[pct-l] Meet up with friend in June

[RICHARD OSTHEIMER]

Pat,

I don't want to rain on your parade, but there is a potential hitch in the plan to meet up with your friend in mid to late June.  If he/she has been hiking already for about 6 weeks (about how long it takes to get from the border to Kennedy Meadows), then your friend will be ready to hike upwards of 20 miles per day.  You on the other hand will probably not be up for that, particularly as you will be starting into an area of high altitude.  That said, I found it took about a week to acclimatize to the altitude and near 20 mile days distances after having left the trail for 11 days and returned at Walker Pass.

If you and your friend are willing to slow down a bit, however, then this would be a good time to head into the Sierra.  You could start out at Walker Pass.  It's fairly easy to get there via public transport from LAX.  The airport shuttle, Greyhound, and Kern Regional Transit will carry you as far as Onyx where you can hitch on up to the trail at Walker Pass.

Alternatively, you could meet up at at Donner Pass east of Reno via a shuttle to Truckee and a hitch up to the pass.  That puts you north of the Sierra and in area of low altitude.  You will have other PCT thru hikers in the area.  You will then be completing the trail perhaps as early as the end of August which I think is a practical time to head out sobo through the Sierra and down to Mexico.

Handlebar