You can really walk from Mexico to Canada: Here is how 

Have you ever wanted to visit a neighbouring country by simply crossing the border without getting into the trouble of acquiring a permit or a visa? Well, you can definitely do so if you are at Phuentsholing, a gate standing at Indo-Bhutan border.  

Now imagine walking from Mexico to Canada. It seems impossible, isn’t it? Even if one tries, it’s going to one hell of a walk. Okay, then the question of walking from Mexico to Canada shouldn’t even arise, isn’t it? But then it does, thanks to the Pacific Crest Trail that makes the impossible possible and allows people to hike from Canada to Mexico.  

Pacific Crest Trail: The hiking route from Mexico to Canada 
If you are someone who often seeks an adventure of a lifetime, this one is for you. A preferred route for professional hikers, the Pacific Crest Trail or the PCT allows them to literally walk from Mexico to Canada. The trail begins at the Mexico-USA border (at Campo) and goes through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. From there, it’s all the way to the USA-Canada border (Manning Park in British Columbia). And this entire trail is a whooping 2653 miles long and traverses through the famous sea-level forest Sierra Nevada to the 13,000 feet high Cascade Mountain, apart from 7 national parks and 25 national forests of the USA. Before you start wondering, let us tell you that it takes around 4 to 6 months to complete the trail, depending on the hiker’s health, speed and the weather conditions. In fact, there’s a special name for those who manage to hike the entire length of the trail – PCT thru-hikers. Interestingly, the highest point of the trail is the Forester Pass (13,153 feet) and the lowest point is Cascade Locks (40 feet).  
 
Who proposed the idea for the Pacific Crest Trail? 
Well, that would be an American geographer named Clinton Churchill Clarke in the year 1932. His aim was simple, to form a trail that would run from Mexico to Canada via USA. It was also meant to connect four other popular American trails, the John Muir Trail and the Tahoe-Yosemite Trail (both in California); the Skyline Trail (in Oregon) and the Cascade Crest Trail (in Washington). Around the same time, Clarke, along with YMCA groups, Boy Scouts and an American landscape photographer and environmentalist named Ansel Adams established the Pacific Crest Trail System Conference to both plan the trail and lobby the federal government to preserve the trail. Hereafter, from 1935 to 1938, the parties involved explored 2000 miles of potential trail and sketched out a plan and a map for the route.  

This initiative caught the attention of a contemporary Washington state clubwoman and educator named Catherine T. Montgomery in the 1950s who joined the stakeholders and majorly contributed to the initial concept of the Pacific Coast Trail. No wonder, she is regarded as the “Mother of the Pacific Coast Trail.” However, it wasn’t until 1968, when the project got its official status, thanks to then then US President Lyndon B. Johnson who defined PCT as the National Scenic Trail under the National Trails System Act. Since then, the PCT was under construction and was officially completed in 1993.  

So, as you can understand, hikers who are able to walk from Mexico and Canada really has to thank the Americans for gifting them with the PCT. Oh, late April to late September is the ideal time for this one hike of a lifetime! 

Bonus fact: The PCT is just one of three trails that make up the Triple Crown of long-distance hiking in the USA. The other two are: Appalachian Trail and Continental Divide Trail. IF a hiker is able to make it through all three, he is regarded as a Triple Crowner!