The second Mexican to travel across the Pacific Ocean is from San Luis Potosi. It is located around Lourdes Aguiñaga – El Sol de San Luis

Lourdes Aguiñiga, of Potosi, left her name on the shelves of national and Potosi hiking history, when she became the second Mexican and first Potosina to travel the Pacific Crest Trail, one of the three longest trails in the United States uniting the Triple Crown.

At the age of 30 with a degree in Financial Management, and working for a multinational company in strategic planning, I decided to take on this adventure that was initially a dream that turned step by step into a reality.

It was in 2018 when she started her career on the trails, especially in mountain sports that led her to take the adventure of covering PCT, for short in English, and at the time it seemed impossible, but he was working towards his goal

“When I learned several years ago that this track existed, I had never thought I could do something like this, I thought it was a very crazy thing and for people who do very intense activities,” said the park from Potosi.

Already with a deep-rooted taste for the high mountains, he conquered the country’s most important peaks such as Nevado de Toluca, Izachihuatl and Pico de Orizaba, important points for him to change his view of the PCT and see it as a possible target.

The Pacific Crest Trail is a trail running across the West Coast of the United States, beginning south of Campo in California, adjacent to the United States border with Mexico, and the North Station located on the edge of Manning Park between the United States and Canada border.

The route is 4286 kilometers long and passes through the states of California, Oregon and Washington, divided into five sections, the first crossing the California desert; The second is the Sierra Nevada, then it follows Northern California, which is desert and forests, and the fourth is the relatively flat state of Oregon, overlooking the alpine lakes and volcanoes, and finally Washington, which is characterized by its mountains and cloudy and rainy weather. It passes through the Cordillera de las Cascadas.

The journey started alone in the PCT South leg, and as it progressed, more people joined the challenge; The adventure took 140 days, ran an average of more than 40 kilometers or 12 hours a day, the longest day was a 46 kilometer route, until the goal of reaching Canada.

It should be noted that doing this route usually takes the whole season without snow to walk the entire route. That’s almost 5 months. Elite athletes with prior PCT experience completed the course in just two months. On average, the average park does this between 145 and 165 days.

At the moment, Aguiñiga is not considering completing the Triple Crown, which would be travel on the Appalachian Trail and the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), the latter of which is the one he might implement next time in the US Federation; As his goal is to establish the Camino de Santiago in Spain, where he will continue his studies.