[pct-l] Southbound Hiker

[Austin Williams]

Hello, my name is Austin.  I'm from the Oregon Coast and I'll be doing my
first thru this year!  I'm sooooo stoked!  Because of "real life"
constraints, I can't start my trip until very late June!  Yikes!  So, that
obviously rules out hiking North!  Even though I'm an ultralighter
(8-8.5lbsbase pack weight), and am convinced I can thru hike this
trail in about 3
1/2 months, if I hiked north that would still put me in northern Washington
in the middle of October.... not going to happen!

So... I've been having to read all the guidebooks backwards.  :)

I'm hiking solo, and have three questions for the forum:

1.) How is the water situation in Southern California in late September,
early October?  Is it scarce?  Should my Aqua Mira suffice?  Or should bring
a real water filter down there?

2.) I imagine that the recent severe storms in the north have caused a
massive amount of blown-down all over the trail along sections in Oregon and
Washington.  Does anyone know the current trail conditions there?

3.) And last but not least:  I will be leaving my mate behind for this
hike.  She'll be sending my resupply's and is being very supportive.
Naturally, I want to remain in communication as often as possible.  How
(in)frequent is the cellphone coverage along the trail?  Will it be worth
bringing along my cellphone (and my nifty home-made lithium battery
cellphone recharger)?  Or is the cellphone coverage so limited that I'd be
better off leaving it at home?  I'll only be using 22 resupply box's.... so
if even if they were all evenly spaced out, that comes out to only being
able to call home to mi amor once every 5 days (if I don't bring a cell).
Any opinions?

Thanks for your feedback!  And I look forward to seeing you all on the trail
this summer!

-Austin
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