A hiker’s near-miss on the Pacific Crest Trail in Goat Rocks Wilderness

We recommend taking a few minutes to watch this account of near-disaster in the Goat Rocks Wilderness. Snow is easily one of the most dangerous conditions on the Pacific Crest Trail. Stories of hikers falling in the Sierra Nevada in June or being buried by fresh snow in the Cascades come September or October are all too common. Here’s a first-person account from one that happened not long ago.

While you watch, think about what lessons you can take from it. What would you do differently? Carry maps that show bail out routes? Better foul weather gear? More food? An ice axe? Stick with partners? Tell us on Facebook.

Author: Jack "Found" Haskel

As the Trail Information Manager, Jack works to connect people to the PCT. He's involved with a wide variety of projects that help the trail, the trail's users and the community that surrounds the experience. He has thru-hiked (Pacific Crest Trail in 2006; Colorado Trail in 2008; Continental Divide Trail in 2010) and is an obsessed weekend warrior.