[pct-l] ADZPCTKO

[RJ Lewis]

Thanks for the great advice. I'm definitely paying attention here to 
what everyone says. I've seen this discussion before and I paid 
attention before too. I've worked hard to plan my own trip, and still 
have some time yet to do more planning, and yet keep things flexible, so 
I can enjoy the trip, too. Thanks all for what you have added to this 
discussion.

Happy New Year!


Gary Wright wrote:
>
> On Dec 29, 2007, at 10:19 PM, RJ Lewis wrote:
>>  I myself don't plan on using them, but if I actually needed to, 
>> wouldn't hesitate to take water from a cache- I mean, why die out in 
>> the desert, just to preserve some imagined principle? Kind of 
>> pointless really. Much better to return home to one's loved ones safe 
>> and sound.
>>
>
> In my two hikes through the desert parts of the PCT I tried
> to avoid using caches.  It is difficult in two ways.  The
> first is the obvious: you've got to carry more water farther.
> The second is not so obvious.  Generally you'll be hiking
> with/around other thru hikers and you tend to take breaks
> together.  A water cache is a good place for a break.  So
> if you aren't using water cache's you may have to go off
> trail when your friends aren't and/or take an extra break
> when you don't want to.
>
> I hiked from Agua Dulce to Kennedy Meadows last year and
> only used two water cache's: a temporary cache near
> Lander's Campground and Bird Spring Pass.
>
> To skip Bird Spring Pass, I would have had to hike
> an extra 3 miles or so (round trip) to Willow Spring.
> I wanted to stay near my friends and so used the
> cache instead of going off trail to Willow.
>
> The Landers Campground cache was a totally ad-hoc
> cache which needed its bottles packed out anyway so
> I used that water instead of going to Lander's Camp
> a bit off trail.
>
> You really have to plan ahead when you aren't going
> to use the cache's.
>
> Radar
>
>