Low snowpack is rewriting trail season
Western snowpack is unusually low this year, pushing more Pacific Crest Trail hikers out early but also raising drought and wildfire risk for the summer — NPR and trail reporting say the low snowpack is already changing access patterns. ( )
Pacific Crest Trail hikers usually spend spring worrying about too much snow in the Sierra Nevada. In 2026, many are dealing with the opposite problem: bare trail, earlier arrivals in mountain towns, and a summer that could turn smoky and dangerous faster than usual. (water.ca.gov) (npr.org) California’s April 1 snow survey at Phillips Station found no measurable snow at all. The California Department of Water Resources said the statewide snowpack was just 18 percent of average for that date, and the Sierra snowpack likely peaked around February 24 instead of near April 1. (water.ca.gov) That matters on a long trail because mountain snow usually acts like a slow-release reservoir. It melts over weeks, feeds creeks and springs, and spaces hikers out; when it disappears early, water sources shrink sooner and people can move north faster. (water.ca.gov) (research.fs.usda.gov) The Pacific Crest Trail Association still caps long-distance starts from the Mexican border area at 50 people per day between March 1 and May 31. But local reporting from Idyllwild says warm weather and little snow are already pulling hikers into town earlier than usual. (permit.pcta.org) (idyllwildtowncrier.com) A snow drought does not always mean the winter was bone dry from the start. The United States Forest Service says much of the West got decent early precipitation, but warm January weather and rain falling on snow in February melted a lot of that buildup away. (research.fs.usda.gov) That is why 2026 looks so strange on the ground. Mountains in Oregon, Colorado, Utah, the Cascade Range, the central and southern Rockies, and the Sierra Nevada all ended up far below normal snow levels, even after some places had a promising start. (research.fs.usda.gov) (npr.org) For hikers, less snow can sound like easier travel because there are fewer icy passes and fewer days kicking steps across steep slopes. The tradeoff is that low-snow years often mean hotter exposed miles, drier caches and springs, and a higher chance that fire closures scramble plans later in the same season. (research.fs.usda.gov) (pcta.org) Federal forecasters are already looking at that second half of the story. NOAA’s spring outlook says drought is likely to persist across much of the West and develop in parts of the Pacific Northwest, Great Basin, central Rockies, and Southwest from April through June. (noaa.gov) Fire agencies are looking at the same map and seeing a season that could ramp up early. The National Interagency Fire Center’s outlook, as summarized by regional reporting, points to above-normal large-fire risk in parts of northern California in May, the Northwest east of the Cascades in June, and Idaho in July. (nifc.gov) (rv-times.com) So the 2026 trail season is being rewritten twice at once. Spring access is opening earlier because the snow is gone, and summer risk is arriving earlier because the snow is gone too. (water.ca.gov) (npr.org)
