[pct-l] worst case scenario

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

I think it might depend on what 2-3 months you are able to do. If you  
have to do late spring, you should do stuff in the southern part of  
the trail. If you have mid-summer, then you might want to avoid the  
southern part of the trail.

If it was me, I would probably try to choose among these three:

1. Do the section that is the most different from anything you are  
used to. For me that section turned out to be Washington. I have been  
the the Sierra a million times. Washington absolutely blew me away.  
For you, it may be the desert is the most unusual. I was totally at  
home there, almost ho-hum.

2. Start at the beginning and go as far as possible. This sets you up  
to be a serial section hiker. Maybe you'll have another chance for a  
hike and can pick up where you left off. You'll keep the trail "in  
order" and it'll all go back together in your mind like a single  
unit. I did this.

3. Choose some of the best highlights and do several pieces of the  
trail. This would be my least favorite option, but I did meet a guy  
in Washington who was doing only the best sections of Washington so  
he could get the highlights and skip the lowlights.

Good luck! You can go pretty far in 3 months. Halfway, actually.

On Jan 31, 2011, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
> In my worst case scenario, I may not have the money to thru-hike if  
> I am not
> able to save for rent for that many months ahead.  If this is so, I  
> will be
> hiking probably 2-3 months.  For those of you who have already  
> completed the
> trail, can you tell me which parts really challenged you and which  
> parts
> really dropped your jaw and made your heart race?
>
> Jamie