Pacific Coast Backpacking

Pacific Coast Backpacking info, ideas, and photos

Click and drag to rotate view.<a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/"><img src="http://www.insidrinfo.com/universal/quicktime.png" border="0" width="300" height="70"></a>Pacific Coast Backpacking

Backpacking past Latopie, Koenig, and Leavitt Lakes from the Pacific Crest Trail, near Leavitt Peak in the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains of California
Photo: MiguelVieira, through a Creative Commons Attribution License

California and the Pacific Northwest are home to two of the most well-known backpacking thru hikes in the U.S., the 2,653 mile Pacific Crest Trail, which runs along the highest peaks and passes from Southern California and the Mexican border all the way to the Washington State border with Canada. It's most backpacked section, the 211-mile-long John Muir Trail, runs from Yosemite Valley to the summit of Mount Whitney in California.

Other stellar backpacking trips in the Pacific Coast region include coastal beach and rain forest backpacking in Olympic National Park, the Wonderland Trail, which circles Mt. Rainier in Washington, the Three Sisters Loop in Oregon, backpacking in Big Sur in Central California, backpacking in the Trinity Alps in Northern California, and backpacking trips in California's High Sierras.