-mile trail that runs the length of Chile that I’ve read about and watched a documentary on that. I may just want to hike and stop in a place and do odd jobs.”
As for what achieving his goal of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail will mean to him, Gaston said he was unsure of what to expect, or how he’ll feel once the mission is complete.
“One of the things about this trip for me is, I am a Christian and if you read the scriptures a lot of the people went into the wilderness and it was challenging,” Gaston said. “I am sure there will be mental and emotional giants I will have to face and overcome. But every one of their stories you read in the Bible, profound things happen to them in the wilderness and they came back completely different on the other side. My expectation is I’m going to see a lot of growth and transformation, but I’m going to leave it up to God and what He wants to do in me and what He wants to do through me, and what I’m going to look like on the other side. I’m looking forward to good things, and I think it will be good who I become going through it.”