Average PCT temps?

imported
#1

I’m not sure yet if I’m a sucker, but I splurged/broke down and bought the popular Driclime Windshirt. I tried it out on my walk to work yesterday (4km, about 50 minutes). Underneath it, I wore 2 long-sleeved, fairly lightweight shirts (about t-shirt weight). It was about 0 degrees (32F), and lightly snowing, and a bit breezy. I wasn’t “cozy”, but I was warm enough - just fine. Very nice.

Now, I am trying to plan my clothing strategy. Given a Campo start date of around April 15, what sort of average day and night temps can I expect until Kennedy Meadows, and then in the Sierra in early June? How about freak cold snaps and heat spells?

Thanks,
Sophie

Sophie

#2

Before KM:
We had a few nights of c. 25F in socal (around Idyllwild and Wrightwood) - cold enough to need to defrost shoes over the stove before we could fit into them in the morning. We were also tentbound for a 24hr snowstorm on Fuller Ridge.
In these conditions we wore down vest or jacket (WM flight), thin fleece, thermal top and fleece legs inside the tent. We never (even at 12,000 ft in the Sierra at 5am) hiked in down jackets.
Warmest was c. 105F around warner springs, and also after Tehachapi. There was always a breeze when it was warm in the desert so we never found it unbearable. We always wore long pants/long sleeved shirts even on hot days to keep the sun off.

After KM
Lowest temp was c. 10-15F (20F inside tent, which is c.5-10F warmer than outside) at 12,000 ft after Pinchot in early June, camped on snow.
Highest temp 110F on the climb out of Dunsmuir. We sent fleece pants and down jackets on from Dunsmuir to Cascade locks (via Ashland).

N. Washington
Bottomed out around 25F but rarely particularly cold or hot, beautiful hiking temperatures of c.50-60F most of the time.

Our clothing strategy was:
hiking shirt (thin, nylon)
thermal (helly hansen)
polartec 100 fleece
wind shell
rain jacket
down vest/jacket

and for the legs:
shorts (only worn in town)
long pants (nylon)
fleece pants
rain pants

dave

#3

Sophie, This year on the PCT I wore the whole way, a long sleeved Patagonia midweight top and a dry climb. If I needed extra warmth/wind protection I wore my marmot precip. That was all I needed! I am a fairly warm person, but you are in your sleeping bag or hiking most of the time, so you should be fine.

She-ra