Voorhees Treks the Pacific Crest Trail

The Voorhees family's zeal for backpacking often led them to hike Colorado. Sarah Voorhees '90 moved here to attend CC, and sister Kate '96 followed in her footsteps. In 2002, however, Kate Voorhees made strides of her own by trekking solo along the Pacific Crest Trail, a quest that began in April and finished some five months and 2,650 miles later.

The trail snakes through seven climate zones, beginning with southern California's warm aridity and moving through the High Sierras, rainy Oregon, and finally snowy Washington. Of the 250 hikers who started the trail around the same time as Voorhees, only 150 completed it.

Along the way, Voorhees raised some $20,000 for the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, a cancer research facility. Voorhees credits the Block Plan ­ especially the four days between blocks ­ with allowing her the time she needed to get up to the mountains during her CC years. "It was an adventurous way to explore academia," she remembers. "I hooked up with adventuresome people. CC emphasized extracurricular activities and supported us in them."

Voorhees's diary, along with photos, is available at www.pcthiker.com (2002, "Kaytoe"). "I love looking back on it, and I loved doing it," Voorhees says. "It was the most difficult thing I've ever done, but I'd consider doing it again," she adds. Now living in Portland, Voorhees is already casting her eyes toward the Appalachian Trail or the Continental Divide.

- Fran Prudhomme

Georgianne Preskar Rollman '73
Gabriele Prochaska '86 & Scott Desmarais '86
Kate Vorhees '96
Scott McLeod '71
Alyssa Leibold '04