Jess White has completed plenty of hikes, but her next adventure is set to be the biggest yet. Photos: Jess White.
An Illawarra woman is trekking solo for six months from the border of Mexico to Canada while raising money for a local charity supporting people escaping domestic violence and homelessness.
Having grown up with the Royal National Park on her doorstep, Jessica White has always loved the outdoors, but a Duke of Edinburgh trek in high school started a bug that’s still going strong more than a decade later.
“I was introduced by a really great teacher into overnight hiking,” she said.
“At that time we were carrying cans of chunky beef soup and our packs probably would have weighed 20 kilos.
“Then after school I started doing it with friends and the hikes were longer and less on weekends – they were our holidays.”
The seed for a more extensive adventure was first planted through a housemate who had hiked the Camino de Santiago in Europe, but it was another trail which soon caught Jess’ attention.
“During COVID I watched a documentary about this New Zealand hiker doing the Pacific Crest Trail and realised that it was people hiking a long way, which was a tick, but it was also camping and in the wilderness rather than through Europe which is different,” Jess said.
“From watching that I’ve just been mentally planning it.”
With her partner Tom and different groups of friends, Jess has experienced different terrains and treks in Australia, New Zealand and Europe, but nothing fully satisfied the itch of pushing herself further.
“Every time we’ve been on a long hike I’ve been like ‘do I still want to do this’ and the answer keeps being yes,” she said.
Last year she took the leap to start the process to become one of the 4500 people from across the world to do the 4265 km Pacific Crest Trail.
But just getting to the starting line was no easy feat, with visa delays and only 50 people a day allowed to start on the trail over the months of March, April and May.
Through a ballot-like system, the only slot initially available would have been too difficult with snow and cold temperatures. In the second release she secured a start date of 8 April, 2026.
Although she’ll be completing the trek solo, Jess is looking forward to meeting new people from across the globe.
As well as hiking, Jess has kept fit through playing hockey, Pilates and trail running to try to prepare for the unique physical challenges that lie ahead.
“The trail is split into four different kind of environments,” she said.
“The first four to six weeks are in the desert, the second section is the Sierra Nevada, so that’s mountains, then the next is Oregon which is forests and the last section is Washington which is mountainy and raining – but not like the Sierra’s which by comparison are snowy and much higher in elevation.
“If you go too hard too early, you’re going to injure yourself.
“But after the Sierras you have to start picking up the pace. For some of the second half of the trip, I’ll be doing a marathon every day basically in order to finish before the snow comes.”
Carrying everything on her back, Jess needs to pack light.
“I am only like 50 kg, five foot tall – a heavy pack weight would just mean that I don’t finish, that I hurt myself or that I have a bad time,” she said.
“So my pack weight without any food and water in it is five and a half kilos. Which means that I’ve basically got a tent, a sleeping bag, a sleeping mat, a warm layer of clothes and an extra pair of socks and undies – that’s a luxury item – first aid, the ability to recharge my phone so a powerbank and plug for the wall, and the ability to hold and filter water.”
Despite tough conditions ahead, Jess is using the opportunity to raise money for those who are going through something much more difficult by supporting Community Outreach Illawarra.
“I realised that I’ve got a really great opportunity and platform now to do something good for people who aren’t as lucky but are just as brave,” Jess said.
“For years [Barb Atkins] has been posting to collect furniture for people who have been provided public housing. Often they’ve left their situation with nothing, which is incredibly risky and brave, so she tries to get donations from the community of fridges and beds and couches and everything that you need to live in a home.
“At the moment she needs people to donate their time in their utes or moving trucks or pay to transport stuff people have donated, but their aim is to purchase a van or truck so that they’re able to do it on their own schedule when people need it and not have to rely on the community for that as well.
“I know every dollar they get will have a direct impact on people.”
To donate to Jess’ fundraising page or for updates on her journey visit her GoFundMe page.
