My curiousity has been spurred. In the event that the Sierras become impassable or unreasonably dangerous this summer, I wonder if there are a series or system of alternate trails that one could take through the lowlands of the Sierras.
Do any locals or PCT veterans have any information on this possibility? I am not making plans to circumvent the Sierras, however it would be interesting to know if alternate routes exist.
Bill
If the area around Forrester Pass is impassable, you have a couple options:
Not real efficient options, but might be better than sitting around KM.
Booger
Well this is one of the things i will talk about down to the kickoff. Should a flip flop be done and if so when and where…where is the trail going to be covered in snow too deep to pass easly, where are the washouts going to be…road walks around heavy snow areas…Boogers bypass info…reading Bills note above regarding bypass in the lowland…well in 97 one young man walked the aquaduct from Ken mdws to yosemit!!!Now thats lowland hiking to the limits of near insanity But he did it…i will have some maps and other info down to the kickoff so we can kick some ideas around…
meadow ed
From Kennedy Meadows, walk the road down to the desert (about 20ish miles) and pick up trail #395 heading north. You can take this trail all the way to Tioga Road, which then runs you into Tuolumne. This is nice and low and safe.
Suge
I understand that most thru-hikers like to travel as light as possible and make big miles, but everyone seems to be talking about snow like it’s the plague. I haven’t heard anyone mention snowshoes yet. I went last weekend and am going again in a few weeks. Every year the first NOBO’s plow thru some pretty deep snow on the passes without snowshoes. Most everyone sems to take along an ice-axe through the southern Sierra, but I’ve yet to hear of anyone actually using it much. So just think that you’ll actually get some use out of that $100 piece of gear. Send the snowshoes home when you don’t need them anymore. I think it just takes a different mindset, a little bit of extra planning, and a couple pieces of extra gear.
Go forth and enjoy the opportunity to do the PCT in a high snow year!
Padre
“My feets is my only carriage” B. Marley
Padre
what about snowshoes?? padre has a good point in my opinion. is there anybody out there that has used them in the sierras? what would the down side be by having snowshoes with you while hiking in the sierras?? it would deffinately cut down on the postholing a. i definately would not leave the ice axe at home though. it is way to important when you take that wrong step, get off balance and start sliding off into nowheresville with a pile of rocks waiting for you at the bottom!! lets hope that doesnt happen this year out there for anybody.
well have yourselves a grand ol day!
orion
orion
I didn’t mean to imply that you could use snowshoes and do without an ice axe. As Orion says, it is a critical piece of gear for safely climbing or traversing snow/ice covered slopes.
Padre
“My feets is my only carriage” B. Marley
Padre
I snowshoe a lot in the Sierras. Usually don’t stick to a trail though and some of the sections of the PCT I’ve hiked seemed like they’d be pretty trecherous on snowshoes if you stuck to the trail: small trail on the edge of cliffs. However … there’s a cc-ski/snowshoe race next weekend between Echo Pass and Kirkwood … most of it on the PCT so people do it… at least parts of it.
Leslie
The Sierras are a wonderful ski. In March, with much shorter days than in May or June, we made it from the Whitney trailhead to Yosemite Valley through Tuolumne in 16 days. Quite excellent, and quite doable. You could really make much better miles in the summer if you were so lucky to have the snow - it’s hard to read the snow in the dark, so the longer days are a real plus. Also, one supposes it will be pretty easy to find water! This was with leather tele books and simple Karhu metal edged skis. You might do better with all this new fangled kit I see these days…
Skiing Jimbo
Some light titanium screws screwed into the bottom of your shoes can help a lot on traction through the snow.
Unless you’re going through right after fresh snow, the snow is half melted and re-frozen into those fields of towers that would be impossible to slide on anyway.
Toes
toes