Visit from family

imported
#1

Hey folks, I’m planning my thru hike for 2012 and want to take a week or so off at some point to have my gal and kids (6 & 11) come out to visit me. I was thinking we might visit Yosemite or something similar.

A little background:

I do 20+ miles a day on the AT here in Maine with a very light kit - I was thinking of a relatively early start and taking lots of zeros up to Kennedy Meadows, planning to reach KM in the first week of Juneish then taking time off until June 15th or whenever the snow levels say to head into the Sierra. I’d have the family meet me at KM and we’d head to Yosemite (maybe rent an RV for the week?)

Sound like a decent plan? I know I can’t count on my arrival date in KM but does this sound doable? I’m planning an earlyish start date, I like drinking water and I’m very experienced camping/traveling/route finding on snow so the benefits should outweigh the drawbacks.

Any place different/better you might suggest they come visit me?

Kwijibo

#2

Your plan sounds perfect for a high snow year. If it were a normal or low snow year though, and if it were me, i’d have the family meet me a week or two later. You could still do Yosemite. The advantages of having them come later are twofold:

  • After going through the High Sierra, you’ll probably be at the point in your thru-hike when you’re MOST ready for a break. This is instead of at KM, when you’ll likely be excited and eager to hike on into the mountains.

  • The mosquitos in the HIgh Sierra hatch sometime in June. Given your experience level, you’ll probably be glad to fight through a little extra snow and get through there before the hatch.

Also, a lot of thru-hikers who might be your friends by then will be taking time off in Mammoth Lakes, so you won’t get far out of sync with companions.

markv