Washington Trails
Association
Trails for everyone, forever
Washington Trails
AssociationTrails for everyone, forever
When a lifelong hiker was diagnosed with the disease, he found a way to keep getting outside. And he helped others do the same. By Chloe Ferrone
On summer days, you might be lucky enough to run into a group of backpackers with a string of llamas in tow. Although thousands of outdoor enthusiasts flock to Washington’s rugged wilderness areas each summer, this group is hiking with one particular thing in common: Parkinson’s disease. For Bill Meyer, being outdoors has always been a big part of his identity. As a lifelong hiker, backpacker and rafter, he’s spent a lot of time exploring the wilderness. But when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, he realized he needed to approach backpacking much differently than he’d been doing his entire life.
When he was in his mid-50s, Bill began seeing symptoms of Parkinson’s.
“I started seeing rigidity of the body; everything was stiff,” Bill said.
That was the beginning of a long journey learning how to manage symptoms as they progressed. In late 2009, his tremors started and he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s soon after.
In 2009, Bill started on medication to manage his symptoms. In 2015, he decided to try deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery, a procedure that implants electrodes in the brain and uses electric impulses to stimulate brain activity. For Bill, the DBS was incredibly helpful.
“It turned me around,” he said. “DBS was like it brought new life into me. I felt so good all of a sudden. I decided to try backpacking again because I loved the outdoors and getting into the mountains.”
Bill said the progress he made with DBS was great motivation to find a way to get back on the trail. That same year, Bill did a test hike to see what he was capable of.
“It was too much to carry a full backpack and deal with the elevation and implants, so I decided to get some friends together and that’s really the idea that started Pass to Pass,” Bill said. “We decided to make it an annual trip, and it grew from there.”
Although there is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, exercise often helps people manage their symptoms. And for many people, scaling back their backpacking ability because of mobility issues is a difficult thing to grapple with. Bill and his wife, Nadean, decided to start Pass to Pass, a nonprofit to help other outdoor enthusiasts with Parkinson’s who otherwise would not be able to continue backpacking.
In 2016, Pass to Pass launched its first trip.
Pass to Pass hikers ford Bumping River during a hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. Photo courtesy of Craig Jones
Right away, Bill and Nadean knew that it had been the right idea. The feedback they got from participants was overwhelmingly positive. But there was also some fine-tuning required. Initially, they used horses for pack support, but they created some challenges.
Pass to pass hikers find trail family beyond the traditional hiker. Photo courtesy of Bill Meyer.
“The first year, I didn’t know if this whole thing would be sustainable, because horses were expensive and couldn’t go where we wanted to go,” Bill said. But then they decided to switch to llamas and things started falling into place.
Nowadays, the majority of Pass to Pass’s multiday trips utilize llamas, allowing hikers with Parkinson’s — “Parkies,” as Bill refers to them — to hike with only a small day pack.
The group size is generally four Parkies, four support hikers and four llamas. Trips vary in length and difficulty, but generally trips are 6 days long, and the group averages about 5 miles a day.
Trip leaders and board members take on the bulk of the trip planning, while individuals are tasked with fundraising and asking for donations to cover their personal travel expenses, food and gear needs. Bill has found that sleeping outdoors with Parkinson’s can be challenging at best, so Pass to Pass provides extra-thick sleeping pads for Parkies, plus chairs and first-aid kits.
This year marks Pass to Pass’s 10th anniversary. Over the last decade, Pass to Pass has welcomed hikers from 25 states and provinces, and they’ve expanded their multiday trip options to include hikes in Washington, Oregon, California and, new this year, Montana and Virginia.
Pass to Pass trips have expanded to regions like Jefferson Wilderness and the John Muir Trail. Photos courtesy of Craig Jones.
“I never imagined it would get as big as it did,” Bill said. “We just added another trip in Oregon; we had about 170 hikers in 2024 and it’ll be even more this year.”
Hikers covered over 3,000 miles in 2024, and there are about 3,500–4,000 miles of treks on the books for 2025. Bill said participants have covered over 13,000 miles of trails since the group began in 2016.
As the organization has grown, it has also evolved to include day hiking options and multiday trips that involve lodges or car-camping. There are 15 multi-day trips listed on the website for the 2025 season, ranging from lodge-based day hikes at Rainier to a Hart’s Pass to Rainy Pass backpacking excursion on the Pacific Crest Trail. Some trips are llama-supported; others rely more heavily on support hikers.
This season, Bill will have a chance to step away from trip leader recruiting and hand that task over to one of the other volunteers, which is something he’s very excited about.
Big thumbs up for getting outside together — and for llamas. Photo courtesy of Bill Meyer.
“A lot of that excitement comes from bringing new people on and having better capacity. We’ve also got a new llama team and the challenges that brings, plus a new area as we branch out into Montana trips,” Bill said.
Looking back at the last 10 years, Nadean said that the biggest surprise has been the community.
“Bill has made so many friends. Most of us don’t want to talk about Parkinson’s, but we talk about it here. We offer advice, share stories and different tricks to help,” she said. “It’s healing to find that community.”
There are a number of ways to support Pass to Pass. Most of the trip leaders and support hikers are those who have Parkinson’s, or are family or friends of those hiking. But volunteers are frequently needed in other ways, such as assisting with transportation to and from trailheads for hikers arriving from out of state, delivering trailhead lunches, or attending conferences and tabling for the organization.
2026 will mark the 10th anniversary of Pass to Pass. Photo courtesy of Bill Meyer.
In the midst of all their undertakings, Bill and Nadean also still find time to give back to their community in other ways. When he was Younger, Bill was an avid trail user and volunteered with Washington Trails Association as a way to give back to the trail community. He also has helped support land acquisitions for the Pacific Crest Trail Association to link the north and middle sections of the Pacific Crest Trail. Bill has also been a long-time donor to WTA and is helping fund one of the Lost Trails Found crew trips and work at Mica Peak in Spokane this summer.
