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
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
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
Anna Dearybury was born and raised in South Carolina, where she grew up enjoying nature walks with her family. However, for the majority of her adult life, she has called the West Coast home. She loves the West for how it invites adventure and embraces wanderers. It is only natural ... Read more
This blog post is part two of a two part series featuring the reflections of PCT volunteer Brian Wagenaar. Check out part one in this post from February, 2024.
ACE visits The Notch
Our second backcountry hitch took us up to The Notch, a beautiful section of trail that is ... Read more
Welcome to the blog of the Pacific Crest Trail Association. Check back often for news about the trail.