[pct-l] advice on start date?

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good morning, Beth,

I live 20 miles west of the PCT at Mt. Hood and am reasonably familiar with
how the snowpack varies from year to year.  Eric is correct about Oregon
conditions:  This is a heavy snow year in all the Northwest.
http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/support/water/westwide/snowpack/wy2011/snow1105.gif
  Within 10 miles south of Cascade Locks the PCT climbs out of the gorge
from 200 ft. elevation to 4000 ft. on Benson Plateau.  The Blazed Alder
Snotel site
ftp://ftp.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/data/snow/snotel/reports/snow_depth/oregon/21d33s.txtis
typical of conditions at 3500-4000 feet on the trail.
35 miles south of there the trail crosses at 6000 ft. just above Timberline
Lodge on Mt. Hood.  Usually Timberline gets a seasonal total of 400” of
snow, but so far this year there has been about 740” with over 180” now on
the ground. http://www.timberlinelodge.com/conditions/  One must hike
another 25 miles south to again get below 4000 ft. elevation.

Good navigation skills will be necessary because for most of the first 70
miles none of the trail and few of the trail signs will be visible.  The
snowpack is melting, but it will be well into mid-July before substantial
portions of the PCT can be identified for route-finding. In ’99 – also a
heavy snow year – I encountered significant snowpack in Central Oregon
around Mt. Jefferson in late August.

Of greater concern is a potentially troublesome river ford.  About 40 miles
south of Cascade Locks the PCT dips to 3200 ft. to a ford of the Sandy River
northwest of Mt. Hood.  There is no bridge.  This is not even a speed-bump
for late-summer northbound hikers but early in the season it will be a
troublesome and hazardous ford because it is located directly below several
of Hood’s many glaciers, the melt from which can quickly and greatly
increase the flow to the river.  In June the flow will vary between very
difficult and ridiculous -- depending upon the time of day, and the daily
weather conditions.  Here’s what happened last January about 10 miles
downstream of the PCT when Hood got a bunch of warm rain to melt the
snowpack.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPjEW0zTEuc  Obviously, this is
quite extreme, but it couldn't be forded if it were only 1% that bad.

Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09


On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 1:54 PM, beth hardin <hardin at nc.rr.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> My son and a friend have been planning for a while now to hike part of the
> PCT starting June 23 -- Cascade Locks  to Manning Park. Do people start this
> early in Washington? They have a June23-Aug 8 window, so if Washington is
> not a good idea, could you suggest another section (if it's not too late for
> them to switch gears at this point). What about hiking south through
> Oregon... is it likely to be any less snow-covered? There is so much
> information out there but I can't really find anything on when to start
> particular sections. I think they can deal with a little snow, but I don't
> think they want this to be a snow hike.
>
> I really appreciate any advice I can pass along.
> beth
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