The Pacific Crest Trail runs 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada. Usually, a few hundred hardy souls make the trek every year. But this year, the number of people attempting the arduous journey is in the thousands.
The Tuolumne Meadows post office in Yosemite National Park is packed. Ragged hikers wait in a long twisting line outside.
Inside the tiny post office, packages are tightly stacked from floor to ceiling. Boxes spill out into the adjoining caf茅.
Hiker Max Bennett is praying new shoes from his girlfriend arrive soon.
Duct tape holds his weathered boots together.
It鈥檚 6 p.m.
The post office was supposed to close at 4 p.m., but postmaster Michael Kochakji says he鈥檚 staying open late to clear out the piles of resupply boxes that have been sent ahead by family and friends.
This is his 18th summer in Yosemite.
"This year it鈥檚 particularly busy because some people are saying the book 鈥榃ild鈥� and the movie 鈥榃ild鈥�," says Kochakji. "Last year 鈥榃ild鈥� was a big deal because Oprah put her stamp on the book is what we were told."
It鈥檚 called 鈥淭he 'Wild鈥� effect.鈥� Cheryl Strayed鈥檚 bestselling memoir was published in 2012, and the film starring Reese Witherspoon came out last December.
Before 鈥榃ild,鈥� about 300 permits were issued annually.
The , a non-profit that promotes and preserves the trail, estimates this year鈥檚 tally will be more like 3,000.
Witherspoon鈥檚 face is front and center on their website, and one click brings you to a video starring Cheryl Strayed.
The drought is making the trek easier than usual. High mountain passes are free of snow, which means fewer mosquitoes than normal.
Rachel D鈥檃ntona stops for a drink of water on the trail. She鈥檚 a bartender in Franklin, Tennessee. She鈥檚 walked 20 to 30 miles a day. It has taught her a lot about herself.
"I cannot believe I鈥檓 here, it鈥檚 unbelievable," D'antona says. "I was definitely a stubborn human being in the real world, and I think you got to let that go out here. You just got to go with the flow and have a good time."
Ryan Bovinet is from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. When he started hiking he says he was burnt out after working as a chef in a fast-paced restaurant.
During the two months he鈥檚 spent on the trail he says he lost forty pounds and gained mental clarity.
"It鈥檚 really focused my brain and kind of focused my thoughts, which are normally kind of incoherent and disconnected," says Bovinet.
He says the trail challenged him on every level.
"Some days it鈥檚 just hard and you want to leave, and you want to go home," he says. "And, you want TV. And, you want your phone. You want service."
But, he is becoming more comfortable without his gadgets.
Every hiker at the post office says they are both counting down the miles ahead to the Canadian border, and at the same time savoring each step.
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