I’m section hiking the PCT. Last spring I hiked Campo to Big Bear.
Is it crazy to resume NOBO from Big Bear in, say, early October? Obviously desert heat and water sources are of prime concern, I presume there’ll be few folks on the trail, and caches might be closed for the season.
Hiking alone is fine with me, but I’m not real familiar with SoCal – is this not a good idea? I haven’t checked the details, but plan to hike about 300 or 350 miles.
Thanks!
PCT rookie
I am a PCT section hiker. I live in the Antelope Valley desert of north LA County not so far from Big Bear area. By early Oct the desert heat begins to go away, and the highter mountains begin to have freezing temperatures at night. But everything is 5 months dry. It is also the season of Santa Ana winds and & fire season.
This year, 2012, was & is a bad drought year. I used Halfmile’s PCT maps. They are invaluable with their trail details. Since I hiked “off season” this winter, there were no water caches. I found many springs & creeks dry. This year I drove each hiking section to check road crossings and checked to see if any water is available. I placed a water cache at the end of each day’s planned hike segment. So I simply hiked from my placed water cache to water cache. And afterwards, I went back & picked up my empty cache containers.
It took a lot of planning & supply placement in advance, but it worked well. Problem solved. It’s easier with 2 people to leave a car at each end.
(Personal note: I usually average 10 miles a day, so I’m a slow hiker. I’m not up to most hiker’s speed, so I find myself often hiking alone.)
Linda of Lancaster CA