Do you have the best burger on the PCT?
Put your burger where the hiker’s trash mouth is.
PCT Hiker Trash Yearbook Presents:
PCT 2027 Burger Blaze*
Hike. Eat. Vote. Repeat.
The annual search for the best burger on the Pacific Crest Trail.
2,650 miles.
Dozens of legendary burger stops.
One gold ink pad.
What It Is
Hiker Trash knows the feeling.
You’ve been eating dehydrated food out of a bag for five days.
You’re running on trail mix and peanut butter.
Then you hit a town… and someone puts a burger in front of you.
That burger changes everything.
The PCT 2027 Burger Blaze is a trail-wide vote to determine who on the PCT serves the best burger.
Hikers rate every spot they eat at using a QR code on the counter.
Results are evaluated at the end of the season.
The PCT Hiker Trash Yearbook announces the winner.
The Gold Ink Pad
Kyle is the PCT 2026 Burger Blaze champion.
Kyle is PCT Hiker Trash, a chef, and made this burger on the trail.
Kyle doesn’t get a stamp or an ink pad.
Sorry Kyle.
The 2027 Burger Blaze Champion will receive a custom rubber stamp and a gold ink pad.
When a hiker gets their passport stamped in gold, they’ll be in the presence of the best burger on the PCT.
Every season, the champion receives a new gold ink pad and an updated custom stamp.
If they don’t win again, they retire their stamp and pad.
How Hikers Vote
Every participating location has a small counter card with a QR code.
Scan it.
Rate five things on your phone in about 60 seconds:
- Calorie-to-Price – how much fuel for your dollar?
- Hiker-Friendliness – outlets, refills, zero judgment for trail smell?
- Structural Integrity – did the bun survive your hunger?
- Hitch-to-Effort – steps off the trail or a brutal 12-mile hitch?
- Pure Flavor – hunger aside, how good is it really?
Max score: 50 points. Every vote counts.
The Veggie Category
There’s a second gold ink pad.
Not every hiker eats meat.
The PCT Burger Blaze includes a second category for veggie and plant-based burgers.
Same criteria.
Same voting.
Same tradition.
A location can enter both categories.
Win both if you’ve earned it.
The trail decides.
The Burger Blaze launches with the 2027 PCT season.
Participating locations are being confirmed now.
We evaluate results at the end of the season.
We announce the winner in the PCT 2027 Hiker Trash Yearbook.
Stay subscribed until the Yearbook is out, and you’ll get a free digital PDF of the PCT 2027 Hiker Trash Yearbook.
Join the Blaze
Subscribe to the PCT Passport Substack: $12/month or $120/year.
Your subscription lists your restaurant in the Downloadable PCT Passport PDF Guide and enters you in the Burger Blaze.
Every Burger Blaze location gets a QR code for the counter, which lets hikers vote for your burger and send feedback.
Once you’re signed up, I’ll help you get your custom stamp made.
Everyone who joins in 2026 keeps this price for future seasons.
Click the button below to join.
After you subscribe, watch your inbox for a welcome email.
The welcome email is where you tell me about your restaurant and learn how Blaze works.
Check your spam folder if you don’t see it.
See you on the trail…
Douglas Hark – “Grateful”
Hiker Trash, Class of 2020
* “Blaze” – Marker used for trail navigation. Term used to describe a way of hiking the trail.