A4 Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Abbotsford News
www.abbynews.com
Late father inspired his epic 4,000 km hike Brook Morrison trekking the Pacific Crest Trail Photo courteSy Brook MorriSon
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Brook Morrison, an Abbotsford resident is less than one U.S. state away from returning to Canada — a trip he estimates will take about a month on foot. Morrison is around four months into his journey along the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from Campo, a small town on the California-Mexico border, up to Manning Park along Highway 3 in B.C. The trail is estimated by its stewards to be 4,265 kilometres, with the average hike at five-and-ahalf months, which Morrison aims to match. Morrison said he takes his inspiration for the hike from his late father. “We lost him back in 2013, and I feel like the loss of him in my life has kind of inspired me to go on and do this. I think that was one of the big life changes that came along that kind of pushed me to go and do something big like this. He’s always been my inspiration. He taught me how to fish and boat, and he took us camping as kids.” Morrison has been hiking for seven or eight years, and after doing the seven-day West Coast Trail hike on Vancouver Island in high school, he heard about the
Abbotsford resident Brook Morrison is about four out of five-and-a-half months into his hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, spanning from the U.S.-Mexico border up into Canada. Photo courteSy Brook MorriSon Pacific Crest Trail. “I just thought it would be an amazing challenge and an amazing adventure to go on. And then life changes happened and I thought now was the time to do it.” He wasn’t wrong — it was a challenge, but it didn’t come so much from the trail itself. “People call it the NorCal blues up in Northern California, and I had that too,
because that’s when I began solo hiking, and that’s when this huge mental challenge kicks in.” But the journey has also been one of remarkable natural beauty. Morrison’s Instagram profile is full of pictures of incredible landscapes, sparkling nighttime skies and a sprawling range of ecosystems from towering redwoods to Morrison’s personal favourite so far — the Sierra Nevada moun-
tain range in California. “It is the most amazing place I’ve been in my life,” Morrison said. “I felt so at home to be suddenly out of the desert and into the mountains. It felt a lot like home to be up in the alpines.” In an interview last week, Morrison said he expected to be crossing into Washington State last weekend, with about a month left to go to hit Canada.
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