The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is a long-distance mountain hiking and equestrian trail that runs in Washington, Oregon, and California between Mexico and Canada. To serious hikers this is the Super Bowl, the World Series and the Masters all rolled up in one. To cover the entire trail you have to start at the Mexican Border in April and expect to reach the Canadian Border in early October before the heavy snow falls.
The trail follows the highest portion of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Range, which parallel the Pacific Ocean by 100 to 150 miles . The Pacific Crest Trail is 2,650 miles long and ranges in elevation from just above sea level at the Oregon-Washington border to 13,153 feet at Forester Pass in the Sierra Nevada. The route passes through 25 national forests and 7 national parks.
It was designated a National Scenic Trail in 1968, although it was not officially completed until 1993. The PCT was conceived by Clinton C. Clarke in 1932; however it was not given official status until the National Trails System Act of 1968.
The route is mostly through National Forest and—where possible—protected wilderness. The trail avoids civilization, and covers scenic and pristine mountainous terrain with few roads.
On this day we drove about a half hour out of town into the Cascades with Debra, Larry and Norm the Wonder Dawg and did a six mile loop on the PCT trail…in the rain as it turned out. Even though the weather has been sunny here for weeks, fall is in the air, and if you are not willing to hike in the mist and the rain in Oregon, you might as well not hike.
Dressed properly,( thank you REI), hiking in the rain among the beautiful trees and mountain vistas is a wonderful experience. We often times stopped, took in the views, and listened to the rain gently falling. Occasionally we ran into the serious hikers who were heading North into the higher mountains. Their destination was only three to four weeks away.
Now a word about Norm the Wonder Dawg. Norm is Larry's and Debra's young English Spaniel. Norm is a real sweetheart. He has an enormous amount of energy and is lots of fun to have accompany us on hikes. Norm's only problem, he is a natural magnet for brush, mud, water, virtually anything that is close to his low-slung chassis. I made the mistake of taking our new and very clean Prius on this trip today and needless to say, there was little we could do about Norm returning to the car with half of the hike terrain attached to his body. No harm though. The towels placed in the back seat worked pretty well and the car cleaned up easily after we returned.
Back to the trail,we met a young man from Germany on the PCT (see pic) who was hiking alone after temporarily abandoning his companions in Northern California. He had recently sold his software business in Mainz and was taking time off for this five month adventure deciding what to do next. What an experience! The PCT is a magnet for Europeans like this man but there is also a story told of an 80 year old woman who covered its entirety in a pair of Keds. Well, perhaps several pairs of Keds.
Writing tonight, I think about our trip back to Scottsdale zipping along the Eastern Slope of the Sierra at 60MPH and looking up to see Mount Whitney. I will think about our young German friend, a his companions, and the lucky few with the stamina and fortitude to tackle the PCT and summit this magnificent peak. Who knows, maybe someday I will find a bunch of crazy guys (or women) and do the Sierra part of the PCT myself. Any takers out there? Dream on Shel?
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