[pct-l] Wearing out of gear

[Gary Wright]

On Sep 7, 2010, at 2:27 PM, ned at mountaineducation.org wrote:
> In describing all of his preference differences, Miner makes another good point, which illustrates this "style" differences between us. I don't like leaving the trail and adding miles by going out and back often. I don't like the idea of descending thousands of feet empty and having to ascend it again heavily resupplied. It also feels too much like "back-tracking" and I really don't like having to hike the same piece of trail more than once. I have had near-death experiences while hitch-hiking with drunk or stoned drivers, so we're not advocates of hitching which is often needed to go from trailheads to town. (Yogi-ing a ride from the parking lot trailhead might make the selection process better and safer--but what are you to do when trailheads are full of snow, closed, and you have to road walk to another that has traffic?)

I think your concerns are a bit misleading for people who aren't familiar with PCT resupply options.  There are very few places where your 'long resupply' strategy even comes into play and even then only if you don't take advantage of trail angels, commercial rides (i.e. from a hotel), or hitching.

The only place that I can think of on the PCT that hikers often carry more than one week of food is from Kennedy Meadows to VVR (or Lone Pine to Red's Meadow).  Other than that there are resupply options at least every seven days.  This is also the only area that I can think of where the trailhead might be 'snowed in' during thru-hiker season.

If you don't want to hitch to town/store, you may be at the mercy of the short office hours for small POs but it is doable in many cases. Many of the resupply points on the PCT do not require hitching or can be accessed via alternate side trails.  It is true that the side trails add milage and/or elevation change but your alternative, not getting off the trail, would require much larger resupplies (10-14 days).  Those first few days are not going to be enjoyable with all that extra food just so you can skip a hitch or a 3-4 hours of hiking on a side trail.

Out of the 33 resupply locations below, 75% are easy. Just 10% are medium (walkable if you don't want to hitch).  The remaining five locations are difficult if you don't want to hitch but they are also difficult to skip:

Mojave/Tehachapi: It is 10 miles to Tehachapi and 12 miles to Mojave (road walk).  Agua Dulce (or Hiker town) to Kennedy Meadows would be a long resupply. You might be able to shorten the walk a bit from 58 by following the tracks before switching over to local roads (i.e not walking on 58).

Trail Pass and Kearsarge: can be skipped by going from Kennedy Meadows to VVR and many hikers do this.  The hike out over Kearsarge pass is beautiful and I wouldn't penalize this option because of the extra miles. You'll have to hitch/yogi at the trailhead.

Chester: skip by resupplying at Drakesbad or 8 mile walk to town

Skykomish/Stevens Pass: not many non-hitch options here but the Dinsmore's are available.  This would be a crazy 15 mile walk to Skykomish from the trail. Carrying a resupply from Snoqualmie to Stehekin would be doable (about 180 trail miles)

So, I do agree that an extra long resupply would help you in one or two places if you wanted to avoid hitching but I don't think it is as big a problem as your post would lead people to believe.


Here is how I broke down the resupply options assuming that a small PO would work over a town/store:

easy: less than two miles from trail
medium: less than five miles from trail
hard: more than five miles from trail

Mt. Laguna, easy
Warner Springs, easy
Idyllwild, medium
Big Bear City, medium
Cajon Pass, easy
Wrightwood, medium
Agua Dulce, easy
Mojave, hard  (but probably necessary, arrange ride, hitch, or walk to Tahachapi)
Kennedy Meadows, easy
Trail Pass/Lone Pine, hard (yogi at trailhead)
Kearsarge Pass, hard (yogi at trailhead)
VVR, easy
Red's Meadow, easy
Tuolumne, easy
South Lake Tahoe, easy
Donner Pass, easy (Pooh Corner)
Sierra City, easy
Belden, easy
Chester, hard
Drakesbad, easy
Old Station, easy
Burney Falls, easy
Castella, easy
Seid Valley, easy
Ashland, easy (packages at Callahan's)
Crater Lake, easy
Sisters, easy (Big Lake Youth Camp otherwise yogi/hitch at trailhead)
Timberline Lodge, easy
Cascade Locks, easy
White Pass, easy 
Snoqualmie Pass, easy
Skykomish, hard (trail angels available)
Stehekin, easy


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