cirumstances make it necessary for me to start late on a (hopefully) thru hike of PCT. the date looks like june 1st. i dont mind carrying water as needed, if adequate sources are available, another option, skip the desert, and start in the sierras (no thru though) however i was looking forward to being trail hard by the time i got to this beautiful area, for full enjoyment. any thoughts
Norval
Go ahead and start in the Sierras and come back and do the miles south of there. Still a thru just a flip flop thru.
socks
The Sierras are not that difficult if you aren’t trying to do big miles. Plenty of people do just the John Muir Trail (coincides with the PCT almost all the way) who aren’t in that great of shape. Take it easy the first few days to adjust to the elevation. Try to sleep low (near the creeks, rather than the passes)at first, and just do one high pass a day. The trail is in great condition. Get a current snow report before you start so you know what to take. I would recommend a resupply so you don’t feel pressured to go so fast - we went out from LeConte through Dusy Basin and over Bishop Pass to South Lake TH. There is quite a lot of fisherperson traffic so a ride into Bishop is not too difficult. Another option is out Kearsarge Pass to Onion Valley, but a ride might be more difficult to find. I know those long resupplies frustrate some thru-hikers because of all the effort and no PCT miles, but both routes take you through gorgeous scenery.
Turtle Walking
You could compromise, and start at Agua Dulce or Tehachapi to get a few miles in before the Sierras… Even a section or two will help you build some trail hardness, problem is it’ll probably also help you build some blisters, and those probably won’t be gone by the sierras.
jonathan
Be aware that if you start in the Sierra, the chances are really slim you’ll return to SoCal from Manning. It is really far and you’ve walked long enough. I wouldn’t start in the Sierra on June 1. I thrued in 2003 in 3.5 months, entering the Sierra on June 10. From Whitney north was some of the hardest hiking I did on the trip and a 20 mile day was pretty brutal. Better to start at, say, Agua Dulce. You’ll get to Kennedy Meadows around June 15 or so. Or, back up further to Big Bear.
Suge
It could be doable if you don’t mind to do 30 miles a day. Norway did it. I think he started june 4th. But he was a incredible fast machine.
Stomp
In '05 we had 236 hikers come through our house and more who stopped in Skykomish and didn’t sign our register. That was a year of major flip flopping. Some started at Mexico hiked as far as Kennedy Meadows then bussed up to Manning Park and continued south to Kennedy Meadows. There were about 3-4 different flip routes that were tried that year. You need heavy snow in the Sierras and light snow up here in the North Cascades to do a good flip. You all got real inventive on how to cover all the required miles that year. We saw everyone from June 2nd until October 30th that year.
Andrea Dinsmore
Andrea, thanks so much for picking up Pearson and I at the Chevron Station on Friday August 4th, 2006. I didn’t think we’d make it out of Skykomish without your assistance.
Datto
Datto