A drizzle of rain soaked the well-worn backpacks of Lizzy and Josh Corliss last September when the siblings took the final steps to complete their long-held dream of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Undaunted by the low clouds, the duo and their hiking pals let out exuberant cheers as they ran out of the woods to touch the monument marking the northern terminus of the 2,670-mile trail. The adventuresome pair will share highlights from their five-month trek in a presentation tomorrow at the Vashon Bookshop.

Long before “Wild” — Cheryl Strayed’s memoir about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) — hit the best seller list in 2012, and unbeknownst to one another, Lizzy, 23, and Josh, 26, each held quiet aspirations to hike the eponymous route that begins in Campo, California, at the U.S.-Mexican border, follows the crest of the mountains in California, Oregon and Washington and ends at Manning Park, British Columbia, just across the border with the U.S.

With an infectious chortle that would christen her Laugh Track on the trail, Lizzy recalled her first exposure to the PCT. It happened at Crater Lake National Park, where she worked for two weeks repairing a trail with other members of the Student Conservation Association in 2010.

“We were on the edge of a switchback when this grimy, huge-bearded guy with wild eyes came around the corner, and we thought who is this crazy, homeless person,” Lizzy said. “But we were entertained, and over lunch the story came out that he was hiking the PCT.”

As for Josh, he heard about the route in high school, from an instructor at the Mountaineers Club in Seattle. Though Josh graduated from Vashon High School in 2007, he took time off while attending Western Washington University to travel. Lizzy, who graduated VHS in 2010, went on to the University of Montana. Both graduated college in 2013 — Josh with a degree in chemistry, Lizzy with a degree in Parks, Tourism and Recreational Resource Management — and that’s when serendipity intervened. One sibling mentioned to the other that they were thinking about hiking the PCT, which started the ball rolling. In the first entry from Lizzy’s blog about the trip, she explained their rationale.

“Josh and I both realize this is a rare time in our lives. We are on the brink of the world, marked by a time of freedom. … The PCT may be one of the last times we can take six months off from jobs and societal responsibilities together as young adults. We are pumped to hit the trail as crazy journeying siblings.”

In April of 2013, the siblings did just that. With another friend from Vashon, Collin Hanowell, or Tooneboost as he was dubbed on the trail, the three hikers flew to San Diego to begin a journey that would include an elevation range from just above sea level to 13,153 feet at Forester Pass in the Sierra Nevada. They would pass through 25 national forests and seven national parks, averaging 25 to 28 miles a day, carrying backpacks weighing 30 to 45 pounds and end their adventure exactly five months later on September 25.

The hikers had done their homework. They read the bible of the trail, “Yogi’s PCT,” which answered questions from whether to carry bear spray to what towns to mail resupply boxes from home. They learned there is a trail culture, including strangers called “trail angels” who leave water caches in the Mohave Dessert, open their houses to hikers, feed them home-cooked meals and provide help along the route. Another group of experienced hikers named “the wolverines” go through beginners’ packs at the start of the trail, chucking the unnecessary and weighty.

Still, Lizzy said nothing prepared them for the journey like the hike itself. They soon discovered they had over-planned, stuffing far too much food into their resupply boxes.

“Some previous study and math gave us a basis of ingredients,” Lizzy wrote in her blog. “We were going for 150 freeze-dried meals, 75 cups of insta-rice or fluff as I like call it, 14 cups of oil, 75 cups of granola, 37.5 cups of dry milk, 75 cups of nuts, 75 cups of dry fruit, 5 cups of chia seeds or flax, 150 tea or coffee sachets, 225 candy bars, and 225 health food bars PER PERSON.”

Aside from tiring of too much of the same food — Lizzy claims she will never eat another Snickers bar — the hikers learned to roll with whatever showed up en route, like forest fires in the Sierras, rattlesnakes sunning themselves across the trial and bear sometimes a mere 20 twenty feet away.

Trail lingo and nicknames pop into Lizzy’s stories. Josh and Lizzy are called “thru-hikers,” as they hiked the entire trail in one trip. Josh is called Magic Stick for a walking staff he carved out of hickory. Lizzy’s best pal, Shannon Pepper, is dubbed Pan and the two BFFs exemplify what is known as “trail magic.” Though they had gone to college together, even shared a rock climbing class, they never clicked.

“But we magically managed to start the PCT on the same day. On the trail, Pan was my sister,” Lizzy said. “We found we were both horse gals and had worked off the grid. We had no secrets.”

Chance meetings with old and new friends pepper Lizzy’s conversation and blog. Shared experiences — surviving the 120-degree desert, summiting major peaks, walking the razor’s edge of peaks in the Goat Rocks Wilderness, stretched out under the blanket of a star-ladened sky and diving into a meal of Mexican food with Margaritas in a small town — morphed their band of newly formed friends into a tight family circle. They called themselves Gyspy Town.

“We almost always have wobbly white sweat stains lining our backs in pack form,” Lizzy wrote in her blog. “We sport grimy tans. Our socks stand up on their own. And, we smell … pretty bad. However, with all this in mind, our story makes eyes glisten. … We receive uncommon courtesy. Our enthusiasm brings smiles, high-fives and laughter. Our unquenchable appetites are entertainment for restaurant staff. … Free food! People wish they were us, people say they will be us next year because of us. We are friendly, goofy, crazy, highly esteemed, honored, Spartans.”

Back on Vashon, Lizzy is working at a local horse stable and making plans to hike the Appalachian Trail in March. The PCT, the Appalachian Trail and the Continental Divide Trail are considered the Triple Crown of Hiking in the U.S.

Josh is off the grid again, skiing in Montana before he begins commercial fishing in Alaska. He will be on the island for the pair’s presentations tomorrow, which Lizzy said they hope may even inspire others to take the Pacific Crest Trail.

She added with a laugh that it’s a big party out there.

“Nature was beautiful and amazing, but the people made the trail. Go see some of the PCT. Get out there and do it.”

Lizzy and Josh Corliss will give a presentation about their hike with a video, photographs and a Q & A session at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, at the Vashon Bookshop.