The PNT is a relatively young trail in comparison to the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail and is therefore still in a period of growth and change. The PNTA’s strip maps show multiple route options. They also encourage responsible use by communicating the Leave No Trace Seven Principles as applied to the Pacific Northwest Trail.
Official PNTA maps and hiking apps protect the Pacific Northwest Trail by sharing important rules and regulations of local land managers. If routes that involve trespassing are promoted within the trail community, via third party maps or user generated routes, it erodes goodwill for the trail and weakens our position to negotiate for the ideal trail corridor of the PNT. These kinds of user-generated routes may inadvertently cross significant portions of private property where no easements or land use agreements are in place. In some areas, easier, or more direct options may exist on the ground, but access is not guaranteed. The route shown on the PNTA’s mapset and on our official hiking app, produced through a partnership by Atlas Guides, describes the current route of the Pacific Northwest Trail. While the PNTA works toward solving routing issues on the PNT, we remind our trail’s users that they are effectively acting as ambassadors for the trail. Until then, making the effort to be fully prepared for an adventure on the PNT is key to having a safe and enjoyable trip. Today, the PNT offers an experience that may be more challenging and rugged than it will be a generation from now. Like they originally were, the PNT has largely been cobbled together from a network of pre-existing hiking trails through the backcountry but also: bike paths, old rail beds, dirt roads, paved roads, bushwhacks, cow paths, and beaches.
This chapter in the story of the PNT is a familiar one it’s very similar to the stories of the Pacific Crest and Appalachian Trails, which earned federal designation fifty years ago, when the National Trails System Act of 1968 was first established. Advocacy work by the PNTA, financial support from our members, and countless weekends spent working on the trail by dedicated volunteers, are all part of story that unfolds across generations. It earned federal designation very recently, in 2009.Įach long-distance trail has its own story that chronicles how it transformed from an idea into to a more refined and continuous pathway. Of America’s eleven National Scenic Trails the PNT is among the newest.
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