Frequently Asked Questions
How does it work?
Sign up with email/password or connect your Strava account, then set your hike start date. Your public tracker page shows the full PCT with your completed and remaining sections highlighted, along with stats and trail updates. If you have Strava linked, activities are synced automatically. If not, your map position is estimated from the location of your latest trail update.
Do I need a Strava account?
No. You can sign up with just an email and password. Without Strava, your map position is set from the location you attach to your most recent trail update, and your distance stats are estimated from that position. Linking Strava gives you precise distance, elevation, and speed stats pulled from your actual activities.
Can I attach a photo to a trail update?
Yes, you can upload one image per update
Can followers get notified of new updates?
Yes. Anyone viewing your public tracker can enter their email on the "Updates" page to subscribe. They'll receive an email whenever you post a new trail update.
How can I set up my Garmin/COROS watch to upload to Strava automatically?
For Garmin, follow this guide. For COROS, this one.
What data is being stored?
For email accounts: your email address and a hashed password. For Strava accounts: your athlete ID, display name, and OAuth tokens used to sync activities. Trail updates (title, body, optional location and photo) are stored and shown publicly on your tracker.
How often are my Strava activities synced?
Activities are synced automatically once per day. A sync also runs whenever you save your settings with a changed start or end date. You can also trigger a manual sync from the Strava section of your dashboard.
Why aren't all my Strava activities showing up?
Activities are filtered to only include ones that start within 30 km of the PCT. Non-hiking activities or hikes far from the trail are excluded. Only activities within your configured date range (start date to end date, or 6 months if no end date) are included. Check your date settings on the dashboard if activities are missing.
Can other people see my tracker?
Yes, your public tracker page is accessible to anyone with the link. It shows your map progress, stats, and trail updates. It does not expose your password, Strava tokens, or any private account information.
When I click on "Gear" it brings me to a broken page
You likely copied your lighterpack code wrong. To find your code, open your list on lighterpack.com, hover over Share at the top right, and copy the ID from the "embed" code. It should look something like this: "e52c1r"
Is this free, and is it open source?
Yes, PCT Tracker is completely free to use. With no ads, because ads suck. It's also OSS, you can check out the source code on Github, if you see and issue or have a feature request, please do it there.
Why create this?
I hiked the PCT in 2025 and wanted some way for people to follow me, not being instagram, or any other photo centric mode. I ended up creating a custom blog (noah-vs-the-sun.com) that detailed my trip, and it worked ... well enough. Creating updates on trail was a bit of a pain, and when I got back I thought it would be nice for future years to have an easier solution than creating their own blog, but a bit more personal that using instagram. This project was heavily heavily inspired by the reddit user Fickle_Bed8196's PCT tracker, which was in turn inspired by Karel Sabbe's PCT tracker when he attempted an FKT. The goal of this project is to make is as easy as possible for PCT hikers to give as many or as little updates as they want, and for friends and family following the hikers to see a clear roadmap of the trek, where they are, and how far they have to go.