We recommend using the gallery view to enjoy these photographs.

Pacific Crest Trail: A Journey in Photographs
Chris Alexander,
120 pages, hardcover:
$49.95.
wanderingthewild.com, 2013.

At 2,660 miles long and with over 400,000 total feet of elevation change, the Pacific Crest Trail, which stretches from Mexico to Canada, is not for the weak-legged. Chris Alexander’s Pacific Crest Trail: A Journey in Photographs allows less hard-core hikers to traverse the famous path – vicariously, at least. Alexander, who hiked and photographed the entire trail over five months in 2012, not only captures iconic vistas in places like Oregon’s Three Sisters Wilderness, he lingers over the small stuff: ice crystals in California’s Kings Canyon National Park, green shoots of mullein sprouting among volcanic rocks. Through Alexander’s lens, the trail itself is at once a remarkable feat of engineering and a landscape feature as natural and spectacular as Crater Lake. This is a book that will quicken the pulse of veteran hikers – and inspire even the most couch-bound potato to grab a backpack.

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Pacific Crest Trail: A Journey in Photographs by Chris Alexander

by Ben Goldfarb, High Country News
February 28, 2014

<h1>Pacific Crest Trail: A Journey in Photographs by Chris Alexander</h1> <p class="byline">by Ben Goldfarb, High Country News <br />February 28, 2014</p> <div class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow aligncenter" data-effect="slide"> <div class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_container swiper-container"> <ul class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_swiper-wrapper swiper-wrapper"> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="pct01-jpg" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82773" data-id="82773" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/PCT01.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">PCT Mile 0: Fence, Border between Mexico and the United States.</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="pct02-jpg" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82774" data-id="82774" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/PCT02.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">PCT Mile 653: Ridge in shadow, Owens Peak Wilderness, California.</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="pct03-jpg" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82775" data-id="82775" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/PCT03.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">PCT Mile 929: Cloud near Donohue Pass, Ansel Adams Wilderness, California.</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="pct04-jpg" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82776" data-id="82776" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/PCT04.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">PCT Mile 1328: Lichen covered trunks, Lassen National Forest, California.</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="pct05-jpg" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82777" data-id="82777" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/PCT05.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">PCT Mile 1632: Trail through meadow, Marble Mountain Wilderness, California.</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="pct06-jpg" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82778" data-id="82778" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/PCT06.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">PCT Mile 1775: Mullein in volcanic rocks, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, Oregon.</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="pct07-jpg" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82779" data-id="82779" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/PCT07.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">PCT Mile 1776: Trail through volcanic rocks, Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, Oregon.</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="pct08-jpg" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82780" data-id="82780" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/PCT08.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">PCT Mile 2026: Fog, Mt. Jefferson Wilderness, Oregon.</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="pct09-jpg" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82781" data-id="82781" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/PCT09.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">PCT Mile 2175: Lush forest, Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Washington.</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="pct10-jpg" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82782" data-id="82782" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/PCT10.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">PCT Mile 2191: Panther Creek, Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Washington.</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="pct11-jpg" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82783" data-id="82783" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/PCT11.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">PCT Mile 2555: Forest in fog, Glacier Peak Wilderness, Washington.</figcaption></figure> </li> <li class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_slide swiper-slide"> <figure> <img alt="pct12-jpg" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_image wp-image-82784" data-id="82784" src="https://www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/PCT12.jpg" /><figcaption class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_caption gallery-caption">PCT Mile 2660: Clear-cut, Border between the United States and Canada.</figcaption></figure> </li> </ul> <p> <a class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-prev swiper-button-prev swiper-button-white" role="button"></a><br /> <a class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-next swiper-button-next swiper-button-white" role="button"></a><br /> <a aria-label="Pause Slideshow" class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_button-pause" role="button"></a></p> <div class="wp-block-jetpack-slideshow_pagination swiper-pagination swiper-pagination-white"></div> </p></div> </p></div> <p><i>We recommend using the <a class="external-link" href="@@gallery_view">gallery view</a> to enjoy these photographs.</i></p> <p><b>Pacific Crest Trail: A Journey in Photographs </b><br />Chris Alexander, <br />120 pages, hardcover: <br />$49.95. <br /><a class="external-link" href="http://wanderingthewild.com">wanderingthewild.com</a>, 2013.</p> <p>At 2,660 miles long and with over 400,000 total feet of elevation change, the Pacific Crest Trail, which stretches from Mexico to Canada, is not for the weak-legged. Chris Alexander's <i>Pacific Crest Trail: A Journey in Photographs</i> allows less hard-core hikers to traverse the famous path – vicariously, at least. Alexander, who hiked and photographed the entire trail over five months in 2012, not only captures iconic vistas in places like Oregon's Three Sisters Wilderness, he lingers over the small stuff: ice crystals in California's Kings Canyon National Park, green shoots of mullein sprouting among volcanic rocks. Through Alexander's lens, the trail itself is at once a remarkable feat of engineering and a landscape feature as natural and spectacular as Crater Lake. This is a book that will quicken the pulse of veteran hikers – and inspire even the most couch-bound potato to grab a backpack.</p> <div class="wp-block-group hcn-print-edition-box"> <p>This article appeared in the <a href="/?p=187193">print edition of the magazine</a> with the headline <span class="hcn-magtitle">Pacific Crest Trail: A Journey in Photographs by Chris Alexander</span>.</p> </p></div> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hcn.org/issues/46-3/pacific-crest-trail-a-journey-in-photographs-by-chris-alexander/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hcn.org">High Country News</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/cropped-HCN_Logo-Monogram_White_Sq-2.png?fit=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://www.hcn.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=117470&amp;ga4=G-0NS3WVPPTN" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p> Copy to Clipboard

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