This hike is dedicated to Barbara Hudson - my mom - who has spent her 20+ years with MS giving back instead of giving up.  

Fewer people have "thru-hiked" all 2,650 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail than have summited Mt. Everest.  That seems crazy, but it's true.  Along the way, we'll pass through some of the most beautiful yet unforgiving wildernesses in the United States - the Mojave Desert, Yosemite Valley and the snow-covered Sierra Nevada Mountains to name just a few.

We'll be recording our adventures under "Updates" on this site, as well as uploading photos and videos before/during/after the trail.

All we ask in response is that you help us reach our goal. Donate.  Follow us on Facebook or Twitter. There are so many ways that you can help, and all of them are important.

As a "thank you" for your support, we will be sending out the following gifts after the PCT hike is completed. 

• $25  - One handwritten thank-you postcard from the PCT.
• $50 - A postcard collection. Five of the most-striking landscapes from our hike.
• $150 - Matted 5" x 7" landscape photo + handwritten, personalized thank you letter
• $250 -11" x 17" 2013 Making Miles calendar featuring 13 beautiful and diverse landscapes + handwritten, personalized thank you letter
• $500 -16" x 20" landscape photo of your choosing. Matted. Handcrafted frame. Glass included and shipped safely to your door + handwritten, personalized thank you letter. 

The Chip-In Donation Button will record your email address as you donate. In order to receive your gift after the trail, we'll contact you via that address, so please use a current one.

Thank you for your time and see you on the Trail! 

Sincerely,

Shawn & Maury 

We've dedicated our hike to raise money for the Myelin Repair Foundation, a California-based organization that's making great leaps in research of treatments for MS and other neurological diseases.  Such leaps that this year they were named one of the "most innovative" biotech companies and feature TWICE in the New York Times!

We want to raise as much support as we can for the MRF, so there's no time to waste. We've added a donation button to our homepage and we're setting our first goal at $5000. Donations can be made through PayPal or by credit/debit card, and all of the money is transferred directly to the Myelin Repair Foundation - we don't touch a dime of it!

And after you donate, spread the word! Tell your friends, share us on Facebook, add our widget to your webpage, stand on a street corner and shout it to the world! Please do what you can to make our hike really worthwhile and to help the good people at the MRF continue their search for new, innovative, and effective treatments for Multiple Sclerosis.

Two people - me and Maury. Four legs - mine and hers. Six months - May through October 2012. And a grand total of 5,360 miles (2,650 x 2) to walk from the Mexican Border on into the Canadian Wilderness.

Some might think that our goal of raising $10,000 for the Myelin Repair Foundation is dreamy or perhaps that our six-month trek is a bit extravagant, but we believe that when speaking about a disease like Multiple Sclerosis, one needs to reach and strive and not sell the possibilities short.

Just today, I was reading some inspirational stories about long-distance hikers who didn't let Multiple Sclerosis stop them. Surely Bob Barker (note: not the TV show host), who hiked the 2,176 mile Appalachian Trail three times during the 80s and lived with MS, sometimes needing crutches to help him over the mountains, would never have let big numbers scare him.

Pack-weights back then - before our new, ultralight Cuben Fiber and Sil-Nylon fabrics existed - could reach 70 and 80 lbs. I can't begin to imagine hiking with the much weight on my back, much less doing it with a motor-skill impairing disease. But that's the power of the human mind. It propels us to do big things, and in the case of MS, big things need doing.

Multiple Sclerosis' Kinship with Long-Distance Hiking 

You know, speaking of Bob Barker actually makes me feel like a dwarf by comparison. Maury and I will be hiking with much smaller packs (probably around 30 lbs. each), and we'll have our health and youth to propel us, but sometimes, I think that part of the appeal of a long-distance trail is the near certainty that most people have that you'll fall short.

When we hiked the 2,176-mile Appalachian Trail in 2008, we stepped through 14 States. In towns along the way, and there were many, we were met with a mixture of awe and skepticism from the locals, despite the fact that since Earl Shaffer first thru-hiked it 60 years' earlier, there had been over 10,000 people to hike over his steps. You think people would get used to the idea that people want to go walking in the Woods ...

I think in many ways, this is the same way people reacted to my mother when she told them she had MS, or perhaps when she explained to them what symptoms she had. There was a silent apprehension, as if what she was explaining to them - despite it being so documented and widespread - was actually some charade to squeeze out a unique benefit from her employer - wheelchair access, for example.

Multiple Sclerosis' landscape is a lot like the Wilderness, too.

Both are vast, diverse, superficially mapped yet easy to get lost in. Living with MS can sometimes feel insurmountable in the same way that staring up at a ragged, 12,000 ft. snow-covered mountain can. You know that each footstep will be labored. You know that your feet will be numb from the get-go, and yet, you also know, you simply have to keep moving, one step at a time, if you're going to get to the following day.

Chin Up & Feet Pointed Northward

Did you know that if walked to the Fridge and back 65 times in the last month, you've already walked one mile or more, just for the sole purpose of snacking?

Think about that. Maury and I do. We think small while we're backpacking - "that next pass. That next rock." And slowly, but surely, all of the miles add up. All told, Maury and I've already accumulated over 10,000,000 steps (5,000 miles) of shared hiking and backpacking experience. That's a lotta walking.

I think that for us, there is no difference in the 30 steps it takes to walk to the refrigerator and back from the seemingly-grander 5,300,000 steps on the Pacific Crest Trail. It's all the same. One foot in front of the other. Yet, for people with Multiple Sclerosis, those 30 steps are damned hard. Every step is labored, so I sincerely hope that you join us in 2012 as we walk for a cure. From Mexico to Canada, taking pictures, conducting interviews, writing blogs and working hard to drum up support for the Myelin Repair Foundation along the way.

Yours truly, 

Shawn Hudson

Maury and I, after a lot of thought, have decided to pledge our 2012 Pacific Crest Trail hike to the Myelin Repair Foundation out of California.

Previously, we'd been considering splitting up donations amongst the four main M.S. Societies in California, Oregon and Washington. That was a decent plan. This new one is great.

Here's a 10-min. clip from PBS concerning new models of fighting disease. In includes a good introduction about the MRF, the work they're doing to counteract "The Valley of Death," or that place where potential medicines and treatments sit in limbo, and of Scott Johnson, himself - their CEO - who has had Multiple Sclerosis for 34 years.

If you have the time, please give it a look.