Unpopular opinion: the PCT is better if you skip the desert section

Last month I started at Kennedy Meadows instead of the Mexican border, saved 3 weeks and a pile of misery. Has anyone else trimmed a famous trail to fit their actual schedule instead of doing the full route?

2 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

2 Comments

parkerk561mo ago

Friend of mine got off at Cascade Locks on the PCT two summers ago. He had exactly six weeks of vacation saved up and just accepted he wasn't going to finish Washington. Said the last morning he stood on the bridge watching the river and felt zero regret, just happy he got the good stuff. He skipped the desert too, started right at Ashland, and hiked north through Oregon into the rain. Told me the trail doesn't care if you do every mile, and honestly the best campsite he found was a random spot near Three Sisters that no guidebook mentions. Some folks treat a thru-hike like a checkbox, but he treated it like a trip that fit his life.

7

wyattmitchell1mo ago

Heard a guy on a podcast say something similar last year, that the PCT is basically a choose your own adventure, not a contest. @parkerk56 your friend gets it, sounds like he figured out the secret early. The whole "finish or you failed" thing is such a trap, especially when real life like jobs and money gets in the way. Those random spots, the ones nobody writes about, are usually the ones that stick with you the most. I'd bet he remembers that Three Sisters camp more than any summit he ever bagged. Trail miles are just math, but memories are the actual payoff, and those don't care about your total count.

7