The Pacific Crest is the Appalachian Trail's rugged, loner sister. Designated at the same time as the AT, the Pacific Crest crosses more challenging terrain at higher altitudes—through the Sonoran and Mojave deserts then over the spectacular shoulders Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges from Mexico to Canada. It can be days between water sources in the tough Sonoran and Mojave deserts. In the high Sierra the trail crosses wilderness unbroken by roads for 200 miles. Then through the Cascade Range of northern California, Oregon and Washington, the trail explores a string of wildernesses in volcanic landscape. Trail thru-hikers find themselves racing to beat the winter storms as they near the Canadian border.

Inspired in the 1930s by the idea of a long-distance mountain trail, citizen activists worked with the Forest Service to establish the trail. It passes through 24 national forests, seven national parks and 33 wildernesses.

The trail starts out as a desert trail at the California/Mexican border and soon moves into the Cleveland National Forest and then in succession, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the San Bernardino National Forest, the Angeles National Forest. The Pacific Crest leaves the desert and enters the foothills of the Sierra outside the Sequoia National Forest and passes through Sequoia into Inyo National Forest before entering Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks. By this time the trail is in the High Sierra, and treks through the wildernesses in Sierra National Forest before exploring the remote glories of eastern Yosemite National Park.

At the Oregon border, the trail ventures into the Rogue River National Forest and then traverses the length of Crater Lake National Park. The trail leaves the park and enters Umpqua National Forest, then a bit of Deschutes National Forest before tracking the length of the Willamette National Forests and Mount Hood National Forest.

The trail crosses into Washington state at its lowest point (literally, not figuratively) by the Bridge of the Gods, sea level 104 feet, in Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. The PCT then shoots up through the Gifford Pinchot National Forest before playing with the boundaries of Mount Rainier National Park. Then it's up through the Wenatchee National Forest and the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest before girdling the magnificent North Cascades National Park Complex. The final stretch to the Canadian border passes through the Okonogan National Forest.

The Pacific Crest Trail Bibliography
Read up before you hike. Check out GORP's list of essential guides and reference works on the PCT.