The Pacific Crest Trail Survey: Seven Years of Data in Review

PCT Hiker Gender

For each of the past seven years, the majority of PCT hikers have been male. That said, the last three years have seen a lower proportion of male hikers when compared to the previous four.

The increasing popularity of the PCT with female hikers is one of the reasons I’ve also taken to breaking down survey data and compiling a female-specific gear guide.

PCT Hiker Age

Over the course of the past seven years, the average age of PCT hikers has been slowly growing. We can probably treat 2013 as a bit of an outlier since the sample size was significantly smaller than subsequent years, but overall, the majority of hikers are between 25 and 35 years old (after college and before children?).

And in case you didn’t read and respect the notes up at the top instructing you to Google (because I know some of you didn’t) and you can’t quite remember what a median is (because I know some of you don’t), it’s the number that falls in the exact middle if you list all the responses in order (i.e. one-half of all hikers surveyed – who were not the median age – was younger and the other half was older).

In the second graph, we have the distribution of all hiker ages from the previous seven years combined. Mid to late twenties is the dominant force here with a sharp drop off until the mid-forties and then a small bump as we approach the mid sixties.

PCT Hiker Race

The hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail have been overwhelmingly white across the past seven years. Hikers of two or more races have occupied the second-most-common position for all but one year where 6% of hikers were Hispanic or Latino.

Because of the way I collected and presented the data in 2017, there is a larger percentage of “Declined to Answer” for that year.

PCT Hiker Education

Almost half of PCT hikers each year have had a Bachelor’s Degree. The number of hikers with postgraduate degrees has been slowly growing while those with some college education but no degree (either due to not having graduated yet or dropping out).

Because of the way I collected and presented the data in 2017, there is a larger percentage of “Declined to Answer” for that year.

PCT Hiker Countries

The popularity of the Pacific Crest Trail extends well beyond the borders of the United States.

Over the course of the PCT Survey, the number of countries represented on the trail has grown dramatically. In 2013, there were just 11 countries represented on the trail. In 2019, there were nearly three times as many.

There are only so many “first person from X to have hiked the PCT” spots available in the history books. Best get on it, hikers from most of South America and Africa. If you’re wondering which countries have yet to be represented on the trail, keep reading.

The number of hikers from abroad has been growing. Cumulatively, over the past seven years, 68.7% of survey respondents have been from the United States meaning that nearly a third (31.3%) of thru-hikers (who have taken the survey) have been from overseas.

For the last four years, at least 30% of hikers have been from overseas. This number has been as high as 37.68% in 2017.

Here is every country with at least one person who has completed the PCT Hiker Survey (in alphabetical order).

• Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Samoa, Scotland, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, USA

Note: the chart below shows the distribution of all hikers not from the United States. This is the breakdown of the 31.3% of hikers from international destinations.

PCT Thru-hiker Direction

Traditionally, northbound has been the direction most people hike the Pacific Crest Trail, but in recent years (due to the trail’s increasing popularity and permit changes) southbound hikes have become more popular.

That said, northbound thru-hikes are still overwhelmingly more common than southbound hikes and have remained the choice of at least 87% of hikers over the years.

The data in this graph is from the PCTA permit data from the past seven years.

First long-distance hike?

The Pacific Crest Trail has been the first long-distance hike for over 2/3 of hikers for each of the past seven years. The number of first-timers each year has been falling each year.

Does this mean that #EXTREMEWALKING is becoming a more popular activity? Or does it simply mean that everyone who has hiked the Appalachian Trail in the past is realizing that they chose the wrong trail to hike first?

Begin hiking alone?

As much as the idea of hiking from Mexico to Canada alone may sound, beginning a PCT hike with another person (or persons) can be a risky decision. Here’s a look at whether hikers began their journeys alone.

In recent years, I’ve expanded this question to clarify exactly whom hikers began with (a partner, friend, or stranger). Last year’s most common response (of those who didn’t begin alone)? Began with a partner/spouse followed closely by “started with a friend”.

Nearly two-thirds of hikers every year of the survey have begun their hikes alone.

PCT Thru-hiker Completion Percentages

Numbers probably aren’t exact as not everyone who hikes the PCT gets a permit (get a permit, you bag) and not everyone who finished reports their completion to the PCTA, but based on data from the PCTA, here are the thru-hiker completion percentages for the past seven years (based on the number of permits issued and the number of self-reported completions to the PCTA).

The highest completion percentage? Thirty-four percent (34%) in 2014. The lowest? Fourteen percent (14%) in 2017.

Reasons for getting off the PCT

Nobody begins a thru-hike with the expectation that they’re going to fail in their mission for border-to-border glory. That said, every year, as we saw in the previous graph, the majority of thru-hike permit holders do not complete their hikes.

Here’s a year-by-year breakdown for hikers’ reasons for getting off the trail. Injury was the number one reason for hikers getting off the trail each year. Personal reasons, snow, and fires all occupied the second position for at least one year.

Distance completed before quitting

Above we discussed the reasons for people abandoning their thru-hikes early. Now, we take a look at how far these aspirational hikers made it before calling it quits.

Taking the previous five years into account, hikers make it an average of 1,256 mi / 2,021 km before getting off the PCT.

What’s at mile 1,256? (Not that this being the average means anyone actually gets off the trail here.) Mile 1,256 if in Northern California, just south of Bucks Lake.

The second graph is a distribution of all mileages reached by hikers before getting off the trail. There are spikes between 700 and 800 (the Sierra), 1000 and 1100 (Northern California), and 2000 to 2100 (Northern Oregon).

Over the course of the past seven years, the average amount thru-hikers have spent on their hikes has slowly risen every year for the past five years – starting at $5,819.81 in 2015 and increasing to $6,624.73 last year.

That said, the median amount spent each year has remained constant at $6,000 (except for 2015 when it was $5,900).

Basically, to be safe, you should probably expect to spend at least $6,000 on a PCT thru-hike.

PCT Thru-hike Length

How long is it going to take me to Pacific Crest Trail? Honestly, there is no way for anyone to answer this question for you – please don’t email me and ask. The best I can do is offer you the stats from previous years.

The mean and median for the length of thru-hikers’ time on the PCT hovered around 150 days (i.e. five months) for each of the previous five years.

If you want to explore how long it might take you to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, check out this post (or even explore what a one-month thru-hike looks like).

PCT Zero Days

Zero days (i.e. days hikers spend hiking zero miles and that I typically spend in bed at a local motel) are (usually) an essential part of any thru-hike.

Both the mean and the median number of zero days taken by thru-hikers on the PCT over the past seven years has been between 15 and 20. Basically, if you hike the PCT you can expect to take between two and three weeks off from hiking (you lazy piece of shit).

PCT Nearo Days

Nearo days (i.e. days hikers hike only a small number of miles – usually into or out of town) are also a fact of life on the trail during a thru-hike.

The mean and median number of nearo days were almost identical across the course of the past seven years (reported by thru-hikers), so basically, you can expect to have 15 nearo days during your hike (probably those days when you decide late in the afternoon that you’re going to hike out and not take a zero).

Longest Day of Hiking

It’s not the most important thing to many hikers, but if for nothing more than personal reasons, I’m sure that any thru-hiker will be able to tell you what their longest day of hiking has been.

The longest day thru-hikers have averaged over the past seven years is 38.86 mi / 62.54 km. If you’re never thru-hiked before then this number might look incredibly intimidating and perhaps even impossible to you. But I invite you to revisit this sentiment when you’re crossing the California-Oregon border.

Resupply Stops

The number of resupply stops hikers average over the years has been as low as 22 (however, this was in 2013 when we didn’t have the greatest dataset) and as high as 28.

The average number of resupply stops across the previous seven years? 27.23.

This means that, on average, hikers will go 97.69 mi / 157.22 km between resupplies. Combine this with our average distance per day of 20.56 mi / 33.09 km and we can expect that hikers will take approximately 4.75 days between their resupplies.

Resupply Box Strategy

Depending on how much preparation you want to do for your PCT hike (and how restrictive your diet is), you may spend a lot of time packing resupply boxes prior to setting out on your journey.

Every year, most hikers will send at least some resupply boxes – usually three-fourths or more – but every year there are also hikers who choose to send all their boxes (although this number has been falling) and hikers who choose to send no boxes (but for some reason this number dropped dramatically last year).

Number of Resupply Boxes

So the vast majority of hikers send themselves at least some resupply boxes – but how many?

On average, thru-hikers who completed the trail, sent themselves 10.1 resupply boxes. This works out. This number increased from 2013 until 2015 when it peaked at 14. Since then, the number of resupply boxes hikers have been sending themselves has been slowly decreasing. Possibly due to trail towns becoming more aware of hikers and better prepared to take their resupply dollars?

Pre-departure Resupply Boxes

What many first-time thru-hikers fail to realize (or accept) is that you can send yourself resupply boxes from on the trail. That said, there are a number of reasons why you would want to prepare yourself resupply boxes ahead of time (to be sent out by yourself before you leave or by someone else who cares dearly about your success on the PCT).

A couple years ago I began asking thru-hikers how many resupply boxes they prepared prior to setting out on the PCT.

On average, hikers prepped 4.24 boxes before setting out.