FEATURE
We're Back, Baby!
Following an unexpectedly long hiatus, we’re back online to start gearing up for the 2018 hiking season. There were server issues. There were design snags. It was a whole mess. But now we’re over that hump and ready to get busy helping you start planning your 2018 PCT adventures!
First off, you’ll see that PCT: Oregon has a whole new look. We put a lot of thought into how we could make the site more useful for visitors and help you find the info and resources you’re looking for. As we continue to fine-tune the site, you may notice a few things are still a little wonky, especially older content. We’ll be continuing to make improvements and adding new elements in the coming weeks, so please bear with us thru this adjustment period. For now, here’s a brief rundown on some of the new features we’ve added, and a few that will be coming real soon.
FIND AN ERROR? As we continue to fine-tune and update the site, please let us know if you happen across any glitches, missing links or wonky site issues. Just leave us a comment below. Thanks!
New Homepage
We’ve completely redesigned the homepage with more of a magazine style layout, with new sections for featured content and posts. At the very top, you’ll find quicklinks to the most popular content: trail conditions, gear reviews and hiking resources. Then you’ll find several news feeds with PCT news, our Trail Talk column and our latest gear picks. Near the bottom of the page, you’ll find our newest features on near-trail towns for gearing up, kicking back or just exploring all that Oregon has to offer.
New Resource Pages
We’ve updated many of our base resource pages, and added a few new ones. You’ll find many of these pages to have a cleaner look and easier navigation. Here’s a rundown on some of the updates:
UPDATESย Things change on and around the PCT. This page contains updates to the guidebook, Hiking the PCT: Oregon. We’ll continue to keep the updates coming as needed. Please note that these updates will reflect permanent changes (e.g., trail realignments, etc.) to the PCT or areas affected. Temporary changes (e.g., fire detours) will be noted on the trail conditions feed.
PCT CONDITIONSย This page has also received a complete overhaul. At the top of the page, you will now find direct links to all of Oregon’s news resources for weather, water, fires and more. Following that, you’ll find our trail conditions feed, where we’ll be collecting all of this info for you into our weekly trail updates. Updates are posted during the hiking season, typically June thru October.
BOOKSHELF ย On this new page, we’re featuring some of our favorite hiking books and helpful resources. Of course, you can find plenty of info on the entire Hiking the PCT series, as well as books about everything from backpacking basics and wilderness first aid, to trail cooking and wildflower identification. There’s even some informative and entertaining stories from the trail.
TRAIL ANGELS ย Our resource for Oregon Trail Angels has been completely updated and confirmed with all of our participants. We’ve also updated our Resorts & Resupply page with updated info and maps for all locations, as well as added a Gear Shops page with locations for where you can gear up, resupply or replace a piece of lost or broken gear.
Coming Soon
Due to our extended downtime, we weren’t able to finish up all the new features we wanted to roll out with. Look for these new features to come in the next few weeks:
CALENDAR ย We’ll be adding a new calendar page with dates and info on our Hiking the PCT: Oregon events and seminars, as well as other PCT community events, such as the Cascade Ruck, PCTA work parties, PCT Days, community advocacy events, partner promotions and hiker meet-ups.
TRAIL TALK ย We’re looking for a fresh round of PCT hikersโor aspiring PCT hikersโwho want to share their stories to encourage and educate fellow hikers. Your story can be funny, insightful or inspiring. Send us a message thru ourย contact page and you could be featured in our next Trail Talk.
GEAR REVIEWS ย We’re revamping our gear reviews and roundups this year with lots of awesome new items to help you get outfitted for the trail. On our list are ultralight packs from Hyperlight, Granite Gear and Osprey; blankets from Katabatic, Mont-bell and Rumpl; and warm wear from Big Agnes, Mammut and Mountain Hardwear. Look for new reviews to start up in March. ย
More Free Stuff!
We know you love the free stuff. And we love helping out PCT hikers with a few charitable goodies here and there. We’ve got several great giveaways in the works right now that we’ll be sharing info about soon. The best way to get the heads up (and some exclusive freebies!) is to sign up for our free, monthly newsletter, News From the Green Tunnel. One of our first giveaways is going to be a Mont-bell Downhugger sleeping bag. You don’t want to miss your chance at getting your hands on one of these beauties for free, so stay tuned!
Support PCT: Oregon at Patreon
Maintaining PCT: Oregon as a free resource for hikers requires a lot of time and considerable expense. We don’t like those “membership” or fee sites any more than you do, but we still have to pay the bills for site developers, web hosting and other logistics, not to mention the travel expenses associated with our free Hiking the PCT: Oregon events and seminars. As such, we’ve launched a Patreon Page where you can support PCT: Oregon’s operations with a small donation. If you find the information and resources on this page useful, please consider supporting us with a donation.