Let me just come out and say it, the Appalachian Trail is the easiest Triple Crown trail for first-time thru-hikers.
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Considered by many to be the most challenging and remote of the Triple Crown trails, the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail is a 3000+ mile adventure from Mexico to Canada, traveling through five western states.
Physically, the terrain of the PCT is a little more straightforward, although no thru-hike is ever easy. The AT isn't so tough to hike, except for about 300 miles of some of the hardest hiking you will ever do in the White Mountains and Maine.
The PCT has great views from day one. You're guaranteed a pretty panorama every day, and not just at viewpoints. Think about some of the PCT highlights. San Jacinto, Forester Pass, Kings Canyon, Crater Lake, and Goat Rocks, among others.
The Pacific Crest Trail Association estimates that 700 to 800 people attempt to thru-hike it each year, and about 15% to 35% (versus the AT's 25%) actually succeed.
To call it the Continental Divide Trail at this point is a bit of a stretch. It should really be called the Continental Divide Route. If you want to hike an actual trail, hike the PCT; if you want to walk a bunch of forest roads (and paved highways), hike the CDT.
Considered by many to be “the easiest section of the Pacific Crest Trail”, crossing the Oregon border from California represents more than just the point in the trail where marijuana becomes legal for recreational use .
Getting a Pacific Crest Trail permit is the first step of any PCT thru-hike. A lot of future thru-hikers stress out over this process since it's essentially a lottery. That said, your odds of getting a permit are excellent. However, your odds of getting a permit for one specific date are less excellent.
Massive high mountain passes, raging rivers, remote backcountry granite peaks, and pristine wilderness mark the northernmost section of the CDT—and aids in the escape and immersion into some of the most remote areas of continental America. Around here, snow sticks late into June and begins to fall again in September.