[pct-l] Start time

[Diane Soini]

I started at 3:30pm on April 30 in 2008. I did not think May 1 was  
too late at all. I was cold a great deal of the time in So Cal even  
that late. I froze at the Cottonwood Bridge on Aqueduct day. In 2009  
I rehiked part of So Cal on the same dates I was there in 2008. I was  
rained on in the desert on Aqueduct day. I was rained on many days  
all the way to Kennedy Meadows and beyond in 2009. I had to hike in  
fresh snow to get to Lone Pine! Again in 2010 and 2011 section hikes  
I did in So Cal were full of rain and coldness. I was starting to get  
the feeling the PCT hates me.

You can't make blanket statements that So Cal is hot and dry or May X  
is too late to start. You just never know what you're going to get.

My theory about this drought we are having, since I live here in So  
Cal and have been out in the back country and seen lots of water,  
even in shallow pools, is that although this is the year of the big  
drought, it'll be next year that things will start to get dire if it  
doesn't rain. There's still ground water.

On Feb 3, 2014, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> From: Jake Handy <jakers329 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [pct-l] Start time
>
> I'm sure due to the extremely dry conditions many are wondering the  
> same thing.  Here is my question: as a first time NOBO thru hiker  
> (attempter at least) this year, which would be a more prudent  
> decision, to leave earlier in April and forgo the ADZPCTKO or stick  
> to my plan of attending and starting my hike around May 1st?  Thanks!
> Jakers