Photo by ex_magician
Adventure Cycling has unveiled a new road route that follows the Pacific Crest Trail from the Canadian border in Washington to the Mexican border in California.
It’s a great route for viewing the longest chain of volcanoes in the continental US. It’s also dizzyingly long, with a total distance of 2,392 miles.
Starting from it’s northern end in Sumas, Washington, the route curves through North Cascades National Park and on to Mount Rainier, the most heavily glaciated peak in the continental US and one of the first volcanoes on the route. It continues through Yakima, in Washington’s wine country, after an optional spur to Bellingham.
Continuing through Oregon, riders pass the Columbia Gorge and head to Crater Lake National Park in central Oregon, a deep blue volcanic lake with an island peak, Wizard Island, rising from its west end.
Photo by k.steudel
The route passes within view of the white cone of Mt. Shasta in northern California and brings cyclists to Lassen Volcanic National Park. After leaving volcano country, the route crosses through Yosemite National Park, Kings Canyon National Park and Sequoia National Park.
Then, it’s on through the desert and sierra of southern California before reaching the Mexican border at Tecate.
Detailed route maps will be available for purchase on Adventure Cycling’s website in mid-April, so you’ll have time to plan a trip on the route before the Northwest thaws. For now, you can find an overview map of the route on Adventure Cycling’s website.
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11 Comments... join the discussion!
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Wow. Is this all off-road??
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nope, it’s on pre-existing roads. nothing new.
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Sounds fantastic! I thought there was already a Pacific Crest Trail, though. How is this different from what already exists?
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Well this one is a route developed based on already-existing roads for road cyclists. The PCT is a hiking trail. I know, it confused me at first too. Probably should have explained that better in the article
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Sweet! I didn’t know about this, but seems pretty darn awesome, I think I want to do this sometime! Thanks for sharing!
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is this going to impact the hiking trail in any way? Or making a new trail.
Seems like it would be quite a feat to bike the trail, now that I’ve just seen one young man’s photos of his mostly solo trip on the whole trail↵ -
This actually has nothing to do with the physical hiking trail. It a route for road cyclists…on roads. Don’t worry.
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sounds like a great ride! And thanks for the information. Snowing here. Yellowstone Park roads now plowed and open to bicycles (the ones previously closed for winter).
It’s a great time to be there. Quiet.↵ -
Oh wow! If only I had more than two weeks in the States. Next trip!
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