Monica Reinoso and her dog Theodore in front of the support van that’s following her along the route.
Courtesy
EVERETT — Calling from a campsite 6,000 feet up in the Laguna Mountains east of San Diego, California, Monica Reinoso of Everett described how she’s on the trek of a lifetime, and she’s doing purposefully for a good cause.
Reinoso embarked last week on the first steps of a planned 2,600 mile journey to hike the entire Pacific Crest Trail, from the U.S. - Mexico border to Canada.
As of Thursday, March 10, she’d slugged through 40 miles.
She is trying to raise $50,000 for Meals on Wheels, a program run by Homage that brings food to homebound seniors and people with disabilities.
Already, people have given more than $3,500.
“The heart is that when it was 27 degrees out, it’s knowing that people are donating. It means so much to me, and I feel it, too,” Reinoso said.
She said she is supporting Meals on Wheels because of the positive impact she’s seen firsthand on people she cares for.
Reinoso is a nurse at Swedish Edmonds hospital, and there are senior patients who rely on the food delivery program. She’s seen people discuss how the visits help break up loneliness.
“All those little relationships matter,” Reinoso said.
Knowing she’s hiking with a purpose is helping motivate her.
Reinoso said she plans to cover an average of 14 miles a day.
She lucked out in connecting with two friends, one who she knew from a past hike. Denise Powers is doing her Pacific Crest Trail hike to benefit Domestic Violence Services of the Cayman Islands.
A chase van follows Reinoso. Her two-year-old lab Theodore is coming with.
The opening miles took her through a rocky desertscape of yucca plants, sage, manzanita trees — “beautiful,” she said —before going up into the mountains. “It’s up and down, up and down, up and down over ridges.”
“It’s tiring, very cold — it’s in the 20s at night,” Reinoso said.
The Pacific Crest Trail is her biggest undertaking yet.
Starting from Day One on Sunday, March 6, her journey will be a six-month trek which brings her to Washington by sometime in late summer or early fall.
It far surpasses what she did in 2019, when she hiked 260 miles across Washington state to reach Snoqualmie Pass. That was also a benefit hike for Meals on Wheels.
The Pacific Crest Trail will take Reinoso through Walker Pass, then on a walk alongside the High Sierras of California, into the Sierra Nevadas, through almost the summit of the Siskiyou Mountains, and onward through Crater Lake National Park and alongside the Columbia River for a while. In Washington, the trail runs through several high passes, and goes through the Glacier Peak Wilderness of Snohomish County.
You can see photos along her journey on her Instagram: @monicahikesforhunger
Homage plans to do campaigns along the way to keep public interest up.
A webpage about Monica’s hike, and a link to donate, is at www.homage.org/monicahikes/
To get Meals on Wheels, call 425-347-1229 (toll free 1-800-824-2183) or email nutrition@homage.org
