Last year Visit Carson City announced the Carson to Canada Quest contest – they would pay two lucky hikers $5,000 each to walk 1,600 miles from the steps of the Nevada state capital to the Canadian border and documenting their journey on social media.
Out of hundreds of applicants, two Colorado women were chosen. Audrey Payne, of Boulder, and Julianne Mahoney of Durango will be hitting the trail.
When Payne received the news she had been chosen, she was in disbelief.
“Oh my gosh. I was so blown away. I had been seeing this contest everywhere for months, and I had had so many different people send it to me,” Payne said. “So getting chosen, I couldn't believe it.”
There were over 350 applicants from all over the world, but Payne and Mahoney stood out as obvious choices, said Lydia Beck, the marketing and public relations manager for Visit Carson City.
“These two women were just extraordinary hikers and backpackers,” Beck said. “The physicality of it was just one piece. But the whole point of this is to have someone to be able to share their story and bring us along for the ride on the experience. And both of them are exceptional storytellers.”
The Carson to Canada Quest came about to celebrate the new Capitol to Tahoe Trail, completed in 2023, which connects Carson City to the Pacific Crest Trail via the Tahoe Rim Trail.
Payne decided to hike the entire Pacific Crest Trail – or PCT as it is known to hikers – and began her journey earlier this month at the Mexican border. She will stop in Carson City mid-June, where she’ll meet up with Mahoney and the two will start the quest North.
Beck said although they’ll set off together, they’ll each hike at their own pace, but both women expect to finish their long walk by October.
Payne said she has had her eye on the Pacific Crest Trail for some time now, and winning this contest sealed the deal.
“I've been wanting to hike the PCT for a few years now, and I felt like it just always felt like the wrong time,” Payne said. “So I felt like, by winning this contest, that was the universe being like, ‘Okay, you're supposed to go in 2025.’”
