Hiking the PCT and missing whisk(e)y

We took a short break from our whisky tastings to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in the USA. We were away for a few months, as the PCT requires a lot of time to complete - the trail covers the entire length of the U.S.A., and runs between the country's southern and northern borders, from Mexico to Canada. The PCT passes through California, Oregon and Washington along the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade mountain ranges, which lie about 200km east of the Pacific coastline. The entire length of the PCT is 2655 miles, or 4250km, which is roughly the equivalent of walking from Kenton to Johannesburg, back to Kenton, back to Johannesburg, and back to Kenton again – but with a number of enormous mountains in the way! It was an incredible adventure that we were so fortunate to be able to undertake. One of the things we did miss, however, was whisk(e)y! Given that we were hiking, the weight of our backpacks was a serious consideration, and we didn't often carry any whisk(e)y with us.

Two whisky related things we discovered whilst hiking: 1) Even though the cost of whisk(e)y has soared in the past few years, we are stupendously fortunate that whisky is (relatively) affordable in South Africa. We were shocked at how expensive whisky in the USA is... a 200ml bottle of semi-decent whisky cost us close to R300 (which is another reason we were unable to enjoy as much whisky as we would have liked while we were hiking in the American wilderness!). 2) While hiking in the American Wilderness you'll come across a number of whiskey rivers, whiskey streams, and whiskey springs - sadly it will turn out that the names are a little misleading, and you won't find any whiskey there - just beautiful and refreshing water, which is almost as good!