PCT Mileage

Well, I'm posting this about six months after I wrote it, but here it is! Today is also the one-year anniversary of when I started my PCT hike. A lot has changed since then, but I'm very happy with where I ended up <3 I'll hopefully have another post coming soon reflecting on this past year.

If you're wondering how many miles I hiked overall, look no further! The PCT is about 2,655 miles, though it changes a little every year. I had to skip a big chunk due to fires in Northern California, Oregon, and especially Washington. But we did a couple detours here and there, and everyone calculates mileage a little differently. For some people, all that matters is the actual miles of red-line PCT you hiked, or it could include only official detours. Some people count the off-PCT miles to get into towns, others might also include detours to get water or to an off-trail campsite, or even walking around town. Personally, I only counted miles where I had my pack on (but including three 'slackpacks' where I wasn't carrying the full weight, which I've marked). I did plenty of walking without my pack on, either around towns, to get water, or around campsites (my guess would be maybe 20-30 extra miles over the whole trip). And of course this is ignoring all the spots where I had to hike off-trail due to overgrowth, copious blow-downs, or snow. In those sections, its impossible to know how much trail I skipped or added to, so I'm just assuming it evens out in the end. Below is a table of the main mileage calculations, and under that is a complete summary with everything marked.

As an aside, we call it red-line miles because the map that all hikers use (Farout) shows the actual PCT in red, with detours in blue or sometimes purple. So you're only on the official PCT if you're on the red line - even if you're doing an official detour or something.

In total, I hiked 2,167 red-line PCT miles. Including detours taken specifically to make up for closed miles, I hiked 2,311 miles. And adding the other miscellaneous detours and alternates, I hiked 2,416.8 miles!

Red-line PCT miles skipped	Detour miles
-11.3 Fuller Ridge on San Jacinto	+9.9 Devil's Slide Trail and Black Mountain Road
-10 Mission Creek	+2 ridge alternate
-16.2 Mt Baden-Powell and Mt Williamson	+13 Hwy 2 road walk
-3.8 Endangered yellow-legged frog closure	+5 road walk alternate
-25 bridge outage on San Joaquin River	+28.8 Bishop Pass and Piute Pass alternate
-4.1 bridge outage at Devil's Postpile	+3.6 road walk alternate
-2.5 Castle Crags trail closure	+2.8 trail alternate
-75 Shelly fire closure	:( no alternate
-16.2 Crater Rim fire closure	+11.4 Crater Rim alternate
-68.5 Diamond Peak Complex fire closure	:( no alternate
-19.3 Whiskey fire closure	+14.5 Eagle Creek alternate
-147.6 William's Mine Complex fire closure	+46.2 Goat Rocks out-and-back
-88.9 Mine and Pioneer fire closure	+15.7 Glacier Peak out-and-back
Total:
-488.4 miles missed	+152.9 miles gained
2,166.8 PCT miles	2,319.7 PCT miles
	+97.1 miscellaneous detours/alternates (full list below)
	2,416.8 PCT miles

Full list of all mileages:

+1 Julian hitch detour

+1 long water cache detour

+1 PVC spring detour

+2.7 Devil's Slide trail to town

-11.3 San Jacinto Fuller ridge

+7.2 Black Mountain road

+1.8 Whitewater Preserve detour

-10 Mission Creek

+2 Mission Creek ridge alternate

-16.2 Mt Baden-Powell and Mt Willliamson

+13 Hwy 2 road walk

-3.8 Yellow-legged frog closure

+5 frog road walk alternate

+0.6 Acton RV park

-0.7 Mt Whitney cut-off

+17.6 Mt Whitney out-and-back (slackpack)

-25 bridge outage at San Joaquin river

+28.8 Bishop Pass and Piute Pass alternate

-4.1 bridge outage at Devil's Postpile

+3.6 road walk alternate

+1 Thousand Island Lakes campsite detour

-3 trail shortcut into Shasta

+1.5 shortcut into Shasta

+2.5 Castle Crags trail maintenance detour

-2.8 Castle Crags detour

-75 Shelly fire closure :(

+0.7 Callahan's detour

+2.5 Mazama village detour to town

-16.2 Crater rim alternate

+11.4 Crater rim alternate

-68.5 Diamond Peak fire complex :(

+2.4 Shelter Cove detour to town

+3.6 Elk Lake detour to town

-0.9 Big Lake Youth Camp detour

+0.8 Big Lake Youth Camp detour

-1.0 Ramona Falls detour

+1.1 Ramona Falls detour

-19.3 Whiskey fire

+14.5 Eagle Creek alternate

+0.8 Bridge of the Gods

-147.6 William's Mine fire :(((

+46.2 Goat Rocks out-and-back (2.3 miles slackpack)

+0.6 Hidden Springs detour

+0.6 Snoqualmie Pass detour to town

+1.3 Snoqualmie Pass again

+7 Glacier Peak out-and-back (slackpack)

+8.7 North Fork Sauk trail

-88.9 Shoofly, Miner, Pioneer, and Flat fires :(

+30.4 Hart's victory lap

Total: -238.4 missed

PCT miles: 2,416.8