Читать книгу Day & Section Hikes Pacific Crest Trail: Southern California онлайн

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The Pacific Crest Trail was first envisioned in the 1930s by Clinton Clarke, who pictured it as “traversing the best scenic areas and maintaining an absolute wilderness character.” Clark founded the Pacific Crest Trail Conference, with members including the Boy Scouts, YMCA, and Ansel Adams, to plan and advocate for the trail. More than 40 YMCA groups spent the summers of 1935 to 1938 planning and exploring the route from Mexico to Canada. Today’s trail largely follows the path pioneered by these young trailblazers. In 1968, Congress passed the National Trail Systems Act that established the Appalachian Trail and PCT as the first National Scenic Trails, “extended trails so located as to provide for maximum outdoor recreation potential and for the conservation and enjoyment of nationally significant scenic, historic, natural, or cultural qualities.” A bold 18-year-old adventurer was the first to hike the entire contiguous distance, and his travel yarn, The High Adventures of Eric Ryback, tells a romantic story of his 1970 journey. In 1976, Teddi Boston, a 49-year-old mother of four, became the first woman to hike the entire distance solo. However, despite these groundbreaking trips, tremendous work remained to secure a right-of-way and construct nearly a thousand miles of trail. The trail was declared officially complete in 1993, but work continues even today to improve and protect it.