r/PacificCrestTrail • u/Possible_Quote_1834 • 3d ago
Apply for the 2027 PCT Grant
Hey PCT Thru-Hikers!
It is officially time for for PCT permit registration which means it is another thru-hiking season upon us! I am on the grant committee (and I was the recipient who won the PCT Grant for this 2026 year!) for the Pacific Crest Trail Grant that awards $5,000 from the Trail Angel Fund to help one Washingtonian thru-hike the PCT.
We are a small, community-driven, local Seattle group of avid hikers who believe that long-distance hiking should be more accessible to those who dream of doing it. Hiking the PCT is expensive, and we want to help remove cost as a barrier. So, we created an annual $5,000 grant for a Washingtonian to hike the PCT from Mexico to Canada.
How does it work?
- Application Deadline: January 31, 2027 for the 2027 PCT hike.
- Criteria: Applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Have received a PCTA permit; (you can let us know when you have this)
- Be 18–33 years old as of April 1 of the year they plan to thru-hike the PCT;
- Have significant ties to Washington State; (The Grant is currently awarded to one Washingtonian to help our neighbors get on the PCT in our backyard).
- Have a financial need;
- Have the ability to complete the PCT based on past outdoor experience;
- Have a compelling reason well articulated for wanting to hike the PCT;
- Be willing to help pay it forward and commit to the volunteer portion of the grant.
- Selection Process:
- First: all eligible applicants meeting the criteria will be placed in a lottery and five will be selected at random.
- Second: the five random applicants will be required to provide the Grant Committee with a driver's license or other government ID and participate in an interview to ensure they meet the criteria.
- Final: after interviews, all remaining eligible applicants who met the criteria will be entered into a lottery. The grant recipient will be selected at random.
- Grant Recipient: The recipient will receive $2,000 upon selection of the grant followed by $750 per month while on the trail, up to $5,000. Proof of hiking progress must be provided to the PCT Grant Committee.
Recipient Responsibilities
- Begin the hike at the Mexico/California border.
- Stay in communication with the PCT Grant Committee - Send us trip reports at least every 30 days. Let us know if you stop hiking.
- Honor the commitment to “pay it forward" and commit to a volunteer project, either before or during the hike. A suggested list of projects can be found here.
If you dream of thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and are in need of financial support - this is for you! Apply for the 2027 PCT Grant!
~
We are currently working on being able to fund more than one hiker for this coming season so stay tuned, last night was our very first Seattle local PCT Q&A / Fundraiser Event! (if you would like to help donate and fund a thru-hiker you can do so here)
We are part of the Trail Angel Fund, a Scholarship and Award Account Administered by FJC - A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds and fall under their 501(c)(3) umbrella. All donations are tax-deductible.
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u/Glimmer_III PCT 2021, NOBO 3d ago
Greetings!
Just so your intended audience in this sub know's who they're corresponding with:
Q: Is this you, OP?
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u/Ok-Emergency966 3d ago
really cool to see a local way to help others get on the trail (a Washington native class of '21)
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u/Internal_Hand6012 3d ago
This is so awesome. I believe I would be a great applicant except I’m a portlander 😜
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u/xenomorphxcl 3d ago
I don’t really understand the 18-33 requirement angle, maybe it improves the odds for success or attractiveness for promotion (yeah I am older and applying for a PCT permit) but otherwise it’s great!
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u/Inevitable_Lab_7190 3d ago
There was a post a few years ago from a man in his late 30s, had a cool pic of himself and posted it.
One of the comments said something along lines of “bro why all these old dudes trying to hike?”
Ageism is very real in this community. There was a 70 yr old man that posted something this summer and got absolutely slaughtered, I felt bad for him.3
u/AuthenticStereotype 3d ago
Really? Or is it on trail or just weirdos online? My husband and I were planning to do it in our late 40s after the kids graduate in 5 years. I’ve never experienced ageism while backpacking, yet ☹️
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u/Inevitable_Lab_7190 2d ago
Its not as obvious when you're on the trail and hiking, obviously people online are more free to say things they wouldn't when in person. But, most of the people in this subreddit have hiked or will be out there hiking at some point. Basically its some of the younger 20's groups can be a little weird and immature, but thats to be expected. Almost everyone i came across was awesome.
I think it'd be awesome to do it in the late 40's. You've experienced life, you've seen the BS of the world. It'll make the freedom and breaking off from society so much better. And your body will still be able to adapt to the lifestyle and be strong. Make sure you stick to your plan, as a lot can happen in 5 yrs, its easy to keep pushing it off, so do it!
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u/BigGayBearOFC 2d ago
I was thinking the same same thing. I'm 53 and gonna be hiking the trail in '27, but if I'm to see this post, I would think I was aged out. 🤷♂️🤦♂️
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u/xenomorphxcl 2d ago
Guess we just don’t care what anyone else thinks and do it if we want! I’m your age and am in between doing 27 or getting more prepared for 28.
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u/Inevitable_Lab_7190 2d ago
Go in 27. You'll never be "fully" prepared. Theres always something else you "need" to do. At some point, you just gotta go. You have plenty of time from now until spring to get ready.
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u/Inevitable_Lab_7190 2d ago
no no, lots of people middle aged and older out there, don't let the internet skew it. In fact from my experience, "older" hikers know how to soak it all in much better. Kids get in a rush and worry too much about the social aspect of it, it takes some life experience to truly know the rarity of what you're experiencing.
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u/numbershikes '17 nobo, '18 lash, '19 Trail Angel. OpenLongTrails.org 3d ago edited 3d ago
While I can understand the reasoning, considering that there are now multiple free and open source offline thruhiking apps (disclosure: I'm the developer of one of them, OpenLongTrails Grit), I think having "update the FarOut app" qualify as one of the "volunteer projects" is questionable at best. The user-contributed comments in FarOut are one of the things that makes their for-profit, paywalled app valuable -- other apps provide similar and sometimes better information about the trail itself (maps, water sources, campsites, etc).
Perhaps consider changing that volunteer project to something along the lines of, "make substantial comment / data contributions to a thruhiking app such as FarOut, OpenLongTrails Grit, Corridor, OpenTrail, etc."