Blog Posts of the Pacific Northwest Trail Association

hike hill

Update: Hike the Hill 2018

Each February, advocates from the Partnership for the National Trails System, the American Hiking Society, and over 30 nonprofit National Trail Organizations flock to Washington DC for the annual Hike the Hill event. The Pacific Northwest Trail Association was represented by Executive Director, Jeff Kish, who alongside other trail associations, met with members of Congress…
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Update: Wildfire and Trail Conditions

Above: Thru-hikers, Jess “Dust Bunny” Foster and Joe “Tickled Pink” Loubier were among the last to traverse the Boundary Trail in 2017. Foster snapped a photo of the wildfire still a few miles south while it torched the flanks of Ashnola Mountain. They would be among the last in a generation to see the wilderness…
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Atlas Guides App for the PNT

The Official Hiking Guide App for the PNT

    The Pacific Northwest Trail Association is proud to announce our partnership with Atlas Guides. We teamed up to develop a new smartphone hiking guide to the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail.   Guthook Guides, an Atlas Guides project, are detailed, map-based smartphone hiking guides for your favorite long-distance trails, created by a team…
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New Website Launch

The New PNT.org If you haven’t visited our home on the web recently, we invite you to come explore the changes we’ve made at pnt.org. To adapt to the latest changes on the web, and to improve access to the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail by providing comprehensive trail information, we rebuilt our website from…
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Trail towns offer business, friendships

Trail Towns Offer Business, Friendships By Artie McRae   This article originally appeared in the September 8th edition of the Ferry County View. Have you noticed an increase in the number of people around town with backpacks and trekking poles and wondered what they are up to? They are hiking the 1200-mile Pacific Northwest Trail,…
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Making Progress at Swift Creek

HAZARDOUS CROSSINGS The Swift and Rainbow Creek crossings in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest (MBS) have presented formidable challenges on the Pacific Northwest Trail for decades. Without bridges in place, PNT hikers make two back-to-back, heart-pounding crossings. The ford across the icy waters of Swift Creek can be waist deep, even in early August. Both of…
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1200 Milers Project

The 1,200 Miler Project

Above:  Ron Strickland and Ted Hitzroth arrive at the Pacific Ocean on their 1983 exploratory thru-hike. Photo by Ron Strickland.   Record numbers of thru-hikers have flocked to attempt the Pacific Northwest Trail in 2017 — the Pacific Northwest Trail Association estimates that over 100 hikers have attempted end-to-end treks this year, nearly double the…
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Celebrating our 40th Anniversary

Above:  PNT founder, Ron Strickland summoned 2017 PNT thru-hiker, Tyler Yates, to the stage to speak about the wilderness character of the PNT.    Celebrating our 40th Anniversary On a foggy August morning in the Puget Sound, Pacific Northwest Trail enthusiasts from all over the country joined the Pacific Northwest Trail Association to celebrate two…
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Volunteer Spotlight: David Zermeno

  Before setting out on his Crown-to-Coast adventure on the Pacific Northwest Trail this summer, thru-hiker David Zermeno spent an entire month volunteering with the PNTA!  David gave a whopping 177 hours in service to the trail and helped make our 2017 mapset possible. I first met David at an outreach event, called “Plan Your…
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events

National Trails Day, 2017

Above:  PNTA staff and SWITMO volunteers pose in front of new PNT signage on the John Tursi Trail on National Trails Day, 2017 National Trails Day, 2017 The Pacific Northwest Trail Association celebrated National Trails Day on the newest addition to the PNT, the John Tursi Trail, with two exciting events. Thanks to the American…
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Abercrombie Mountain

How PNTA Leadership Could Become a Model for the Trails Stewardship Act

  IN THIS ARTICLE: Meeting the Challenge of Maintaining the PNT With Less Funding, How Will Trails Stay Open? Challenges to Maintaining the PNT in the Colville National Forest How the Colville Model Suggests a Way Forward  Collaboration with the Back Country Horsemen of Washington Teaching Trail Skills to the Student Conservation Association Providing Job…
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Tursi Trail

What a Difference a Mile Will Make

How the Finished Tursi Trail Perfects the PNT on Fidalgo Island History has shown that achieving the best possible route for a National Scenic Trails can take decades of collaboration and effort to accomplish. The John Tursi trail, finished in 2016, will trade traffic for tread on Fidalgo Island. The details: the PNT makes use…
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