The Pacific Crest Trail is a 2,653-mile long-distance route along the mountainous spine of the western United States, running from the Mexico-United States border near Campo, California, to the Canada-US border and crossing California, Oregon, and Washington. Following high sections of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges, it passes through 25 national forests and seven national parks while remaining known for long, remote stretches in protected wilderness. First envisioned in the 1920s and 1930s by Catherine T. Montgomery and advanced by Clinton C. Clarke and later survey teams, it gained federal recognition in 1968 and was officially completed in 1993. It became one of the nation’s great long-distance hiking routes.