42 March 2021
FEATURE
T
he Pacific Crest Trail spans 2,650
miles from Mexico to Canada
through California, Oregon
and Washington. It crosses over
57 major mountain passes. It's a beautiful,
grueling, treacherous trek through scorching
desert and rocky terrain.
It was against that backdrop that Ivan
Castro faced the latest in a long line of
challenges. Castro, a retired Army Special
Forces officer, was blinded when he took the
brunt of a mortar blast in Iraq in 2006. Since
then, he's gone on to complete more than
60 marathons, including five of the majors;
run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain; cycle
across America; jog across the Sahara Desert;
summit Mount Kilimanjaro; and trek 200
miles across Antarctica to become the first
and only blind American and Puerto Rican to
ski to the South Pole.
Retired Army Maj. Ivan Castro, Who Lives
In Total Darkness, Is An Inspiration To Others
BY MICHAEL FUTCH | PHOTOGRAPHY BY CINDY BURNHAM
Castro with Darlene Matos, his good
friend and primar y care provider.
