North to South - Pacific Crest Trail

imported
#1

Hello everyone. I’m just getting started with planning a hike from Crater Lake, OR to Campo, CA via the PCT starting in August 2008. This is all very preliminary, but a friend who has hiked the AT twice suggested I get on a forum. A few questions I already have: What’s up with the weather in central/southern CA in September/Nov? No one will be hiking with me southbound probably, I think I can handle the alone time, but not sure at this point, any comments?

Anyways. Thanks for all who have listened. I’ll be dropping in frequently.

Hugs,
David

David

#2

You’d do best to ask on pct-l (www.backcountry.net) which is totally focused on the PCT. Several trail angels participate regularly, so it is a good way to get to know the scene before you get there.

Southern CA is generally very dry in the fall. The rainy season there is usually late winter. Springs will generally be dry and some public water sources may be turned off. You may run into snow in the Sierras if you are there in October, or it may just be cold.

Ginny

#3

Fontana Reservoir

Hikers on the Appalachian Trail stop to admire the view from atop Fontana Dam. The highest dam east of the Rocky Mountains, Fontana is on the Little Tennessee River in western North Carolina.

Fontana Reservoir occupies a site of particular splendor deep in the Great Smoky Mountains. Fishing, boating, and swimming are all popular at Fontana, but it is perhaps most appreciated by wilderness hikers and campers.

The Appalachian Trail, which extends over 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine, crosses the top of Fontana Dam. The hot showers available at the trail shelter maintained by TVA have led grateful hikers to dub it the Fontana Hilton. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park borders the reservoir to the north.

Fontana was built during World War II to provide electric power for the war effort. A new town, housing some 5,000 people who worked around the clock in three shifts, sprang up in the forest, and the project broke construction records. What was once the construction village is now a resort offering recreational activities such as boating, horseback riding, and crafts making.

The Fontana Dam Visitor Center is is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily from May through November. It will be closed when the homeland security alert level is high (orange) or higher.

Dam Closure
The Fontana Dam roadway continues to be closed to vehicular traffic as road work continues, but foot traffic will be allowed to cross the dam.

Fontana:
Facts & Figures
Construction of Fontana Dam began in 1942 and was completed in 1944.

Fontana provides 238 miles of shoreline and 10,230 acres of water surface for recreation activities.

The average annual rainfall at Fontana is 57.8 inches. Fontana helps control the flooding that in the past inundated areas as far away as Chattanooga.

Fontana Dam is 480 feet high and stretches 2,365 feet across the Little Tennessee River.

Fontana has a flood-storage capacity of 513,965 acre-feet.

The water level in Fontana Reservoir varies about 52 feet in a normal year.

The nameplate generating capacity of Fontana’s three units is 293,600 kilowatts of electricity.

Ed