Welcome to the Pacific Crest Trail Feed

A feed for photography, videos, science, news, art, general questions and more related to Pacific Crest Trail. Whether you are a casual weekend hiker, section hiker or a thru-hiker, this feed is FOR YOU!

To post to the feed, users can simply include relevant #HashTags or mention "Pacific Crest Trail".

Feed info and rules

The feed displays ONLY original posts that include at least one of the feed's hashtags OR terms (example: #PacificCrestTrail, #PCT, #PCT2025, Pacific Crest Trail, etc).

Where only a reply post includes a matching term, but the original post did not, that reply is not included the feed at this time. This limits noise and irrelevant content.

Irrelevant use of PCT hashtags - Users who repeatedly post irrelevant content but include PCT hashtags may be blocked from automatic inclusion in the feed. These posts sometimes slip through our filtering and will be periodically removed after they appear.

The following are automatically filtered:

• Pictures that are labeled porn, nsfw, etc by BlueSky moderation service.
• Some explicit or objectionable terms.
• Far-right political group terms or administration names referenced in the post. The intention is to minimize politics and keep the spirit of this feed generally positive. We will reevaluate this if needed. Check out my ALT NPS feed which is unfiltered.
• Generative Ai or NFT images.
• Accounts that post exclusively or nearly exclusively other people's images like "Nature is Amazing" are not allowed, with or without crediting or scraping.

We also use BlueSky moderation lists which are automatically updated daily and block 15,000+ accounts such as: content scrappers, Ai Art, bots, scammers, NSFW, Far-right, trolls, racists, accounts that disparage other groups, impersonation accounts and more.

Hashtags and terms

NOTE:

terms are NOT case sensitive

term can be stand alone or prefixed with #

locations can be either: oneword or with spaces

Automatic inclusion terms:

• Pacific Crest Trail
• #PacificCrestTrail
• #PCT2024, #PCT2025, #PCT2026,...etc to 2030
• Hashtags which combine PCT + thruhike or variants
• Hike the PCT, Hiking the PCT
• PCT Hike, PCT Hiker, PCT Hiking
• #PCT + (trail terms in post) -> trail, hike, hiker, hiking, backpack, backpacker, backpacking, camp, camper, camping, thruhike, thruhiker, thruhiking thru-hike, thru-hiker, thru-hiking, mountain, forest, lake, park, river, stream, creek, fire, wildfire, stove, cook, food, water, etc

Require approval terms:

• If the post includes just #PCT without trail terms will be held for review to minimize irrelevant content. For instance a picture with only #PCT in the post text and no ALT text would be held for review. Add "trail" or trail terms in the post to avoid being held for review. If a post is held for review, it will be reviewed and approved after it is deemed to be relevant. I check for these at least once per day or more. If I am out in the trail, there may be delays in approving.

Automatic exclude terms:

Use of exclude terms will prevent a post from appearing in the feed even if that post includes the #PacificCrestTrail tag or other approved terms. A list of Exclude Terms is not provided here as many are quite unsavory. Please review the first section rules to get an idea for what may be automatically excluded.

If the post includes only #PCT and no trail terms and includes these terms it will be blocked. (more terms will be added to this list over time)

• InsiderFinance
• Trading
• Options
• OptionFlow
• OptionsTrading
• RIVN
• CLSK
• MARA
• PTON

NOTE: If you use one of these terms like "trading" or "options" AND use any trail term it will auto-approve.

Am I being blocked?

If you are using the #PacificCrestTrail tag and your posts are not appearing in the feed within a reasonable period of time, you may reach out to the feed moderator to troubleshoot or inquire about removal from our block list.

FAQs

Do I need to be an PacificCrestTrail expert or thru-hiker? NO. We welcome posts from everyone including casual hikers, section hikers and thru-hikers to those just wishing to celebrate PacificCrestTrail or simply ask questions.

Is art allowed? YES. Art is encouraged. Ai-generated art is not allowed.

Can I promote my Youtube Channel, book, commissions link, website, etc. in the feed? YES. As long as it is relevant, ex. posting a pic/video you took of an epic trail spot and including your social media link is totally fine! Just please do not be spammy.

Do I need to request to "join" this feed? NO. Not at this time. As BlueSky grows we may need to reevaluate this.