PCT nobo start - Pacific Crest Trail

imported
#1

Hey out there! I want to hike the PCT northbound in 2011. Is it too late to start a thru-hike on May 23rd?

Annika

#2

It will be very very hot in the desert sections and most of the water sources will be dried up. You will have to push very hard to get to Canada before winter sets in. That said, there are always a number of students who attempt late season hikes.

If you want a more enjoyable experience, you might start a few hundred miles north of the border (i.e. at Big Bear or Agua Dulce). If you want a thruhike, you can always go back in the fall and fill in the missing miles when it’s cooler.

Ginny

#3

I already answered on your other post… Ginny and i rarely agree, and this time we do, so we might be right. It’s possible starting 5/23, but tough.

Another idea, if it’s possible, is to get out to the Mexico border earlier, like on spring break or even in January, and do the first 150 miles as a try-out // warm-up hike. I did the first 110 miles like that on my 2008 thru, because i was concerned with not being able to start until May. You’ll get about a 10 day headstart, and it’s nice to hike that part in winter when the weather is usually good. You can’t really do more than 150 miles this way though, because then you get to Mt. San Jacinto which will be a major snowed-over obstacle until at least mid-April.

markv

#4

It would depend on the speed that you will hike and how many zeros you will take. I will be leaving on May 22nd but will finish the trail in under 100 days. In my case May 22nd puts me at KM right around June 15th which is the earliest that I want to enter the Sierras and is what led me to my late start date. At a 100 day pace I would be finished by September 1st. There are others who have started even into June but they also have completed the trail in under 100 days.

gg-man

#5

…if i could do it again, my dream hike of the pct would be a “SKIP-HOP”!.. start early (mid april or before…we started april 15th in '09) to experience the best of the desert in a bit cooler weather…SKIP san jacinto (which we did, thanks to the help of billy goat…he brought us back to “st. jack” after the snow melted and it was AWESOME!..love that mountain!)…hike on up to KM arriving around mid june…SKIP the sierras, and if the snow isn’t too heavy, head on up to donner pass and continue north to finish!..THEN, head back down to the sierras to catch them in late august - early september, probably hiking northbound (?) from KM and celebrating a completed hike at donner pass with ‘pooh’ et al!..the pct was actually more difficult for me than the AT, so i’d opt next time to make it as easy on myself as possible!..if you’re enduring the desert a little later in the season, watch out for the heat!..as BG says, get out of the heat mid-day (under a bush or something…hike when it’s cooler)…i think the desert floor can absolutely ‘COOK’ your feet!..so be careful!

maw-ee

#6

I’ll be starting around this same time. A lot of info on an earlier thread I started about the same thing. I think its titled June 1 Start

dale