Biochemistry and microbial biology are majors that require a fair bit of studying. The workload can be stressful. You’ve got to really know your stuff. You can ask Montana State University seniors Colleen Rooney and Emma Sirr. It was after a particularly stressful day during sophomore year that Rooney jokingly suggested to Sirr that the two take off for the West Coast to hike.
The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail begins in Olympic National Park at Cape Alava, the westernmost point in the contiguous U.S., and terminates in the high country of Glacier National Park. The trail covers more than 1,200 miles in Washington, Idaho and Montana. It looked like a tangible goal, as did tacking on a leg of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, which would allow the hikers to arrive on foot back in Bozeman. Total distance: 1,523 miles.
Rooney and Sirr began planning the trip for the summer of their junior year. They tested ultralight backpacking equipment on a trip to Zion National Park and got out for training hikes between cramming for exams and putting together lab reports. They’d need the same determination they’d mustered for school, and a whole lot more, to complete the route from the West Coast back home.
The amount of foot traffic on the PNT pales in comparison to the number of hikers navigating the Pacific Crest Trail and there’s a relative dearth of information on the former. The trail was first developed in the 1970s, but the PNT wasn’t designated a National Scenic Trail until 2008. The route is still very much in its infancy. Finding information as essential as reliable maps was a challenge.
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I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. I live in Western NC near the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are just out my door, so the content will focus on these areas, but let me know what you would like to see on the site. 
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