What Is Trail Magic? How a Small Act of Kindness on a Trail Can Make Someone’s Day

Natalie “Swell” Dillon, an avid backpacker who lives in Bishop in California’s Eastern Sierra, completed the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail in 2022.

And every year since, the occupational therapist — who’s also a member of her local search and rescue team — has spent a full weekend back out on the PCT to support those making the same journey she did.

These acts of kindness — offering tired, hungry thru-hikers everything from food and snacks to rides to the nearest town — are colloquially known as “trail magic.” And this year, Dillon decided to “go big” and invite other thru-hikers who’ve previously conquered the PCT to join her in her most ambitious trail magic plan yet: hiking 12 miles up and over nearly 12,000-foot Bishop Pass with as much fresh food as they could carry.

Dillon hiked the trail the same year as my partner, and as someone who completed the PCT myself back in 2019, I found myself on Dillon’s invite list and joining her on her mission.

So if you’re new to the concept of trail magic or have always wondered how to get involved, keep reading for what you need to know.

Jump straight to:

• What is trail magic?
• What are some easy ways to get involved?

What is trail magic?

At its most basic level, trail magic is “an act of goodwill or a remarkable moment,” according to the Pacific Crest Trail Association — anchored in the sentiment that “the trail provides.”

Some trail magic is serendipitous. On my own PCT hike, for example, it came in the form of a particularly juicy peach handed to me as I took my first steps into Oregon, followed by a ride from a stranger who saw three hitchhikers and stopped — even though she’d never heard of the trail before. As for the “remarkable moment” aspect, spotting nearly 100 dogs on a particularly popular stretch of trail near Tahoe added immense joy to my day.

I was also the grateful recipient of several coordinated pieces of trail magic from established “trail angels” who are known in their communities to offer help to hikers, including hot coffee and breakfast in a remote lakes area of Oregon, cold Gatorades after a particularly difficult day of hiking and much-needed rides to and from trailheads.

Taking on a long trek like the Pacific Crest Trail is no easy journey. The demands of hiking 20–30 miles per day for 12-plus hours often prompt many backpackers to bring only the most calorie-efficient foods in an attempt to save weight.

The PCT can also be mentally challenging. During my hike, in certain sections of the trail, I found myself without new company for days on end.

All of this can make coming across fresh food and a group of new people incredibly refreshing. And in a section like the Sierra Nevada mountain range, where hikers travel through 300 miles of unbroken wilderness and very little in the form of access to luxuries, it can be positively transformative — not to mention surprising, as the only ways in and out are extremely rugged.

Dillon said she was inspired to start doing both organized and spontaneous trail magic after her own experiences receiving “countless encounters of trail magic” on her PCT hike — including one standout moment when she stumbled upon a trail angel offering water and a “huge buffet of breakfast and lunch foods” in a hot section of Southern California. “We feasted for hours.”

“All of those acts of generosity from other people really fueled me forward in ways that were essential to finishing a thru-hike,” she said.

Surprise in the High Sierra

To make this year extra special, Dillon asked everyone she knew who had hiked the trail in previous years and lived within a day’s drive of Bishop to meet her one weekend in early June, loading pounds of fresh fruit, vegetables and other surprises into our packs to hike 12 miles up and over the nearly 12,000-foot Bishop Pass and spend a full day cooking and socializing with hikers in the High Sierra.

“Even for us in our three-day weekend together, we created a little ‘tramily,’” she said. “And instead of being driven by trying to get to Canada, we were all driven by this idea of trying to provide a superb trail magic experience for this year’s hikers.”

These hikers included Simon from Belgium, who goes by “Presoak” (many long-distance hikers are given or choose their own “trail names”). “Trail magic in the middle of freaking nowhere!” he exclaimed upon seeing our group, shocked to come across us so deep in the wilderness.

Simon had been traveling for the past four years and became inspired to visit the U.S. for a long-distance trail this year by a podcast about the Appalachian Trail on the East Coast.

“It’s amazing,” he said of his PCT hike so far. “Every day is getting more beautiful than the last.”

Simon’s reaction, Dillon said, is exactly why she chose Bishop Pass for her group weekend of trail magic — aside from its proximity to her home and the challenge it offered her fellow angels, she wanted to bring an element of surprise to the several dozen hikers we met that weekend.

“Something that was cool about this weekend was creating a vortex of hikers that stopped, took off their packs [and] lounged for not 30 minutes, not an hour, but like two or three hours,” Dillon said, noting that some hikers were just as excited to run into one another as they were for the trail magic itself. “It’s just a facilitator of joy, really. You see joy in the surprise of it — the theme of community.”

Guardian angels on the trail

As well as offering food and a morale boost in the wilderness, trail angels can offer a hand when it comes to a thru-hiker’s logistics — and their safety.

Mark Trent, who lives in McCloud near the PCT in the Mt. Shasta area, manages a Facebook group dedicated to organizing rides and places to stay for hikers in Northern California.

Trent said he started bringing sodas and other goodies to hikers when he first moved to the area around a decade ago. Now, he’s become an instrumental force in the support system for hikers passing through the area, especially during wildfire season.

For the past several years, fires have closed trailheads in the Mt. Shasta region, a key resupply stop for PCT hikers. And when that happens, “angels have to turn into getting people off the trail and down to safety,” Trent said. He’s also performed trail maintenance, provided fresh food and a place to stay and even gone out to help hikers stuck alone navigating dangerous snowfields.

“I do a little bit of everything,” he said. “We’re so remote up here that there’s not a lot of services. And public transportation is lacking, to say the least.”

How to get involved with trail magic yourself

If you don’t have enough time to do a whole weekend trip and you don’t live by a long trail, don’t count yourself out of becoming a trail angel.

If you find yourself in a town — or even out hiking near a long trail like the PCT — consider keeping your eyes peeled for backpackers who may appreciate some fresh food. You could, for example, consider packing a few extra snacks in your pack.

If you feel comfortable doing so, you could also consider offering rides. Because Dillon lives in Bishop, where hundreds of thru-hikers pass through every year, she often runs into hikers at her local grocery store, around town or at local trailheads, and will offer rides to their next stop.

“When you’ve already walked over 700, 800 miles, walking 2 miles to the grocery store and then another 2 miles back from the grocery store can feel tiring,” Dillon said.

The PCTA offers a few good suggestions, too, including paying a hiker’s tab at a restaurant — either in person or by calling from home and asking if there are any hikers dining that day that you could treat.

But most of all, keep it simple, Trent said.

“Find a local angel group [online] and just look it over and see what is necessary,” he said. “The hikers will tell you themselves.”

As for what not to do as a trail angel starting out, remember: Trail magic in its purest form is a serendipitous moment, so the more of that energy you can bring, the better.

The PCTA suggests choosing less popular locations or times of year, when your magic won’t create a crowd or compete with local businesses. And never leave food or beverages unattended on the trail, because they’re likely to get eaten by animals before any human stumbles upon them.

“Overdone trail magic is no longer magical,” the organization said.

The spirit of trail magic also asks that you don’t accept anything in return. If a hiker offers to pay, Trent said, he does his best to decline — but if they insist, he will just use the money to feed the next hiker.

Or as Dillon puts it, as an alumna of the PCT: “Participating in trail magic and providing trail magic for the PCT hikers is a way of giving back to the community.”