[pct-l] Fall/winter hiking

[ed faubert]

Yes you can do so because you have done big mile hikes all over America buts lets nor forget that folks like you are less then 1 % of 1 % ofthe average folks who come to the canyon to see and hike  the canyon. I can personaly tell you some folks who did the entire PCT were denied a permit to do a 12/15 mile long per day hike. When you cold turkey a permit into the office and it seems too many miles per day a red flag goes up, even i get them sometimes. However if you explain that your a long distence hiker on major trails AND you sign off on the permit they will give you some slack. Keep in mind however that a space has still got to be open somewhere.
However even if your doing th AZT there still has to be a place for you to camp below the rim, if all the places are taken that day then yes you have to do a 24++ mile hike. If you started in Mexico going north you can do a 24 mile hike pretty readily.

When you mentioned 3 didget temps you can see why i go in the winter when it can get down to 25o at night and up to 50o durning the day on the tonto. I have walked out in near whiteout blizzard conditions a few times but also hiked out in dec/march snowfree. Then too its been it the low 70s at the river in mid jan as well. Just like on the PCT every day can be hot/cold/wet/dry...just be prepared for anything....

Remember you also had 1000s of feet of elevation lost as well as the gain...

Meadow Ed

--- On Mon, 10/19/09, Ken Powers <ken at gottawalk.com> wrote:

> From: Ken Powers <ken at gottawalk.com>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Fall/winter hiking
> To: "PCT-L" <pct-l at backcountry.net>
> Cc: "ed faubert" <edfaubert at yahoo.com>
> Date: Monday, October 19, 2009, 8:40 PM
> Canyon Ed,
> 
> You've been listening to those canyon rangers to much. When
> they wouldn't 
> give us a permit to camp in the canyon last year we did a
> rim-to-rim on our 
> AZT hike.  So much for getting red-carded. The Forest
> Service said it was 25 
> miles with 6000 feet of elevation gain with temps into 3
> digits
> 
> Yeah, it was hard, but really no worse than many other days
> on the trails. 
> And one of the most spectacular hikes we've done. Gotta get
> back down there
> 
> ...GottaWalk
> Ken
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "ed faubert" <edfaubert at yahoo.com>
> To: <pct-l at backcountry.net>;
> "pct-l-" 
> <pct-l-request at mailman.backcountry.net>
> Sent: Monday, October 19, 2009 7:24 PM
> Subject: [pct-l] Fall/winter hiking
> 
> 
> Ahh...
> Just when we are reading about the last of the NoBos
> arriving in Canada and 
> the few SoBos still heading down to Mexico its time for me
> to do my own 
> hiking....
> 
> I leave this thursday for the overnight train to the Grand
> Canyon, this is a 
> short hike down to the tonto and west to Mounment and back
> to Indian gardens 
> for Holloween, then to the river and back and spend a day
> with Switchback in 
> Vegas. I go back for thanksgiven up to Cottonwood then back
> out then in dec 
> i go back up to Cottonwood dec 22,23 the the ranch for xmas
> then west to 
> Salt then back to Phantom for New Years... This will be a
> 10 day trip below 
> the rim then back there in late jan ....
> 
> So see there is life after the pct AND if your still in the
> need of more 
> winter hiking come to the canyon.....Well it is shorter
> miles overall each 
> day the canyon can kick your butt. in fact anything over 10
> miles a day and 
> you may be given a red card and deneided a permit....
> 
> Sure its winter and all but remember its still high desert
> and its 2000 feet 
> at the bottom ....
> 
> Meadow Ed
> 
> 
> 
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