Is the Bigfoot Trail the Best Thru-Hike You’ve Never Heard of?

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You’ve heard of the Appalachian Trail (AT), the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), and the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), but have you heard of the Bigfoot Trail? The 360-mile thru-hike navigates the Klamath Mountains from south to north. It starts near Corning, California in the Yolla Bolly-Middle Eel Wilderness and ends near Crescent City, California and Redwood National Park. Although it begins, ends, and mostly stays in California, the trail does briefly cross over into southwest Oregon.

Michael Kauffmann came up with the idea for the thru-hike back in 2009. In 2015, he founded the Bigfoot Trail Alliance. The alliance is a 501(c)(3) non-profit working to maintain, promote, and protect the Bigfoot Trail, which traverses six wilderness areas, one national park, and one state park.

Kauffmann told Redwood News that the trail is perfect for nature lovers and anyone who loves trees. “The Bigfoot Trail has become a tree scavenger hunt,” Kauffmann said in an interview with Redwood News. “You can see all 32 species of conifers, some of which grow nowhere else on Earth.”

Bigfoot enthusiasts might also want to make this trek to look for the famed Sasquatch. In a 2015 media interview, Kauffmann said the trail’s name honors the entrenched Bigfoot lore of the Klamath Mountains and surrounding region.

See the thru-hike’s route here: