Blog Posts of the Pacific Northwest Trail Association

PNTA Saw Training 2026: “The Season Is Off and Running!” Clearing blowdowns on the PNT takes skilled hands and sharp blades. This month near Baker Lake, a new cohort started learning both.   Eleven rising outdoor leaders, pictured at left, joined PNTA’s Western Washington Regional Manager, Sterling Collins-Hill and Technical Advisor, Connor Clifford along with Bridget…

PNTA Releases 2026 Maps The Pacific Northwest Trail Association is taking orders for 2026 print maps! The maps are tear and water resistant, and provide hikers with information they might miss out on with other guides.  Order here by May 15 to secure your copy for the 2026 hiking season. Why Should I Have A…

The Sharper the Saw, The Stronger the Trail Crew Near Seattle, there’s a garage with sawdust drifting across the floor, classical music playing over an FM radio, a wooden workbench with hand files, clamps, sandpaper and notes from old projects and over twenty crosscut saws hanging on the walls. This is where you’ll find Jeff…

Olympic National Park Requires Bear Cans Throughout All Wilderness Areas Olympic National Park has updated its wilderness food storage requirements — and the change directly impacts Pacific Northwest Trail hikers traveling through the park. What’s Changed? For many years, hard-sided food storage containers (bear canisters) were required along the PNT only if you planned to…

Over 2,122 Logs and Counting: The PNTA Performance Crews Are Hard At Work With four hitches down and a few more to go, our performance trail crews are still working hard on the PNT. From clearing over 500 logs in a single hitch to maintaining hundreds of feet of tread, our performance trail crews continue…