[pct-l] Late Start - Advice

[Peter Shaw]

I believe you will be fine. I started on 9th May, 2009, two weeks after the
kickoff and well behind the herd. I was also concerned about such a late
start, but as it turned out, I think it was a benefit. I had trained pretty
hard and was doing 20 mile days, two or three days a week for a couple of
months before starting my thru' hike. So I had no problems with starting out
at a 20 mile per day pace. 

There was less snow in Southern California. For example, I did a training
hike to get some snow experience on Baden Powell on 17th April and there was
snow all the way up to the summit. When I reached Baden Powell on 28th May,
the snow had essentially all melted. Ditto on Fuller Ridge. I was very
fortunate in that the desert was some of the coldest hiking of the trip,
especially at night. All the water caches in Southern Cal were well stocked
and water wasn't an issue.

I left Kennedy Meadows in mid-June having missed that nasty early-June storm
that caught all the early birds. I intentionally planned for only 15 miles
per day throughout the Sierras. The objective was to spend more time
enjoying the surroundings. But, despite how fit I was feeling, 15 mpd was
about my limit (just had my 60th birthday in Tehachapi). I suspect the
"youngsters" didn't have as much of a high altitude slow down. There was
still a lot of snow but it wasn't hard to plough through as long as I slowed
down and was careful.

Interestingly I caught up many hikers that started at or before the kickoff,
yet I rarely overtook anyone on the trail. Usually any other hikers I met
were walking faster than me. The difference was that I tended to hike longer
days and I didn't stop in towns for multiple days. I found it just messed up
my rhythm and took me a day or so to get used to hiking again. 

I probably got lucky but I had no big issues getting to Manning Park on 18th
September. Overall, I averaged 20 mpd for the whole trip including all the
zeros, neros, and full hiking days. Bottom line advice is that it shouldn't
be an issue as long as you don't spend lots of days in towns and that you
train enough beforehand to be able to start with 20 mile days. In fact, I
would suggest a later start is going to be a benefit this year having just
been drenched by four days of heavy rain here in LA that has dumped a lot of
snow in the local mountains.

Good luck

Peanut Eater 

-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net]
On Behalf Of Brandon Blevins
Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2010 1:17 PM
To: Pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: [pct-l] Late Start - Advice

I joined this list serve as a manner of interacting with folks before the
2010 season is here.  I've enjoyed the advice and insights provided by all.
 One trend that I have seen is that folks want to leave earlier and earlier.


Well.. I may not be able to start until after May 7th.  What kind of issues
does this pose?

I'll be heading to the PCT from the heart of AT country.

- The Conrad
_______________________________________________
Pct-l mailing list
Pct-l at backcountry.net
To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l

List Archives:
http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/