Mark Larabee is the PCTA's Advocacy Director. He is the former editor of the "PCT Communicator" magazine and co-author of "The Pacific Crest Trail: Exploring America's Wilderness Trail" published in 2016. Larabee is a journalist, part of a team who won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news for The Oregonian newspaper. He hiked the PCT across Oregon for a 2005 series for the paper and has been with PCTA since 2010. He lives in Portland.
When we join with other trail groups in February for our annual Hike the Hill visits with members of Congress and their staffs, one of the most important things we talk with them about is the Land and Water Conservation Fund and why it’s crucial to the National Trails System.... Read more
Spring is in the air. Thru-hikers are tending to early blisters and making their way north. Trees are budding in the Pacific Northwest and the Sierra snowpack is melting, albeit stubbornly. And we have a new batch of amazing photos to share via our annual photo contest.
This is one ... Read more
When a huge tree falls and destroys a bridge crossing a high rocky gorge in the backcountry, the challenge to replace it would likely seem overwhelming to most, even an experienced trail builder. But the seasoned trail maintainers with the PCTA’s Mount Hood Chapter look at such problems, figure out ... Read more
In PCT thru-hiker circles, it’s been a tradition going back longer than most of us can remember.
The Annual Day Zero Pacific Crest Trail Kick Off — ADZPCTKO, we’ll call it Kick Off for short — brought together new distance hikers with seasoned veterans who shared their wisdom about everything ... Read more
An excerpt from The Pacific Crest Trail: Exploring America’s Wilderness Trail
By Mark Larabee and Barney Scout Mann
“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
Eight inches of fresh snow lay on the ground but the day was sunny in ... Read more
Six PCTA volunteers and seven staff members spent last week in Washington D.C. visiting with members of Congress and their staff, federal agency partners and other trail groups to advocate for continued funding for trails, land protection and other important issues that affect our national trails.
We also were joined ... Read more
It makes sense that the folks at Crux Fermentation Project, a popular small-batch brewery in central Oregon, felt a kinship to the Pacific Crest Trail.
Given that PCT travelers are staple customers — especially during the summer months when trail hikers and horseback riders flock to the Cascades — they ... Read more
Volunteer Caretaker Jack Konner, who helped build the Pacific Crest Trail Association’s Mount Hood Chapter into a trail-maintaining powerhouse, died Nov. 11, 2016. He was 89.
Jack, who lived in Beaverton, Oregon, was one of the Mount Hood Chapter’s earliest section caretakers. As the chapter’s first volunteer coordinator during a ... Read more
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