Microsection Mid June, Clear area now?

imported
#1

Hi, i am the worlds laziest PCT hiker :slight_smile:

I live in livermore ca. (central california), I just want to hike 50-100 miles on the PCT, taking days on end to do so, with my dog, and no bear canistar.
I carry a mobile home of junk and am really camping not hiking (but dont tell anybody).

Last time I went up there to “Early” I needed snow shoes at the areas that were easy to get to. like beldin and bucks lake and all.
Snow patches and all on the “dark side” are not a problem, but anything requiring snow shoes to get somewhere i want to avoid, or do later.

now there is even more snow up in them thar hills, so i am asking for a location to start a hike at.

i have piddled around hiking castle crag (and down), beldin and bucks lake areas, plumas, because of the low elevations, but one time i went up there and couldnt get through without proper snow shoes.

i was Thinking (ohh noo)
that if i went more south, closer to the equator, that the warmer weather would offset the altitude.
^ this is an important thing that i do not understand.

but, from the charts and graphs , neither snow ammounts or the snow being actually melted seemed to be different. which might mean way way south , further than it is practical (gas wasting) to get to it.

what say ye? easy place to go a few miles with nice weather and minimal altitude?

we hikes the PCT because people have some sort of respect for (what is left of) nature, and Dogs are not allowed anymore in many areas.
some of the nicest places to hike and camp, even my medium sized nice dog is not welcome :frowning:

i dont “belong” there, but I am mostly prepared , or can just camp out, or turn right around and go back to civilisation.

Psycogeek

#2

Welcome to the forum. Are you talking about starting your hike now? If you’re looking for 50-100 miles that aren’t still under a lot of snow right now, your best bet might be to drive south and either do the San Bernadinos or San Gabriels.

You could start up at Coon Creek Cabin or somewhere else on the east side of Section C, and hike west (PCT north) across the higher elevations where it’s still cool, and down through Deep Creek Canyon, which will be getting hotter but is pretty and has the river and the hot springs. On to Silverwood Lake and a hot last few miles to get to I-15. Call ahead to that area…there might still be some sort of landslide closure.

Or, start from Wrightwood in Section D and hike across the San Gabriels. Much the same situation as the Bernadinos, but slightly higher in elevation. Both of these scenarios fit your criteria of 50-100 miles and not too much snow. You’d want to check the water report at http://www.4jeffrey.net/pct/a.htm That site also posts closures

Another option is to start from Mojave or Walker Pass (Section E/F) and go north into the southern Sierra. You’d get a chance to go up high, but in the south of the range the snow is probably minimal, even this year, until after Cottonwood Pass. So you could plan that as your bail-out point, and subtract miles to figure out a starting point.

I wouldn’t be confident with anything north of there having no snow right now. The couple of sensors that show up are indicating 3-6 feet of snow in the NoCal mountains at 6,000’ elevation. I don’t know how that would translate to a lower elevation section, but it doesn’t look good to me. You could go over to the PCT-L page, join, and ask if Georgi Heitman knows. She lives at Old Station, which is right on the trail up there, at a low elevation.

markv

#3

I should mention that when i say start from Mojave, i know the reaction is probably “that’s the middle of the desert”. But if you start from the highway and go north, you go over some mountains that are actually really nice and high up, before going back down for the last 40 miles or so of high desert. This is NOT going over the desert floor. That stuff is south of Mojave.

And in the name of factual clarity, the PCT in the San Gabriels is not actually significantly higher than it is in the San Bernadinos. But it is further north and catches more snow, so it feels higher.

markv

#4

that is just the type of information i needed.
i will just translate that from PCT speak into map info.

thanks for writing all the options,that way if i start earlier some year for a quick hike.
I think i like the idea of the sections (E/F) because i dont want to drive so much.

i am ok with traveling in the hot and dry , it cant be any worse than some of the places me and the dog go to, when everything in Ca is dried up, and it is 100*F.
and the elevations are just about my speed.

finding places where we can go and be free (off leash even), has often meant being in the worst places , where nobody else wants to be, except the ticks.

http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/interactive/html/map.html?mode=pan&extents=us&zoom=&loc=41.639+N%2C+122.472+W&ql=obs_overlay&var=ssm_swe&dy=2011&dm=6&dd=4&dh=13&snap=1&o1=1&lbl=a&o2=1&o3=1&o5=1&o6=1&o11=1&o10=1&o9=1&o12=1&o13=1&o7=1&o18=1&o19=1&o20=1&min_x=-122.475&min_y=40.491666666667&max_x=-120.6&max_y=41.741666666667&coord_x=-121.5375&coord_y=41.116666666667&zbox_n=&zbox_s=&zbox_e=&zbox_w=&metric=0&bgvar=dem&width=1200&height=800&nw=1200&nh=800&h_o=0&font=2&js=1&uc=1

i was trying to use this new snow and Water equivelent map thing, but it isnt easy to corelate the trail to the map, i have a hard enough time doing that without coordinates :slight_smile:

Psycogeek