[pct-l] How flat is So Cal?

[Donna Saufley]

Using poles or not using poles is such a personal choice.  Many hikers
prefer hiking without them.  Personally, I really enjoy and benefit from
using mine.  So whether you need them or not is really something you have to
decide.  There are some substantial elevation gains and losses in So Cal and
some sketchy “shelves” or “ledges” which can be even more intimidating for
some with ice or snow on them.  The San Jacintos with snow and ice have
scared the s**t out of more than a few hikers.  Keep you eye on snow
conditions down south, as well as the Sierras.  In ’05 when the snow and
rainfall broke the record, the So Cal sections were quite the challenge. 

 

L-Rod

 

   _____  

From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net]
On Behalf Of Eric Payne
Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 8:42 PM
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: [pct-l] How flat is So Cal?

 

I'm thinking about not getting my trekking poles until Kennedy Meadows.  I
typically always use trekking poles when there is lots of tricky eleveation
gain, but I have a mental image of most of the PCT (especially socal) being
very graded.  How wrong am I?  I definitely want the poles for the sketchy
fords in the Sierra, and then I'll keep them beyond that.  I can just
remember all of the times on the AT when I hated using them on flat
sections.  They seemed sort of like a waste of time in those sections, and I
didn't like using the energy to swing them...it felt unnatural and just
something else to pay attention to.  Can you say lazy?  Still...it also
seems that it would use less energy, thus calories, thus less water in
socal.  

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