[pct-l] How steep is the trail

[Greg Kesselring]

15 degrees is a 27 percent grade which is quite steep.  That would 
translate to a trail that gains 1380 feet of elevation per mile.  That's 
a VERY steep trail.   I doubt the PCT ever comes close to that degree of 
steepness. 

I'm wondering if you meant that the PCT is supposed to never exceed a 15 
percent GRADE as opposed to a 15 degree slope??  A 15 percent grade 
would be a gain of about 780 feet of elevation per mile.  That's a slope 
angle of about 8.5 degrees.  (Percent grade is defined as rise over run 
times 100.)

It's not uncommon for a trail to gain 1000 feet per mile in mountainous 
terrain in WA, only very occasionally more than that.  That rate of gain 
translates to 10.9 degrees of slope angle or approx 19 percent grade.  
So I'd say it's a pretty good bet that the PCT never exceeds 15 
degrees.  In fact it probably never gets close to 15 degrees.    

I forgot enough of trig to be dangerous with stuff like this, so I 
googled how to calculate slope angle and percent.  Here is the website I 
used to run a few calculations:

http://www.1728.com/distance.htm

Greg

Scott Herriott wrote:
> Kathi queried:
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> <How steep is the trail on the PCT?>
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> It's supposed to be no more than 15 degrees.  However,
> my ass and knees might argue that point just north of
> the knife edge section of Goat Rocks.
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> Squatch
> www.walkpct.com
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