Hi, I’m planning a PCT north bound hike for 2006. I am young fit and quite experienced having done several month long mountainous trails. I don’t want to rush it and can take five months, but I’d like to be finished by Sept 1st, which means starting April 1st. Is this way too early to cross the Sierra’s.
Also should I take two sleeping bags, mailing forward the thick one after the Sierra’s?
Andy
June 15th is the traditional “safe” date for entering the Sierras in normal snow years. If you left Campo on April 1st and kept a five-month hike pace, you’d arrive at Kennedy Meadows around May 15th, which is very early even in a low snow year.
You could start with a thick sleeping bag and switch to a thin one at Echo Lake or Sierra City. Since you’re planning to finish by September 1st, you can probably make it through the Cascades without switching back to the thick one.
Yogi’s PCT Handbook is a great source of pre-hike information that will answer many questions you’re likely to have.
Pacer
I think Pacer is correct. The crucial factor for a Sept. 1 finish is not when you start from Campo, but when you depart Kennedy Meadows. Much will depend on how much snow falls in the mountains this winter and how fast it melts next spring. As the winter plays out you can monitor the situations at: http://delnorteresort.com/cgi-bin/postHoler
Once you have an idea when you think the Sierras will open, you can then decide a reasonable departure date from Campo, keeping in mind that So Cal also has some high elevations with significant snow accumulaiton, such as Fuller Ridge, that will be easier with a later start.
Caution: I’m not speaking from personal experience, but I have studied the issue in detail. If you are a mountaineer with signifcant experiece with ice axe and crampons you may find it possible to enter the Sierras any old time you please. But as far as I can tell, you don’t get to decide when to be at any given point on the trail. Mother Nature is still in charge and she may let you through by Sept 1 and then she may not.
Huff
If you look here: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/davidtoms you can see our pictures of what Fuller ridge, Baden powell and the Sierra looked like this year with an April 10th start and a June 1st departure from KM. Unless 2006 is another 1 in 10 high snow year, its unlikely to be worse than this on June 1st, and you can form your own opinion of whether these conditions look like the kind of experience you want. Squeaky’s journal on trailjournals shows pictures of the Sierra with a May 23rd entry.
Early April in soCal was pretty cold this year - just below freezing at night for the first 1-200 miles even in the ‘desert’.
Re bags - we had no problems using down bags with only 8oz of fill each, although the bags were custom cut for us, had no zips, and were very warm for the 1lb weight. There’s no direct US equivalent that I’m aware of - the WM ultralight has more down, and the highlight has a similar amount of down but also a part zip and some strange baffling. We used a stephenson tent which is much warmer than a tarp or a normal tent and gave us a few degrees extra. We also wore all our clothes on the coldest nights, but were never cold.
An alternative to a warmer bag would be to carry a WM flight jacket (as we did) for the sierras, and sleep in that if you’re cold. Has the advantage you can wear it around camp as well.
We hiked a pretty average pace (150-170 miles a week) and finished Sept 9th. The snow probably slowed us down by about a week, i.e. if the only snow had been above 10,500ft from KM onwards, we’d have finished at the start of September.
The nice thing with starting early is how incredibly peaceful and empty the trail is. If you’re solo you may not want this.
Dave
I live in Ridgecrest on the eastwern side of the sierra. So far this year there has been very little snow (compared to last year). However, that fact is pretty much irrelevant- the key is the amount of snow at the start of the snow melt in the spring.
While Plan A is to hike straight through, Plan B might involve bypassing the Sierra until later in the summer. Logistics and $ might be a pain, but it might be better than hanging at KM for weeks.
booger