Since completing my through-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail in 2018, I had been looking for a way to share the experience with my wife. The idea was to find the most scenic parts of the trail with the following requirements:
- Accessible from an international airport
- Did not require advance booking of a permit
- did not require carrying a bear canister
- a maximum of 5 nights out
- loops to start and end at the car
- Had to include part of the Pacific Crest Trail, obviously 😉
We ended up selecting 4 hikes from Central Oregon up to Washington, and we called these, our ‘Best of the PCT’ hikes. These were:
- Goat Rocks Wilderness, Washington, 3 Days
- The 3 Sisters Loop, Oregon, 5 Days
- The Timberline Trail, Oregon, 4 Days
- North Cascades Loop, Washington, 5 Days
The plan was to fly into Seattle, pick up our rental car, drive to REI to buy canister fuel for our stove, some food, and get a Northwest Forest Pass, which is required for parking at the trailheads for most of the trails we were planning to hike. Then hit a supermarket, pick up the rest of the food and a mini Bic lighter. Then hit the road early the next day for the first trail.
The 3 Sisters Loop, Oregon
At the time I planned this in 2019, the 3 Sisters Loop did not require advance booking of a permit. It does now for certain times of the year. See this link for more information on when you need a permit and how to get one. Fortunately, we managed to snag one the week prior to the start of our hike when more permits are released.
We had wanted to start with another hike in Washington, but in mid July 2022, there was still a lot of snow on it, so we drove down to the southernmost hike on our list, the 3 Sisters Loop, near Bend, Oregon.
This turned out to be a pretty good shake-down hike. Not too much elevation change and still a lot to see. We parked and started our hike from the Lava Lakes Camp Trailhead. That was the shortest drive from Bend, but as it’s a loop hike, there are a number of options on where to park and where to start.
We decided on an anticlockwise loop, so the first day was spent hiking through a lot of dead trees, a few ‘feet dry’ creek crossings, and fighting mosquitoes. We ended the day with a nice campsite next to Alder Creek.
For us, it was a 5 day hike, and the scenery started looking better from Day2. We eventually connected with the PCT near the southernmost point on the hike and followed that all the way back to the car.
After the hike, we drove back to Bend for a couple of days rest before heading out for the next hike.
adventure nomad 
3 thoughts on “Best of the PCT, Part I”