[pct-l] Kennedy Meadows

[Gary Wright]

On Jul 22, 2009, at 2:10 PM, petechar at onid.orst.edu wrote:

> I have read a few places that leaving Kennedy Meadows before June 15th
> is challenging/impossible/stupid and I'm wondering what others think.

Depends on the actual conditions each year (snowfall and melt).

In 2004 and 2007 I left KM around June 6th.  Both were low snow years  
and I had no trouble but still experienced large snow fields around  
most passes (2004) and in both years on Muir pass.  2007 was a very  
low snow year.

As we saw this year you can get significant snowfall in June in the  
Sierra.

Hikers need to be aware of the possible range of conditions they might  
encounter and adjust accordingly.  Most mistakes I've seen/read about  
in journals are due to hikers assuming that they will experience  
'average' conditions and not being prepared for variances from the  
average.

In 2004 I had high temperatures of 90-100 while hiking around Mt.  
Laguna (just 40 miles from the start).  In 2005 I experienced freezing  
rain, a couple inches of snow, and gale force winds in the same  
location and generally the same date (late april, thru-hiker season).

Gary (Radar) Wright