Moving south on the PCT through the Mojave Desert, hikers close in on a massive obstacle: the north slope of the iconic San Gabriel Range. These high mountains above the wild desert also frame the Los Angeles Valley on their southern flank. Winter snowpacks provide drinking water for millions of ... Read more
If you think hiking or riding the Pacific Crest Trail is a challenge, just try judging the PCT photo contest.
Jokes aside, each year, Pacific Crest Trail community members generously contribute their trail photos, forming an impressively vast archive that captures the essence of the PCT and its travelers. These ... Read more
The San Bernardino County Department of Public Health has asked us to share a health survey related to reports of gastrointestinal illness on or near the PCT in the Big Bear region starting around the week of April 29th, 2024. If you have hiked the PCT in the area during ... Read more
When Joseph “Brance” Morefield, a US Forest Service Botanist and Invasive Plant Coordinator, reached out to PCTA’s Columbia Cascades Regional Representative Jeanine Russell to collaborate on volunteer projects, she felt like they’d struck gold in a field of four leaf clovers. Providing a variety of opportunities for volunteers to get ... Read more
Note: This is the first part of our trail maintenance highlights series, featuring Southern California and the High Sierra. Stay tuned for part 2 covering the Oregon Cascades and the North Cascades.
Each year, the Pacific Crest Trail Association facilitates a wide variety of trail maintenance projects on the Pacific ... Read more
The PCT is above 13,000 feet only at Forester Pass for about a half-mile. It’s above 12,000 feet at Forester, Mather, and Pinchot passes in the High Sierra, accounting for about 4.3 miles of PCT. The trail is above 8,000 feet for 435 miles. Research from Colorado shows that 25% ... Read more
Introducing… Lindsay Miller “Upbeat”.
Lindsay is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara. During the 2022 hiking season, she set out to create the PCT Class of 2022 Research on Environmental Support and Trends (CREST) Project. She and her research ... Read more
Easy, 2,650 Miles, right? Well… not quite. The question of the PCT’s length comes up often, with guidebooks, phone apps, and other sources across the internet offering varying figures. In recent years, PCTA has come a long way in better tracking and calculating distance. While we regularly reference the rounded ... Read more