Blog Posts of the Pacific Northwest Trail Association

Boundary Trail Pasayten Wilderness

Clearing a Path Through the Pasayten

How PNTA and our partners battled blowdowns and years of wildfire damage to restore access to the Boundary Trail in the Pasayten Wilderness Pressed up against the jagged peaks that guard our northern border between the arid Okanogan and the glacier-clad ranges of the North Cascades lies the 531,000-acre Pasayten Wilderness. Like all designated wilderness…
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Six Moon Designs Donation

Six Moon Designs Donation

On August 18th, 2019, Six Moon Designs, manufacturers of lightweight, high-quality, affordable backpacking equipment, made a generous donation of outdoor gear to the Association’s Performance Trail Crew program.  With new lightweight backpacks and tents, the youth and young adults who served on our backcountry trail crews this season were better equipped to reach remote worksites…
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PNTA Performance Trail Crew

Meet Our 2019 Performance Trail Crews

Meet the six hard-working trail crews that spend the summer working on the Pacific Northwest Trail. Our Performance Trail Crews are seasonal trail maintenance and construction teams that keep the Pacific Northwest Trail open for everyone to enjoy. Each season, we train youth and young adults from trailside communities to tend trails and camp out in…
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Meet Our 2019 Crew Leaders

Crew leader, Cat Sullivan leads our North Cascades Trail Crew. Photo by Thomas Gingrich. Crew leader, Kameron Walton returned for a 4th season to lead our crews in Eastern Washington. Assistant crew leader, Zac Skees joined our team this year bringing years of backcountry trail experience. Assistant crew leader, Carly Tryon poses with a chainsaw…
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The Parks For All Program helped to make Crew Leader Training possible

Preparing for the Season Ahead

  Each spring, before the trail melts out on the high passes or the first log of the season is cut, Pacific Northwest Trail Association staff come together for our annual crew leader training. This year’s training was held a short distance from the Pacific Northwest Trail at Camp Ortoha, a youth camp nestled among…
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10 year anniversary

Celebrating Ten Years as a National Scenic Trail

WASHINGTON – MARCH 30: Flanked by, (L-R) Rep. Parker Griffith (D-AL), Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Rep. Nick Rahall (D-WV), Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA), Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT), and Matthew Reeve, son…
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wonders numbers

PNT Wonders by the Numbers

    Are you curious about the wonders of the Pacific Northwest Trail? This shareable infographic breaks the PNT down by the numbers. But the raw facts hardly begin to tell the whole story of the PNT. Let’s take a closer look at what makes the trail so special, starting with another fun fact: The…
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LWCF Permanently Reauthorized

America’s Best Conservation Program Reauthorized

  On March 12, President Trump signed a public lands package which passed both houses of congress with broad bipartisan support. Called the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, S.47 permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund and includes other important conservation measures across the nation. There’s much work to be…
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Columbian black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus)

New Trailhead Shuttle Available

As America’s wildest and most remote National Scenic Trail, simply getting to the Pacific Northwest Trail can be an adventure, especially for those traveling without personal transportation. On the west end of the trail, a new shuttle will make it a lot easier to reach the trailhead this year. Although bus service is available between…
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Performance Trail Crew - restore pasayten

REI Awards PNTA Grant to Restore Pasayten

  On December 2nd, 2018, REI, the national outdoor specialty retailer and the nation’s largest consumer co-op with 6 million active members, announced grant recipients of their National Trails System Act Grant program. The Pacific Northwest Trail Association was awarded $25,000 in grant funding to support trail restoration on the Pasayten Wilderness and to strengthen…
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Hydro Flask Parks For All Grantees

Hydro Flask Awards PNTA Grant

On Giving Tuesday, Hydro Flask, the award-winning leader in high-­performance, insulated stainless steel flasks and soft good innovations, announced grant recipients of their 2018 Parks For All Charitable Giving Program. In total, the company donated over half a million dollars in 2018 to preserve, maintain and provide better access to green spaces and parks of…
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#youthcrewheroes

Youth Crew Heroes Campaign

  At PNTA, we love to build great trail, but we also love to build great youth. Last November, Pacific Northwest Trail supporters came together to make our fundraiser for the PNT, the Thunderbird Campaign, a huge success. Thanks to you, PNTA purchased 500 new trail markers, bearing the iconic Thunderbird logo. Your donations also helped to fund…
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