Indeed, the PCT is a trail of diversity and extremes. From scorching desert valleys in Southern California to rain forests in the Pacific Northwest, the PCT offers hikers a unique and varied experience.

Located within driving distance of San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Portland, and Seattle, the PCT is both easily accessible and blissfully wild at the same time. Whether exploring the PCT for weeks on end, or just a weekend, it offers the best of the West - the Mojave Desert, the Sierra Nevada and Mt. Whitney, Yosemite National Park, Marble Mountain and the Russian Wilderness in Northern California, the volcanoes of the Cascades including Mt. Shasta and Mt. Hood, Crater Lake, Columbia River Gorge, Mt. Rainier, and the remote Northern Cascades.

Over the past decade the PCT has become a favorite target of thru-hikers (the hearty souls who attempt to hike an entire long-distance trail in one "season"). Each year, in fact, an average of 300 hikers attempt to cover the full length of the PCT. Thousands of other hikers enjoy this national treasure each year, some traveling only a few miles in the course of a day hike.

Along with the Appalachian Trail in the east, the Pacific Crest Trail was established as one of the first national scenic trails in 1968 when Congress passed the National Trails Systems Act. The trail was formally dedicated in 1993 at a ceremony in southern California. A golden spike in Soledad Canyon marks the completion of the nation's longest continuous footpath.

Follow along as RhythmWalk has changed to
RhythmRIDE for Zimbabwe. Loren’s journey on the crest has moved to the coast!

My RhythmRIDE journey will follow along the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route from the Canadian border near Vancouver down to the Mexican border.

Trail Descriptions courtesy of the PCTA