AT or PCT - Which Trail is Better?

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2018 PCT Thru-Hike Series - https://youtu.be/ZcdhpKpTR8E?list=PLZ4jf4nhut2WdZr612yrjMcYjz-IPCiAS

2015 & 2016 AT Thru-Hike Series - https://youtu.be/WaRn00SuWqk?list=PLZ4jf4nhut2VW_SVTpyQlgt0A6hDo4cHU

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AT Gear List - https://darwinonthetrail.com/2016/05/03/darwins-2016-at-gear-list/

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Tags: UL Hiking,UL Backpacking,Appalachian Trail,AT Thru Hike,Pacific Crest Trail,PCT Thru Hike,AT vs PCT,Thru-Hike,Long Distance Hiking,Hiking,Backpacking,Hiker Trash,Adventure,UL Hiking Gear,Post Thru-Hike

Video Transcription

hey guys it's Darwin so the Appalachian Trail the Pacific Crest Trail which one's better and which one should you hike first

now that I've done both the 80 and the PCT I tend to get the same questions all the time which trail is better which thru-hike did you have a better time on what trail should I consider hiking first if I'm gonna do my first long distance trail

now both trails are absolutely incredible and you couldn't really go wrong with either of them but today I figured I would kind of break down the differences that I noticed on my hikes and maybe it'll help you decide on which trail to hike first all right so first a little bit of background in 2015 I hiked the 80 with my wife snuggles now the plan was to go northbound from Georgia to Maine for two thousand one hundred and eighty nine point two miles we ended up hiking from the beginning at Springer Mountain to Great Barrington Massachusetts where I contracted a form of Lyme disease and I broke a tooth we had to get off the trail and then in 2016 we returned to Great Barrington and hiked it to Katahdin completing our journey at the beginning of this year in 2018 i solo through hiked the Pacific Crest Trail hiking from Mexico to Canada for two thousand six hundred and fifty two miles now on the 80 we were averaging between 15 and 20 mile days and on the PCT I was averaging between 20 and 30 maladies and towards the end 30 to 40 mile days so now with all that out of the way let's talk about some of the differences that I've noticed first up let's talk about difficulty all the time I get questions asking me which trail I think was the hardest which one wore me out the most and which one is the most difficult now in my opinion I think the 80 was definitely a harder trail than the PCT and not just because it was my first trail but just because it was overall a harder trail now the 80 has five hundred and fifteen thousand feet of elevation gain and loss from Georgia to Maine and the PCT has three hundred and fifteen thousand feet of elevation and gain Mexico to Canada so statistically the 80 is a harder trail by two hundred thousand feet now yes the mountains may be bigger out on the west coast with the highest elevation on the PCT going up past 13,000 feet and the 80 only going up just past 6,000 feet however the trail tends to go to the top of every single mountain on the 80 or on the PCT it rarely ever goes to the top of mountains typically on the PCT the trail will kind of go up and then it'll skirt around the mountain or on the 80 it's like a roller coaster you go straight up to the top straight back down to the bottom and so on all the way to Maine the other thing to keep in mind are the Appalachians are older Mountains they have a lot more history and they've been weathered more so the actual trail is full of rocks and roots where the PCT is a pretty nice gentle graded trail now a lot of that has to do with the 80 being created as a footpath and the PCT being graded as an equestrian trail the other thing that I think that makes the 80 harder than the PCT is mentally it is mentally a more challenging trail now obviously that depends on who you are and kind of how you deal with things but on the 80 you're dealing with weather like rain and fog and snow and cold and humidity a lot more than on the PCT on my entire thru-hike of the PCT I had fog maybe one or two days and I only had rain one day if you want to even really call it rain the other thing that can mentally challenge you on the 80 is the fact that you're in a green tunnel a lot and you can't really see that far out in front of you or to the side of you because it's nothing but trees or out on the PCT there's much more open space and less trees so it's just more mentally stimulating so again in my opinion I think the 80 was definitely a harder trail both physically and mentally the next thing that I have noticed between the two trails that's totally different are the logistics now in my opinion the PCT takes the cake here more logistical 'hey harder trail to hike now what I mean by logistics is having to deal with longer water carries longer times between resupply you're farther away from towns and cities for hitching in timing is everything on the PCT you want to make sure that you're added a desert before it gets too hot you want to make sure that you're in the Sierra when the snows not too bad and you want to make sure that you finish in Canada before the snow hits and the winter sets in on the 80 it wasn't as logistically challenging I mean you do have some things you have to worry about like you definitely want to make sure that you get to Baxter State Park before October but you definitely want to make sure that you get there before the end of October because they do close it and then you can't finish and then dealing with some permits in some national parks like the Smoky Mountains but aside from that it is a lot more forgiving and there's a lot more room for error so again I definitely think the PCT wins on this one now the next big difference between both trails is community you can ask anybody that's hiked both trails there's much more of a community around the 80 from trail towns to hostels to Outfitters to trail angels there is definitely a big community that surrounds the 80 it goes through 14 states and comes really close to a lot of small towns so there are more people out there that are willing to help hikers know there's definitely plenty of that on the PCT but you just don't get as much community as you do when you're out on the 80 on the Appalachian Trail people tend to hike more together they tend to move in packs or tramways we're on the PCT you just don't see that as much now I definitely did hike with other people on the PCT but not as much as I did on the 80 so altogether I think that the 80 definitely has a stronger hiking community and then the last big difference that I definitely want to talk about is feel now what do I mean by feel well no matter what trail you do it has a certain feel to it it has a certain life force to it now neither of the trails really come out on top here in my opinion because they definitely both have a separate individual feel to the hike a different vibe if you will I felt like the HU is more rooted in history they're older mountains they go through older towns there's a lot of historic plaques and battlefields well I'm on the Appalachian Trail I can't help to think about the people that have hiked before me and the people that have walked those steps before I have I feel more connected to that trail it feels like home now a lot of that could have to do with it being my first trail and my first through hike so it always feels like home when I go back out to the East Coast you just feel like you're in a different world following one blaze after another all the way to Maine kind of like they're magnets and the PCT well the PCT made me feel smaller its grandeur there's grandeur views and and you're out in the middle of nowhere big vast desert and massive mountains so you feel a lot smaller and it just I don't know it feels like a bigger world like you're hiking through the universe and strangely enough I felt less connected to the trail and more connected to myself now without getting too weird and spiritual I can definitely tell you that I enjoyed both of the trails and the feeling that both of them gave me so which trail do I think would be the best first through hike if you had to pick one to do first what would be the best for someone on their first go-around well I've set it in the past and I'll say it again I think that the Appalachian Trail is a perfect first thru-hike now I know I just got done saying that it's harder mentally it's harder physically it's not as grandiose however there's a lot more room for error there's a lot more of a community so growing as a hiker and learning how to evolve in that world and how to exist on the trail the Appalachian Trail is perfect for that if you have a bad day chances are there are a lot more people that you're gonna be connected to where you can share those bad days with if something goes wrong or you're tired or you're cold you can easily get off the trail for some reason you mess up and you need something there's more support out there there's more trail angels that are around since there's more communities around it's easier to get a hitch into town because they're used to hikers we're out on the PCT you're definitely kinda almost by yourself a lot you're away from towns you're in the middle of the desert you're in the middle of the mountains it's harder to get off the trail and there's definitely less room for air especially when you're talking about going up into the High Sierra and in the northern Cascades so in my opinion the Appalachian Trail is the perfect first through hike and then to answer the big question that I get all the time which trail do I think is better and which one do I like the most I don't really like either of them any better than the other I think they're both amazing every time I go out and do a thru-hike I do it for a different reason I do it for a different experience and both of those trails have given me totally two different experiences so yeah it's kind of a cop-out answer but I don't think one is better than the other all right so again all of that is my opinion and you can hike the PCT first and have an amazing time on the 80 and learn everything you need to know on the PCT or you can do it the other way around it's all up to you and what you think that you want from your first hike so have you hiked both trails have you just hiked one which trail do you think's better which one do you think would be the perfect first through hike leave me something down below and let me know your thoughts Kevin how to change it go over and check me out on Instagram I've been posting a ton of new photos lately of some of the things that snows and I have going on throughout the week plus some pictures from some past tags if you found any value in this video go ahead and hit that like button subscribe to my channel if you haven't already there's always guys thanks for watching [Music]

[Applause]

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