PCT websites and resources

Note: this list is starting as only a partial stub. There is so much more on the web these days that I have not seen, and particularly so much use of social media by PCT hikers. So I am not really qualified any more to offer good resources. Below are some of the ones I’ve used. And I know there is an annual Facebook group for through-hikers. Plus virtually all through-hikers that I meet use the “FarOut” phone app, which is something of a successor to the “Guthook” phone app of previous years. There are lots of articles on the web talking about FarOut and Guthook and how they have “revolutionized” through-hiking. Personally, I have never used either, instead relying on the Wilderness Press PCT Guidebook Series (going back to the 1990s) along with the Halfmile PDF maps on my phone, Halfmile GPX waypoints on my GPS, and printed pages of the PCT Water Report in my pocket when in southern California.

Pacific Crest Trail Association. A good place to start for nearly anything, lots of info and links.

PCT Water Report. Essential for some sections in Southern California, to see what the current situation is with water availability for your section and time of year. I always print out the relevant current pages and hike with them in my pocket. The Water Report is crowd-sourced in real-time and in my view still the definitive source of essential water info.

PCT Snow Report by Postholer. This has also been around for a long time, a good set of charts for understanding how much snow remains on the trail.

Halfmile Maps and GPS Waypoints (GPX files). For a long time these were the definitive maps and data to use, and still most trail location references use Halfmile mileposts. The GPS waypoint files cover each section with Halfmile mileposts and can be uploaded to a GPS device so you can see exactly where you are on the trail at all times. Now the maps have been transferred to National Geographic and must be purchased, but the old map PDF files are still perfectly usable. (Some issues exist of waypoint and milepost correspondence and obsolesce with the new maps vs. older versions, as well as other sources of mileposts like the old Guthook mileposts, and as the trail gets changed on the ground and distances change. I haven’t really gotten the latest situation with mileposts and who uses which versions straight in my mind now. Its gotten a bit complicated in recent years.)

Plan Your Hike. Lots of info on gear, food, resupply points, clothing, maps, culture. A veritable department store of information for the PCT.

Trail Angels Central. Both an online Google spreadsheet and links to Facebook groups of trail angels. One of many sources of finding trail angels — I haven’t seen a good definitive source but it may exist somewhere.

Trail Angel List. Another source, may be out-of-date for some, can’t really judge it myself.

PCT Town Guide As the Crow Flies. I used to really like this guide, although it hasn’t been updated since 2019 so I suppose its getting too old to use.

Halfwayanywere.com has an extensive set of PCT pages and postings of annual info and surveys year-by-year.