[pct-l] Downhill sections nobo vs sobo

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

One thing to keep in mind is that for sections where the trail trends  
N-S (some trend E-W), you will have more sun in your face hiking  
SOBO. But, you will also climb in the shade more often.

I think in the end, it more or less evens out, especially if you're  
hiking a long distance. To a long distance hiker, it really makes no  
difference. I met someone in Section M who warned me about a (*gasp*)  
1200 foot climb coming up. She was resting up for it with her  
buddies. I thanked her but thought to myself, who cares? I have to  
climb it anyway. And then I'll have to go down. Downhill sucks most,  
in my opinion.

Same thing happens with gear, by the way. I remember meeting a  
section hiker in Oregon who was so excited to see someone with  
ultralight gear. He really really wanted to talk with me about  
ultralight gear. All I cared about was food. Gear is gear. Now food,  
on the other hand. That's IMPORTANT!

Same thing happens with the views, too. Met Billy Goat on the trail  
and we talked for 5 minutes about the beauty of the trail and for  
half an hour about food. The ratio of adjectives about food to  
adjectives about views was very strongly in favor of food.

Diane
On Sep 16, 2010, at 11:43 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> This is triggered off the question about section C...  but, are there
> sections that it really does make a difference btwn nobo and sobo  
> in terms
> of perception of downhilledness (I can understand the difference in  
> terms of
> sun on your back, sun in your face)? I know when I yoyo'd the jmt  
> (1st sobo,
> then nobo), it seemed like the nobo was more downhill, ie, the  
> climbs on the
> south side of the passes where shorter, vertically and mileage,  
> than the
> dropoffs on the north sides - but this could have had more to do  
> with being
> in better shape on the nobo having already done the sobo...  but  
> for the
> other sections, it seems that even if there were a 5k' difference  
> btwn the
> ends, and the nominal section is 100 miles, that would only amount  
> to a 50'
> per mile difference...  but having not "thru'd" yet...  I'll shutup  
> and
> listen.
> TheDuck