Welcome to Litsy!

In 2017, the Pacific Crest Trail wasn't itself. Okay, so it was still dirt. A lot of dirt-almost 3,000 miles of the stuff. But in the Sierra Nevada range, over 400 miles of the most remote section of the trail were buried, entombed in ice after a historic winter. Relentless storms continued pummeling the mountains into June. Snowmelt turned tame creek crossings into treacherous rivers. Invisible voids lurked beneath the surface, waiting to swallow unassuming hikers-by most any measure, one couldn't pick a worse year to walk from Mexico to Canada. But Daniel Winsor wasn't about to be derailed by a few snowflakes. Okay fine, a few bazillion snowflakes. Connecting a continuous footpath along the Pacific Crest Trail was a rare prize in 2017, and while his fellow hikers skipped north-or even quit their trek altogether-Daniel ignored all sound reason and pushed into the Sierra backcountry anyway, aiming toward a preposterous goal in a year refusing to cooperate. Through failing tendons, frozen boots, rocky partnerships, sunburned nostrils, and maddening hunger, Crunch dissects the lofty highs and miserable lows of hiking through a below-freezing environment for weeks on end.