OK. A raise of hands; who here has never heard of The Pacific Northwest Trail? How many think that I meant the Pacific Crest Trail? Ooh. More hands.

The 1200 mile Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT), running from the Continental Divide to the Pacific Ocean, ranks among the most scenic trails in the world. This carefully chosen path is high for the views and long on adventure. It includes the Rocky Mountains, Selkirk Mountains, Pasayten Wilderness, North Cascades, Olympic Mountains, and Wilderness Coast. The trail crosses 3 National Parks and 7 National Forests.

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In the early 1970s, Ron Strickland had the dream of a long-distance hiking trail from the Continental Divide to the Pacific Ocean. This dream, now a reality, is called the Pacific Northwest Trail.

Thirty years ago this summer, the Pacific Northwest Trail Association was established in order to construct, protect, promote, and maintain the Pacific Northwest Trail. Volunteers; contributors, donors, and grantors; PNTA employees; and SKY Education and Job Corps students have tirelessly worked and are still working to make the Pacific Northwest Trail one of the best long-distance trails in the United States.

There is an excellent summary of the history of the PNT and PNTA in Ron Strickland’s guidebook “The Pacific Northwest Trail” second edition, 2001.

To celebrate the Trail, the Association, and all those who have worked so hard for both, a community program was held in Mount Vernon WA the last day of June 2007. Ron Strickland and Jon Knechtel, Director of Trails and Acting Executive Director, were co-program presenters.

It is my opinion that of the four major continental trails that crisscross America, the AT, PCT, CDT and the PNT, the PNT is the most rugged but not neccessarily the most difficult. The PNT crosses four mountain ranges running east and west across the top of the US, parrelelling the Canadien border. It also drops into some lower plateaus, valleys and meadowlands in between the ranges that afford a greater diversity of ecosystem. On top of that, the western end runs down into the coastal ecosystem of northern Washington, adding the vast diversity that the ocean beach wilderness brings.

PNT Web Site, Olympic NP Site, North Cascades NP Site, Glacier NP Site

Much was assembled from the PNT web site.