[pct-l] Section Lake Morena to Julian

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

In my experience--and granted I am not the same as everybody and high  
altitude slows me down only a little--whatever my pace is pretty much  
is what it is. If you can do 15-17 miles up and over Dicks Pass (I  
don't know how far it is from Aloha to Fontanillis) then you can do  
it down south. But if you can't, you probably can't down south  
either. One thing to keep in mind is there isn't much shade in that  
section from Lake Morena to Julian so if you do have to stop and rest  
a lot, stopping in the sun isn't going to help at all. It's better to  
just keep moving and only rest in real shade. Also, maximize the  
early morning hours for hiking.

On Mar 19, 2013, at 11:08 PM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> From: Kathi <pogo at pctwalker.com>
> Subject: [pct-l] Section Lake Morena to Julian
>
> Hello All,
> I just started section hiking last year and am still not in the best
> shape of my life. I am in MUCH better shape than I was when I hiked  
> last
> summer and to give you an example of my ability (or lack there of) it
> took me about 8 hours to backpack from Lake Aloha to Fontanillis Lake
> last summer (that was with climbing Dicks Pass... UG!). So... with  
> that
> in mind, and know I am in much better shape, but still not great,  
> than I
> was last summer; do you think doing 15-17 miles in a 9-12 hour day in
> the section from Lake Morena to Julian is doable for a slightly out of
> shape person? I'm looking at the topo maps, etc. but I found A LOT  
> last
> year that what I thought something was going to be like based on  
> the map
> was MUCH different in person.
>
> Thanks!
> Puddles