Leave no trace. The phrase is practically a mantra among the hiking and outdoors community, and yet with over a million people day hiking, backpacking, section hiking and thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail each year, something is bound to get left behind. Exactly what that is, and how much of it remains, is the subject of a recent survey conducted by two scientists and hikers.
From March to September of 2023, two environmental scientists thru-hiked all 2,650 miles of the famous trail, which stretches from Mexico to Canada, for a research project they dubbed No Trace Trails. Tori McGruer and Macy Gustavus examined trash on the trail – and for six feet on either side of the center of it – in one kilometer stretches every 10 miles of hiking to extrapolate their data. When possible, they also collected and removed trash.
