Hike through BC named one of the five best trails in the world by BBC

Soqualmie Pass along the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington State (Tobin Akehurst)

An iconic trail traversing the West Coast from Canada to Mexico has been named one of the top five hikes in the world by UK public broadcaster BBC.

The Pacific Crest Trail landed in the fifth spot on BBC Travel’s ranking of the world’s most remarkable treks.

“The terrain is fantastically diverse, from desert to snowy mountains, sandstone outcrops to deep blue lakes, pine forests to volcanoes,” the broadcaster said.

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The northern end of the trail lets out in EC Manning Park, just east of Metro Vancouver. It goes all the way down through the US, passing through the Cascades, Sierra Nevadas, and Yosemite National Park before ending at the US-Mexico border in Campo, California.

At nearly 4,300 kilometres long, the trail is no afternoon jaunt. On average, it takes hikers about five months to complete — with elite athletes finishing in as little as two months. The trail was featured in the 2014 film Wild with Reese Witherspoon, whose character embarks on the hike after the death of her mother.

Even just the northern terminus section of the trail — from the EC Manning trailhead to the US border and back — takes about 10 hours to complete, according to AllTrails.

Getting out via Manning Park can be a little tricky though. It’s illegal to enter the US via the trail because it’s not an official border crossing, so hikers going southbound must start on the US side. However, hikers coming north along the trail can proceed to the terminus as long as they get permission to enter Canada, according to the Pacific Crest Trail Association.

Thinking of trying the hike? The association has useful resources to help with planning, and issues free but mandatory permits to all hikers — who are required to declare a start date.