Hike America – The Pacific Crest Trail
One of America’s best hiking trails, the Pacific Crest Trail runs from Mexico to Canada and crosses through Washington, Oregon, and California. Conceived in 1932 by Clinton C. Clarke and designated a National Scenic Trail in 1968, it wasn’t complete until 1993. The greatest changes in elevation of any of the country’s national scenic trails can be found on the PCT.
It runs along the coast of the Pacific Ocean for over one hundred miles and crosses through six of the seven ecozones that are found in the United States. From blistering deserts to moist rain forests, the Pacific Crest Trail offers an amazing hiking experience. The Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Mojave Desert, Mt. Whitney, Northern California’s Russian Wilderness, Marble Mountain, Yosemite National Park, the volcanoes in the Cascades, Mount Hood, Mount Shasta, the Columbia River Gorge, Crater Lake, the Northern Cascades, and Mount Rainier are all found along the trail.
Each year, there are over 300 people who try to hike the entire Pacific Crest Trail in one season. Unlike the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Trail doesn’t only have thru-hikers. It also has thru-riders. These are people who ride a horse through the entire trail. Both thru-hiking and thru-riding are massive undertakings, because the trail runs two thousand six hundred and fifty miles.
The usual duration of such a trip is between four and six months. The average distance covered in a day is about twenty miles. Each year, about 180 people reach their goal of completing a thru-hike. The first thru-hike is said to have been made in 1970 by a 17-year-old kid named Eric Ryback. He wrote a book about his travels. There is debate about the validity of Ryback’s achievements, with books by Wilderness Press claiming that he accepted rides along the trail.
The Pacific Crest Trail is the place to see America’s most extraordinary landscapes, alongside coyotes, cougars, lizards and snakes.
Scott Amundson consistently writes compelling articles for popular blog THE ULTIMATE HIKING GUIDE, found at ultimatehikingguide.blogspot.com.
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