Thanks to those who answered my last post regarding a late northbound PCT hike. I’ve decided i don’t want to cut out any of the trail unless i have too so now i am thinking of southbound hike starting june 15th’ish, i’d love to hear from anyone with experience with this hike, and mabey some help interpeting washington snow levels. thanks
Norval
You’ll be dealing with a lot of snow by June 15. We had a good snowpack this year, although we’ve also had warm temperatures of late. I wouldn’t expect to see much bare earth except for at low points. You’ll want an ice axe and (most likely) crampons, though I suspect you might be able to skate around on something lie Yak trax. Bugs will be horrendous for a while. June is a good time to climb in WA precisely because snow is good and consolidated. It will be very, very pretty however and the weather begins to stabilize at that time of the year. Temps should be pleasant.
Take a look at
http://www.pierce.ctc.edu/faculty/cwillett/local/lundin3/index.html
The photos are from the Snoqualmie Pass area, starting at the PCT trailhead. This is barely 3000 feet in elevation and is on Memorial Day last year. It should give you some idea of what sort of snow will be around. Elevation ran up to 6000 feet or so.
Suge
we did a 1000 hike in 02 , starting in July and we hit quite a bit of snow. We were suprised actually. You are gonna hit alot in June… makes very slow going and can be dangerous. In june most of wash. could be under snow… beautiful though !..
yappy
Did southbound from Manning Provincial Park in Canada to Cascade Locks, Oregon in 2006 starting southbound July 20th or so. Anything earlier than that during the snow of 2006 would have been quite a bit more difficult. As fortune would have it for being so late, I lucked out and had terrific weather for the trip. A few people I’d met who’d tried southbounding three weeks earlier had said it was crazy nuts slippery on the PCT. I couldn’t imagine going across the Knife Edge on ice.
Just wanted to mention that section of the PCT from Manning Provincial Park, Canada to Stehekin, Washington was flat-out raving gorgeous! Man alive that was beautiful. Every moment, every day, breathtaking. It’s in the top five places I have seen in the world. The people at the Stehekin Valley Ranch were some of the nicest people I’ve met on any trail. God I was so tired coming in there and those folks were great with weary hikers. I would definitely go back there if I’m fortunate enough to get the chance again. A fantastic experience.
Datto
Datto