[pct-l] Desert Weather (was: Rides Needed)

[bluebrain at bluebrain.ca]

We had heavy rain and wind in section A in 03 for a couple days, and ice
on the tarptent overnight out of Morena, but it was so hot during the days
already in April that it's hard for me to imagine snow down there, but
I'll take your word for it!

I decided to bring my buddies down mid April to hike the first 110 miles
before the kick-off.  Two weeks is all they can take off, and it'll be
their first hike so it would be a big dissapointment if we get unlucky and
the conditions are bad (snow, wind, rain, etc)

And yeah, had snow in the Jacintos too and it "was" a challenge to find
the trail.

Paul


> On Jan 8, 2007, at 1:13 PM, bluebrain at bluebrain.ca wrote:
>
>> There's no chance of snow between Camp and Warner Springs in April,
>> is there?
>
> There certainly is a chance.  Last year I hiked to Warner Springs
> before the
> kickoff and we bailed from Pioneer Mail to the motel due to high
> winds and rain.
> (about 50 miles from the border). When we awoke the next morning
> there was a
> couple of inches of snow at the Mt. Laguna store and lots of ice
> covered chaparral
> at Pioneer Mail.  The wind was still howling almost knocking us over
> several times
> until we finally dropped down into Chariot Canyon.  We met several
> hikers who had
> a pretty miserable time camped out that night in the Lagunas.
>
> I think it isn't all that unusual for PCT hikers to think that a
> desert is always
> hot.  It just isn't true.  You need to be prepared for cold weather
> (below freezing)
> right from the start on a PCT hike.  And yes, it can rain in the desert.
>
> Oh yeah, if you haven't practiced setting up your tarp/tent/tarptent
> in a sandy soil
> with high winds, you might want to think about it now before you have
> to figure it out
> on the trail.
>
> And please be prepared to navigate a snow covered trail in the San
> Jacintos.  Lots of
> people will warn you about Fuller Ridge but last year I ran into many
> thru-hikers who
> were not prepared to navigate the trail south of the Saddle Junction
> in the snow.  They
> just figured they wouldn't have trouble until *after* Saddle
> Junction.  I would recommend
> getting the Tom Harrison San Jacinto Wilderness map if you need to
> navigate over snow
> in the San Jacinto's.  Doing it with the guidebook maps is a real
> challenge (especially
> if you've never done that sort of thing before).
>
> Gary Wright (Radar)
>
>
>