Assuming a 4.5 month total hiking time going north on the PCT, what would be the optimal time to start this year? I have read the Sierra snowpack is at 70% of normal levels, but the socal mountains have plenty of snowpack. What do you think?
RickD
Best time to start
system
#2
I’d start around May 1-5. It puts you behind most hikers, but you’ll catch them by the Sierra. There will be hikers around, but not so many to be annoying.
Suge
system
#3
I found it very helpful to attend the kick-off, especially with info about available water caches and to check out the latest and greatest in lightweight gear. If you start with the pack after the ADZPCTKOP, it will spread out by the time you get to Mojave, especially if you don’t spend a lot of time in towns. The June 15 “Ray Day,” earliest departure from Kennedy Meadows, is a bit misleading. The Sierras all depend on snow levels at the moment.
raru
system
#4
It’s hard to say. A lot of people just jump on the bandwagon of late April for a start date, for various reasons. I’d say late April is in the mid-range of good start dates, but that doesn’t mean at all that you should start then.
Do a little research on the various towns and try and gauge how many zeros you want to take. I really think it comes down to that, more than anything else. I started April 15th and took 53 zeros to finish September 15th, with skips around the closed fire sections this year. I’m a fast hiker, so I can afford to take that many zeros between my early start and my hiking speed.
But many people started later than me and passed me by central california not because they hiked fast, but because they took few zeros. So, start mid or late april if you like to zero, or early to mid May if you don’t plan on spending much time in towns. Almost anyone with a reasonably sized pack can do 20+ on the PCT for almost all of it, so don’t worry about planning for your mileage.
And don’t let snow scare you. Try and get out to learn the use of an ice axe before you hike and carry one in the Sierras. I entered June 5th this year and while we had plenty of snow it wasn’t very worrying to me. I also did Baden Powell early this season, when it had lots of snow, and if you time it right (mid-day) it’s not really an issue.
Joker
system
#5
Thanks everyone for the useful replies. Since I’m hiking solo and this is my first time, I’ve decided to catch the ACZPCTKO and leave with the herd. This’ll give me the greatest possible leeway, and I can hop off and visit relatives if I’m moving too fast before KM.
One more question: when do mosquitos come out in the High Sierra? Could it actually be better to get out in early June to avoid them?
RickD
system
#6
The bugs arrive according to the time of snowmelt. They breed in standing water. On my first hike in '97 they arrived in mid June and were terrible in Yosemite. It was such a bad year, that the papers in SFO actually had stories about how bad the bugs were that year!
On my hike in '05 they arrived much later (late June) and were not as bad - probably due to the fact that the snowpack was so deep and melted later.
I talked to Billy Goat (he’s hiked the PCT around 5 times so far) specifically about this issue last week (among other PCT issues) and he actually gave me an average date: June 18th…
So there you go, I hope that helps. If I were to hike the PCT again, I might invest in some bug gear which weighs next to nothing.
Happy Trails!
freebird
system
#8
I’ve only been through twice, so i defer to Billy Goat. But from reading pretty much every journal on trailjournals, year to year with different start dates, i concluded that there is no way you’re going to avoid the mosquitos in Yosemite and just north. Going earlier, or a dry year, may mean you’ll reach them a day or 2 further north, but you’ll reach them regardless. Unless you winter mountaineer your way through, or go in late August.
The earlier you go though, and the later the snowmelt, DOES however affect what kind of mosquitos you hit in NoCal, OR, and WA. The late folks have far fewer mozzies to deal with in the northern half of the PCT, though as a tradeoff they risk bad weather in WA.
markv
system
#9
As people have noted, the mozzie hatch depends on the year. However, 2003 was an “average” year and I left KM on June 9. I had almost no mozzie issues whatsoever in the Sierra. I got smacked with them, though, in southern and central OR. No worries in WA.
In 2006 I was on the Sierra High Route and the bugs were truly awful. I started on July 12. Even up high they were nasty and only in a wind was I safe, or at night when it got too cold for them.
Suge