Kaylee Levine, a PMHS class of 2015 graduate, reached the Bridge of the Gods over the Columbia River, Oregon, in ten days and 16 hours on July 16th, becoming the fastest female unsupported hiker to attempt the Oregon Pacific Crest Trail. Levine broke the previous record of 14 days and 14 hours by almost 4 complete days.

The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is a 2,650-mile trail through California, Oregon, and Washington, spanning from the Mexican to Canadian border. The Oregon section is around 465 miles, running from the California-Oregon border to Bridge of the Gods at the Oregon-Washington border, and passing through Crater Lake National Park and Mt. Hood National Forest.

There are three styles of hiking one can do to qualify for a Fastest Known Time: either supported, self-supported, or unsupported, like Levine did. The Fastest Known Time website categorizes a supported hike as being a hike where a hiker can “have as much support as [they] can enlist, as long as [they] are entirely self-powered.” This means that hikers can have crews to carry their gear and assist in pacing them so long as they cover the ground on their own. Self-supported hikers are not allowed to arrange for others to accompany them or spectate during the hike, though. However, they are allowed to resupply their gear, as long as it is in a publicly available spot, such as caching supplies in advance or purchasing them along the way.

In comparison, unsupported hikers must carry all their gear with them, except for water from natural sources, and are not allowed to have any spectators during the hike. “Unsupported style is the most feasible for a typical backpacker because it’s the style most like normal backpacking,” Levine said. “If you’re trying to set a supported style record, you are probably a high-caliber trail runner.”

Although Levine ran some of her trail, she hiked most of it. “For me, it was more of a test of mental endurance, of walking more and longer hours than the person before me did, which was something in my skill set, but I’m not a professional ultra-runner.” The record for the female supported and self-supported on the Oregon PCT is 7 days 19 hours and 9 days 6 hours respectively. “I would have to go a lot faster for those,” Levine said, “but I’m really pleased I got the unsupported record at least in the ballpark of the other female records, and that I got it in the ballpark of the men’s unsupported record as well.” The men’s unsupported record is 8 days 7 hours.

As a teenager, Levine would visit national parks with her family, as well as sprinting on PMHS’s track team, but her love for backpacking didn’t come until later. “I didn’t really connect then,” Levine said, “But sometime in college I discovered backpacking and really liked the simplicity of waking up, where you have one thing to do and it’s just walking to the next place and doing everything you can to support that goal.”

Last year Levine attempted to hike the PCT in her home state of Washington. Although she was forced to cut out 150 miles due to wildfires, Levine sought to venture and hike the Oregon PCT. Conversely, Oregon’s section of the trail has much less elevation gain than the section in Washington. After all of her Washington training, Levine started doing high-mileage days to try to increase her mileage.

During this time, Renee Miller, who was the popular among other hikers for being the previous record holder for the female unsupported Fastest Known Time on the Oregon PCT, had just finished her hike. One video by Miller’s husband talking about her hike has over 130,000 likes on TikTok, and their account has over 2 million followers.

One of Levine’s friends told her about Miller’s daily mileage, and how Levine’s was higher, even though Levine wasn’t trying to set a record yet. “It’s crazy, I never thought of myself as someone who would go for records,” Levine said, “But that kind of planted the seed, and throughout the year it grew until I began buying a lot of gear and doing a bunch of training, and I decided to go for it.”

Levine walks or runs most mornings, but in prepping for her trip she would fill her backpack with gallons of water and walk around her hilly neighborhood. She also researched and planned out important water sources beforehand.

Levine began hiking on July 6th. “I chose my start date as early as possible to avoid the wildfires while not having to deal with so much snow. There’s a very small window, and you have to make sacrifices.” Levine said. “I knew I would get snow, and with snow comes mosquitoes, but that’s better than the trail being closed for wildfires.” On her second day of hiking, Levine was faced with a thunderstorm with heavy lightning that caused a wildfire at the Oregon-California border. Had Levine tried to start hiking two days later, she would not have been able to.

Wildfires and their effects were obvious throughout Levine’s hike as she walked through burned forests during many parts of the trail, describing it as “just dead trees all around.” The ash dirtied her legs, the dead trees prevented her from camping out nearby, and there was much sun exposure. “I started during the start of a heat wave, and for the most part the heat wasn’t too bad,” Levine said. However, there were a few times in the middle of the day when she happened to be doing an exposed section during the height of the heat. During one of these times, she was hiking through a six-mile section filled with volcanic rocks. “Imagine a planet that’s just black exposed rocks that you have to climb over,” Levine said. She was also in the middle of a fourteen-mile water carry, where she didn’t have a water source for that stretch, so she had to conserve water. “Because of the height of the heat, the lava rocks that hold onto the heat, and the water conservation, that was the time when I felt the effects of the heat the most,” she said.

The first days were some of the hardest for Levine, especially after hearing rumors about difficult patches of snow. Although she didn’t reach the snow until later that evening she spent much of the day anxiously awaiting its arrival.

When it did arrive, Levine had two options- she could try and cross a slippery traverse, or she could go down a glissade patch, which Levine described as being “when you have to slide down snow on your butt.” She chose the glissade, which being a few hundred feet long, was very fun.

It is against the rules for unsupported hikers to plan in advance for others to hike with them, making it hard for Levine as she would inevitably be alone for most of the trail. However, she did meet a few people on trail which boosted her morale.  “One of the things I love about hiking on trail is the people you meet, because hiking bonds you so quickly,” she said.

For approximately half of the days hiking, Levine met people at least once. However, she was completely by herself during the other days. Levine pointed to loneliness and uncertainty as some of her biggest challenges.

Additionally, she didn’t listen to music or a podcast while hiking, not wanting to have to rely on it, so she spent most of her time with her thoughts. “Especially with modern society and all our distractions, I found it really enlightening to be able to be alone with myself for so long,” said Levine.

To occupy herself she sang, meditated, talked to herself, imagined, and took in her surroundings. “I don’t think of myself as a creative person,” Levine said, “but I found that my mind could do a lot of imagining.” One of the things Levine was looking to get out of the hike was an emotional experience. “I got that,” she said, “I keep describing it as raw, everything was on the surface, I was feeling my emotions so deeply and I thought that was beautiful.”

Levine felt a confidence booster after realizing all the time spent alone with her thoughts. “It reinforced the idea that I’m enough for myself, and can take care of myself-in a variety of ways, but especially mentally,” she said. “I’ve never done something so hard.” Thinking about the whole journey made her worry if she could finish, so she focused on taking the trail one day at a time. Her mindset was, “I have to get through today, I overcame yesterday’s challenges, today there will be different challenges, and I have to focus on those.”

Her hike had moments of pain and discomfort, but also jubilation. “At the end of the day, when the sun would set, I would be in these beautiful mountains, pushing myself physically, and I had these extreme moments of gratitude,” she said.

Levine had a few creature encounters throughout her journey, spotting deer, birds, squirrels, and lots of mosquitoes. Levine shares she once saw a pair of eyes looking at her at camp and never found out what they were. However, the highlight of Levine’s trip came on her last day, when she was only 11 miles from the border. Starting her final descent, she had her first-ever bear encounter. “There was an adorable little black bear running away from me. I was so excited, it was so perfect,” Levine said. “I was running through the forest screaming, ‘I saw a bear, I saw a bear!'”

When Levine finally reached the Bridge of the Gods, at the Oregon-Washington border, she had had her biggest mileage day so far, having mostly run her final 52.5 miles. The sun had just set when she arrived, and darkness had fallen. “I had been imagining that moment for a bit…I like I had lived that moment multiple times in my head,” Levine said, “and for the actual moment, it was extremely euphoric.” Feeling full of endorphins and slightly delirious, Levine sat down on a nearby bridge and allowed her body to rest for the first time in eleven days. “Nothing can compare to that feeling,” Levine said, smiling.

(Interested in learning more about Levine’s hike? She kept a daily diary which you can access here.)