Section hiking-tough parts

imported
#1

I would like to hike the PCT for four months in 2008. In the meantime, I would like to see if I can section a few of the tougher sections so that I might possibly complete the trail in 2008.

So my question is, which sections of the trail are the toughest and most likely to be diificult to hike through in a heavy snow year?

I figured I might hike some of the hotter sections in the winter/fall and the colder section in Summer and take care of these sections before 2008.

PS: Just oreered Yogis book, maybe there will be info in there concerning this.

jalanjalan

#2

You can hike the whole PCT in 4 months. I’d did it in 3.5 without really putting much effort in. I just didn’t take a lot of time off and tended to hike most of the day so that I could get the sunrise and the sunset. I know of a lot of sub 4 month hikes, and even more 4.5 month hikes.

Hiking the hotter sections early won’t help especially much if you are on an academic schedule, as you’ll still have to wait for snow to melt. If you want to shave time, I would hike the Oregon section in advance as it is fairly easy and you can transit from Ashland up to Cascade Locks without (super)much difficulty. Of course, you’ll find when you thru that you might not like doing this. You’ll have built up trail friends and bugging out on them after CA might not seem too appealing at the time.

Suge

#3

You might want to check out this book -
Day Hikes on the Pacific Crest Trail: California by George and Patricia Semb
I know that all the dedicated thru-hikers might scoff, but this book tells you how to break the trail in small sections.
We did the Sierras in 5 sections. Yes, it involves taking some long side trails, but they are beautiful, too. There are alternatives to enjoying the PCT other than thru-hiking.

Turtle Walking

#4

There are few hard sections of PCT. The Sierras are only considered difficult because most thruhikers get there during snow or snow melt. If you skip the Sierras on a thruhike because you have already done them, you will still get snow if you are hiking in June, it would just be a bit farther north.

What you might do is hike Washington over the next two years. Then if you run out of time on your thruhike you will have already done it. If you discover you are going fast enough to finish the whole thing in one shot, then you can do Washington again. It is worth doing twice. Win, win.

Ginny