There are many reasons to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. But one young man, Kyran Young, born in Zimbabwe on the African continent, is hiking the 2,663 miles of the PCT for a cause unfamiliar to his fellow hikers or most people in the United States.
Raised in Africa until he was 12, Kyran seeks to heighten awareness about and money for the mountain gorillas, the Silverbacks of Central Africa. These peaceful, family oriented gorillas have been the victims of brutal poaching attacks and of strife and civil war in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo that has decimated their mountain habitats. Once plentiful, now only 880 are left in the world.
African park rangers who watch over them and view them as friends know individual and family names. But rangers are too few in number to prevent determined poachers who kill these gentle giants for bush meat or good-luck charms — the hands or feet of baby gorillas.
Kyran, 19, now lives in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England but still feels a deep kinship with African wildlife. “Growing up in the bush and being exposed to wildlife is something I have never forgotten,” he said. “Leaving it all behind was difficult. Maybe I feel a special connection because of a homesickness thing.”
Kyran read of poachers who poisoned more than 300 elephants in his native Zimbabwe and of the murders of families of Silverbacks in the DRC, including one family’s patriarch, three females and their babies. Park rangers, often understaffed, have been hard pressed to stop poachers.
“Conservation efforts have increased,” said Kyran, “but encroachments into Silverback’s mountain habitats continue. There are only two small pockets of them left in two mountain areas. And these are peaceful, non-violent creatures. Over 140 rangers have also been killed by poachers and rebel forces.”
Kyran, accompanied on his hike by his older brother Scott, 21, originally was trying to raise 10,000 British pounds but has since upped his goal to 100,000, roughly $150,000 dollars. “I worked for six months as a laborer to raise money for the trip,” said Kyran. “Originally I was sponsored by companies, but to date we have only raised 7,000 pounds of our total goal.”
Kyran is determined to complete the full PCT and to use the distance to talk about his cause. “We’re averaging 25 miles a day,” said Kyran, “and that’s our daily goal.” That is an ambitious goal, with most PCT hikers averaging 12 to 15 miles a day. Kyran trained for the hike in Canada’s Rocky Mountains and on a 538-mile French hiking trail in the Pyrenees. He is also in top physical condition, having attended Wycliffe College in Stonehouse, England on a squash scholarship.
In talking with Kyran, one is struck by his quiet politeness. Yes, he is enthusiastic about the hike and about his cause, but there is a quality about him of deference and respect when he speaks to others. He, like the Silverbacks for whom he walks, is gentle and a bit shy. “My dream as a kid was to become a game ranger,” said Kyran. “Perhaps I’ll become a conservationist. I’m excited to be hiking the PCT and meeting people along the way. It’s a wonderful way to see America.”
As of this writing, according to his website, Kyran and Scott have walked 275 miles and raised $11,658 or 7,609 British pounds.
For more about Kyran’s odyssey, visit www.gorillawalker.com.
