Hi, I am planning a hike of the PCT in 2009 and I want to know. When do most people start the trip? I have heard anywhere from end of april all the way through june 15th…I can’t find a definite answer and I am getting a bit frustrated. Thanks for your help guys. Also, if anyone here has successfully thru-hiked it, any advice would be great. I hiked the AT and I’m excited to begin planning my next thru.
Thanks guys!
Sarah Louise
Sarah
hi Sarah-the kick party for the pct is sometime mid april-go to pct home page and call for exact date/also research about trail
matt
The past few years Kickoff has been the last weekend of April. google adzpctko. That’s the right spelling, honest. Many more people this year started a little bit before Kickoff than those who started later than Kickoff. So i’d estimate the MEDIAN start date would be about April 22. Any start date between 4/15 and 5/1 though, you should have a fair amount of other hikers nearby.
I’m trying to think of PCT-specific advice for an AT vet and it’s hard. Maybe the biggest thing i noticed was a lot of AT-ers carrying too much water. There are “unsure” water sources like seasonal sources and caches, and those sources do warrant arriving with extra water so you’re not screwed if there’s none there. But a lot of people were showing up at reliable sources still carrying 2-3 liters of water. That’s 5 lbs. of extra weight. So i guess, be careful and read the water reports (both the official one and whatever info you can get from books, journals, word of mouth), but don’t go nuts worrying about and carrying tons of extra water.
Cuddles