[pct-l] 78% hike Cascade Locks to White Pass - skip Trout Lake

[Hootie Martin]

Postholer wrote:

Stabler Store closing is not a big deal.

78% hike directly from Cascade Locks to White Pass. It's quite normal.

What some folks do is skip the 34 miles between Cascade Locks and Wind
River Rd and just walk Wind River Rd to Panther Crk Rd to the PCT at
Panther Crk CG. You can shave a 34 mile day off that way. This doesn't
work for the purist! :)

If you're considering Trout Lake, you really need to think twice about
that decision. It's roughly 20 miles off-trail on a forest service road;
getting a hitch by most accounts will be a major pain. Subjective
testimonials of a few folks saying they had no problem should not be
confused with the reality of it. Only 6% of hikers in the past have used
Trout Lake and for good reason.

Scott, where have you pulled this data from and what percentage of
thru-hikers are included in this data extract?  I suspect that this is but
a small sample of actual thru-hikers.

As a few others have shared already, the pull between Cascade Locks and
White Pass is not that bad at all.  I don't understand why anyone would
recommend skipping this section of the trail and road walking simply to
reduce the resupply leg.  This is not an issue of purist versus non-purist
in my view, given that you are talking about a 34 mile section of trail.
Skipping sections of this size simply to reduce resupply legs is really
redefining the definition of a PCT thru-hike.  Sure, call it a Mex-Can
hike, but I struggle with classifying this as a PCT Thru-Hike if you are
going to skip sections of this size simply to reduce resupply legs.

If one looks at it, this is approximately 155 mile leg, assuming one
chooses not to hitch into Trout Lake.  By this time most folks are kicking
25-30 mile days which would equate to 5-6 day resupply.  Why is this
difficult?  Is this the result of more and more folks utilizing UL packs
that simply can't carry a 5-6 load-carry?  During the planning stages of my
2006 thru-hike, I read many journals from 2003-2005 to gather information
and back then, a good majority of those journaling appeared to have a
number of resupply legs of this length and even greater as many folks
typically went straight through between KM and VVR on a 8-9 day resupply
leg.  Additionally, Tehachappi/Mojave to KM is approximately 145 miles and
this was often done in one resupply.

Not suggesting one is right or wrong, but it is interesting how the
logistics have changed somewhat over the past 5-7 years.  Now, obviously in
the Sierra, the heavier snow years will have some impact on the ability to
go straight through, but there has definitely been a change in the overall
thought process of what are "manageable" resupply legs in the past few
years.  It would make for an interesting study!

While I didn't stop at Trout Lake on my thru, I do recall reaching Road 23
and there was a gentleman there that proactively encouraged me to take a
ride in with him and suggested the Huckleberry shakes were to die for!  It
is one of those spots that I have put on my list to go back to in th future.

Elevator