[pct-l] Cascade Locks-White Pass Hike morphs into SOBO question

[Jim Ostdick]

My plan for this year has been to complete my PCT section hike (started in
2001) by hiking from Cascade Locks to Manning Park. I'm a teacher and my
"hiking window" is July 1 - August 10 at the latest. The wisdom of the list
seems to be that this year hiking Cascade Locks-White Pass in July,
especially the first part of July, would be a pretty dumb/dangerous idea for
an older solo hiker. So I'm throwing out the question: would hiking south
from Manning Park starting about July 1 be a more reasonable and safer
option with this year's snow levels? Or just as risky? Finishing up at
Cascade Locks seems sorta anti-climactic, but I could probably get over that
faster than I could get over a broken neck. You guys are making the area
north of Packwood Glacier sound pretty treacherous! All honest
experience-based opinions are welcome, of course, but I am most interested
in hearing from folks who have hiked WA under similar conditions. We can
discuss it off-list if that's preferred.

Palomino
San Juan Bautista, CA
palomino.pct at gmail.com