AT vs. PCT vs. CDT: We asked triple crowners to rank the 3 routes

doCompleting the Triple Crown of hiking means hiking three of the longest trails in North America: the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail. Most people would consider completing even one of these a once-in-a-lifetime experience, as each requires a significant investment of time and money.

Fewer than 800 registered people have completed all three, a total distance of nearly 8,000 miles. How did they make it possible? We surveyed 82 Triple Crown participants about everything from their favorite trail and how much money they spent in total to the advice they would give to someone who wanted to one day finish the Triple Crown.

In this second installment of the Triple Crown Survey, we look at which trails our Triple Crown finishers preferred, how satisfied they were with their experiences, and why certain trails stood out to them positively or negatively.

Triple Crown Trail Rankings

First, let’s delve into the experiences our Triple Crown finishers had on each trail.

We asked our finalists to tell us their favorite and least favorite trail of the three. Next, we asked our respondents to rate their experience on each trail on a scale of 1 to 10. Finally, we broke down the average trail experience by the direction the trail was hiked (northbound, southbound, flip flops, or sectional), as well as the average satisfaction the finalists reported with the direction they chose.

Ed. Note: Quotes from respondents have been lightly edited for grammar, length, and clarity.

Which Triple Crown route is best and worst?

More than half of our Triple Crowners identified the Continental Divide Trail as their favorite among the three, with the Pacific Crest Trail in second place, chosen by 37% of respondents. Only 12% of hikers chose the Appalachian Trail as their favorite.

When asked why they chose the trail they did, one respondent said, «The CDT is the superlative of all the categories I value in a hike: the wildest, most remote, challenging, customizable, and beautiful route of the Triple Crown trails.» Those who chose the PCT as their favorite trail tended to cite the consistency of good views, and many who chose the Appalachian Trail drew attention to the trail’s vibrant social scene and history.

When we asked respondents what their least favorite trail was, a resounding 58% chose the Appalachian Trail. When asked why, most answers pointed to the weather, terrain and views. One hiker said, «The AT isn’t bad, but honestly, if anyone thinks the woods of Pennsylvania are comparable to anything in the West, they’re lying to themselves. The AT was very difficult, very happy for the community I formed there (my first tram), and very glad I did it.»

In particular, many explanations included this feeling of suffering combined with intense gratitude for the experience or pride in having walked the path. Very few people expressed any regrets about going up the AT.

31% of respondents chose the Continental Divide Trail as their least favorite trail, meaning the CDT inspired the strongest opinions of the three: 82% of hikers ranked it as their favorite or least favorite Triple Crown trail. Common complaints included walking on the road and lack of socialization on the trail.

The Pacific Crest Trail received the fewest votes for least favorite trail, with only 11% of respondents choosing this one. Those who chose this trail noted overcrowding and burned areas as common complaints.

Triple Crown Trail Experiences

Rating Appalachian Trail Experiences

Even though the Appalachian Trail accounts for more than half of the responses to Triple Crowners’ least favorite trail, the most common response for the trail experience was 10/10. Still, there was a fairly significant tail in this distribution, with hikers giving each rating between 3 and 10 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Only three respondents gave the Appalachian Trail a score of 3/10, and one of them gave the reasons: “Rain, humidity, rashes, PUD, green tunnel, norovirus… Need I say anything else?!”

The Best Direction to Hike the Appalachian Trail

When we break down the satisfaction numbers by direction of rise, we see an interesting drop in flip-flopper satisfaction. Not only did the average rider report an average satisfaction score of 7.4/10 with their decision to do so, but their average trail experience score was just 6.3/10, the lowest trail experience score on any trail from any direction ridden.

Section hikers reported the highest trail experience score of 9/10, but SOBO AT hikers reported the most satisfaction with the direction of their hike, averaging a 9.8/10.

Ranking Pacific Crest Trail Experiences

Compared to the distribution we saw on the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail has experience responses clustered much closer to 10/10. It has the highest average trail experience score of the three trails, with Triple Crowners rating their trail experience, on average, a 9.01/10.

Still, there were some less than stellar reviews, with one hiker rating his trail experience a 4/10. “It was to be expected, but the trail was nothing but brush and burn most of the way…I wasn’t expecting anything but views and some good hiking, but a lot of it was just hard work,” that hiker said of his low opinion of the PCT. «As a southbound hiker, no one expected to see you when you came into the Sierra. Even in Oregon, locals would ask me what I was doing… I never felt the joy I had on the CDT or the excitement of the AT.»

For the Appalachian Trail, we saw a notable drop in satisfaction for Triple Crowners who opted to switch from the AT. In the PCT, southern supporters were the outliers. While they gave an average satisfaction score of 8.8/10 when choosing a walking direction, their average experience on the trail was just 7.6/10. Many of the hikers in this category reported that fire closures negatively affected their time on the trail.

Northbound hikers had the best trail experience score of 9.3/10 and the second highest average satisfaction with their chosen direction.

Continental Divide Trail Experience Ratings

Our Triple Crowners’ average trail experience on the CDT was 8.74/10, placing the average CDT score between the AT and PCT. Similar to the other two trails, the most common experience reported was 10/10, but the CDT has a final layout that aligns more closely with the AT.

One hiker rated his CDT experience as a 2/10, which was the lowest experience rating given by any hiker on any trail. They explained: «I wasn’t supposed to be a NOBO… I was probably the last SOBO killed that year. I was more than 50% alone, the hikers I met were stranger than usual and often unfriendly. Because I was alone, I spent a LOT more money on hotels, I sprained my ankle three times on this trail, and the icing on the cake: I was assaulted twice by men on my hike.»

Unlike the other two trails, the CDT was no clear outlier when it came to satisfaction with the direction of the hike. Flip flop riders reported the lowest average trail experience score at 8.5/10 and the lowest average ride satisfaction score increased at 8.3/10. However, this is only slightly below the trail experience numbers for section hikers and the direction satisfaction numbers for southbound hikers.

Southbound hikers, however, had the highest average trail experience of 9.5/10, just slightly higher than northbound hikers’ average trail experience of 9.4/10.

Conclusion

That’s all we have for now on Triple Crowner preferences, but we have a lot more to discuss! In upcoming articles, we’ll take a look at the Triple Crowners’ favorite team, how much it costs to hike all three trails, and much more.

If you have any comments, let us know in the comments! A big thank you to the Triple Crowners who took the time to complete this survey – we couldn’t do it without you.

Cover image: Graphic design by Chris Helm.