[pct-l] Mom and 10 year old son section hiking

CHUCK CHELIN steeleye at wildblue.net
Tue Sep 4 09:03:42 CDT 2012


Good morning, Mary,

Being the left-brainer that I am, I would use a process of elimination to
determine a hiking section.  In mid-June I would eliminate Oregon,
Washington, most of N. California, and the Sierra as being too snowy.  That
leaves S. California -- the first 700 miles of the PCT – and possibly
portions of N. California north of Tahoe which, depending upon the year,
may also be questionable regarding snow.

Some good news is, I wouldn’t make a decision now; I would probably wait
until as late as March or even April to decide based upon how the annual
snowpack reports unfold.  One of the primary reports viewed by thur-hiking
salivaters is the current-season’s version of a family of Cal. snow
tracking charts beginning at:
http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/snowapp/swcchart.action
<http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/snowapp/swcchart.action>Another good
reference is:  http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/cgibin/westsnow.pl when it is
updated to show the ’12-’13 season.  It covers the entire three-state
distance, but in less detail.

The southern section is attractive to me because I like the desert.  Beginning
in mid-June it can – and probably will – be hot, and the typical water
sources -- natural or otherwise -- will be much reduced or possibly gone.

Much of the worst of the desert can be avoided by hitting the trail west of
Palm Springs from Interstate-10, or even further south at Hwy-74 at the
bottom end of the San Jacinto Mountains.  The PCT soon ascends into the San
Bernardinos  and San Gabriels, missing much of the heat.

That section may end somewhere north of Agua Dulce before crossing the end
of the Mojave Desert between the towns of Mojave and Tehachapi.  That’s an
area where the jackrabbits carry canteens.

Enjoy your planning,

Steel-Eye

-Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

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

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/


On Sun, Sep 2, 2012 at 9:13 PM, Mary Coucoules <coucoules at comcast.net>wrote:

> Excellent points! Where would be a more reasonable stating point given a
> mid-June start for a section hike? I assumed it might be to late to start
> at the boarder given the water situation.
>
> Mary
>
> From: CHUCK CHELIN <steeleye at wildblue.net>
> Date: Sunday, September 2, 2012 10:41 AM
> To: Mary Coucoules <coucoules at comcast.net>
> Cc: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Mom and 10 year old son section hiking
>
> Good morning, Mary,
>
> There are a few difficulties – maybe more like peculiarities – associated
> with a Kennedy Meadows (KM) start:
>
> Transportation: KM is a tiny place that is difficult to get to by any
> normal transportation except a personal vehicle.
>
> Snow:  Mid-June is a good time for northbound thru-hikers to continue
> from KM, but in a normal year there will still be considerable snow to deal
> with – miles and miles of it.  Thru-hikers will have already crossed the
> Jan Jacinto, the San Bernardino, and the San Gabriel Mountains and will
> have gained the patience and experience necessary for travel over snowpack.
> http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=264464
> http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=264576<http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=264576>
>
> Altitude:  Beginning at KM, which is about 6,100 ft. elevation, the trail
> fairly quickly ascends to the 8,000-10,000 ft. level where it stays for
> many, manydays.  A hiker not experienced with such hiking, and having
> little or no time to acclimate, could experience some form of altitude
> sickness.
>
> Conditioning:  In addition to the stress of climbing with a
> heavier-than-average pack load, and having to deal with being slowed down
> by snowpack, the air at those altitudes is thin -- having only about 2/3 as
> much oxygen as one would expect at sea level.
>
> Hiking Speed:  Given the conditions, the best plan may be to slow down
> and deal with it, but that also has problems.  Slower pace means more
> days at about 2.0 lb. of food per day.  That means a heavier initial
> load, or the need for more frequent exits for resupply.  Check the trails
> to resupply points, but most – particularly in the south – are a fair ways
> off the PCT.
>
> Gear:  Thru-hikers have had the previous 700 trail-miles to hone their
> gear load, and make adjustments along the way.  From KM north for about
> 200 miles there is minimum opportunity to find different gear.  KM is
> also the typical point for hikers to receive extra gear that may be
> necessary, such as the bear ‘can; or advisable, such as ice axe, traction
> aids, etc. so viewing a typical hiker’s start-of-the hike gear list may be
> misleading.
>
> Stream Crossings:  Fording is pretty much a fact-of-life through the
> Sierra.  Any advance experience you can get in fording fast, cold water
> will be valuable.   http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=265511
>
> Enjoy your hike,
>
> Steel-Eye
>
> -Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965
>
> http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
>
> http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/
>
>
> On Sat, Sep 1, 2012 at 2:16 PM, Mary Coucoules <coucoules at comcast.net>wrote:
>
>> My son and I (both avid backpacker) will be section hiking a 900 mile
>> section of the PCT 2013 summer. Since we won't be able to start until June
>> 12th I thought Kennedy Meadows might be a good starting point. Any
>> thoughts
>> on that? Would there be a better place to start? I figured any place
>> further
>> south might be to hot. We have 2 1/2 months to complete.
>>
>> Also I am interested in hearing from other who have hike the PCT with the
>> similar age especially regarding food options palatable for a 10 year old,
>> number of hours per day of hiking and how you handled getting to the
>> resupply locations. How often you had a zero day etc.
>>
>> Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
>>
>> Mary
>>
>>
>>
>>
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