[carabiner]

Start out car camping. My progression was:

1. Avid day hiker (10-16 mile hikes every weekend, 5-8k ft gain)

2. Car camping in Ojai (near Los Angeles). Drive in, setup your tent, chill, sleep, leave next morning.

3. Backpacking around LA on the trails from step 1

4. Thru-hiked PCT

5. Mountaineering / alpine climbing

Lots of people do the PCT with little hiking experience and are fine though. It's just walking, and there are tons of people to help you.

[elhuddy]

I made it through step 4; could you speak more to the fifth step in your progression and how you really been picking up those advanced skills?

[carabiner]

Start rock climbing, take an intro to mountaineering course with a guiding service (lots of them in WA, OR, CA), or find someone to introduce you to it.

[leonmoonen]

^^ this!

Don’t overthink, go and enjoy.

(trips in bear country take a bit of additional preparation, but also that can be done w/o too much hassle, lots of info online)