Cheryl Standing had a plan in place in case she couldn’t finish her planned 500-mile hike along the US Pacific Crest Trail. She needn’t have worried. Standing finished faster than expected, and did it with a smile, raising more than $7,000 for the charity Operation Smile in the process.
Standing began her hike on March 29 at the trail’s southern terminus at the US-Mexico border, and finished her 500-mile goal on May 10.
“I made it through the high mountains, cold wind storms, the dry desert heat, and my fear of heights,” she says. “I saw eight snakes, only one that was a rattlesnake, lots of lizards, rabbits, and my favourite were the bigger birds soaring in the wind… it was beautiful to watch.
“The scenery was unlike anything I have ever seen, in some sections it felt like I was on a different planet.”
She met some amazing people, she adds, both fellow hikers and trail angels—the people who provide rides, food, and places to stay for weary hikers.
“Although I don’t miss being dirty all day, every day, and going for days without a shower, I do miss the trail, the simplicity of it, carrying everything I needed to live on my back, sleeping under the stars, and seeing something new every day. Having a new challenge to overcome every day,” she says.
One 27-mile day included a night hike, her first ever.
Standing reached her 500-mile goal a month earlier than expected. “I could have stayed and continued on, but I felt I had achieved what I went out there for. Seeing what the PCT is all about, the desert section, learning about the hiking community of the PCT, challenging myself physically and mentally, becoming a stronger hiker, and of course bringing awareness to cleft lip and palate and Operation Smile.”
With her final Instagram post from the trail, she wrote: “Thank you for all your support and cheering me on. Amazing experience, scenery, and people on the PCT. It’s no joke, it’s difficult, raw, unrelenting. What goes up must go down and what goes down must go up. Life lesson #1 at its finest.”
She says she secretly wants to return to the trail this summer, but has other plans for this fall that she needs to prepare for, so she’ll be keeping her hiking adventures close to home.
With the $7,135 raised to date, at least 27 children will be able to have life-changing surgery to correct cleft lip and palate.
Donations to Operation Smile can still be made here.
See more photos from her hike on Instagram @cheryl_hikes, or see video from her journey on YouTube here.
Related: Local RMT hiking 500 miles of Pacific Crest Trail in support of Operation Smile
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Way to go Cheryl. It was so great following you along via your amazing YouTube videos. You did sooo great! What an adventure you had.
Wonderful, amazing! Such a generous donation of your time!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!