[pct-l] Pct-l Digest, Vol 26, Issue 28

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good afternoon, Kris,

In my opinion the greatest opportunity for solitude on the PCT is NoBo.  A
slightly early start and/or a somewhat faster daily pace will soon put one
near the front.  The NoBo “pack” really isn’t a traveling group; after the
first day or so it becomes well strung-out to be a traveling file, many days
long.  As long as one maintains a reasonable pace it’s not too difficult to
see only a few people who just happen to have the same pace and
number/duration of stops.  Slow down for a day and the followers begin to
overtake; speed up for a day or so and the traffic becomes increasingly
thin.  In that way among the “pack”, I’ve spent a number of days having seen
one – or possibly no – other person and I didn’t hike with anyone.

SoBo one will experience considerable solitude in Washington, but by July
and August in Oregon and N. California the approaching NoBo traffic will
become significant.  The SoBo’er will meet most of the 200-300 NoBo hikers,
and each will want to stop and hear the whole story about trail conditions,
bugs, water sources, inventory in trail towns, fires and fire closures, and
“have you seen my good buddy (trail name)”.

That’s all great fun, but repeating the story 10 times a day for a month is
a bit tiresome and time-consuming.

Enjoy your planning,

Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09


On Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 1:19 PM, Kris Wallace <fiddlekris at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi L-Rod,
>
> I usually prefer solitude on the trail rather than being right smack in the
> middle of a pack -- but even if I would prefer to avoid the crowd, do I
> have
> a choice?  Based on what I've been researching so far for this thruhike, I
> thought that I need to leave in the same window as the crowd to avoid too
> much snow at both ends?
>
> Kris
>
> dsaufley at sprynet.com wrote:
> "So, the question is, what are you personally comfortable with?  We see an
> extremely broad spectrum of preferences here -- from true loners to those
> who could not be out on the trail if they didn't have their social clique
> (more of the latter than the former). There's also a whole subculture of
> support people who follow The Herd, providing food, drink and they like.
> They move north with the pack. So, if you leave in this window, you MAY
> have
> a relatively solitary hiking experience on trail, but know that the same
> will probably not be true when you reach prime destinations like resupply
> venues and campsites."   -- L-Rod
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