[pct-l] [John Muir Trail] When will the snow go?

[Ken Powers]

I agree about the "You'll Never Make It" message being discouraging. But we 
turned it into a great motivator on our ADT adventure. We had a woman listen 
to our plans before we started, then tell us "I don't think you can do it." 
Another man in mid-Nevada warned us of an early winter then said "You better 
get trotting." These were both highly motivating.

But just as motivating was the fact that the year before 14 hikers were 
caught by an early sierra snow storm on October 14th. They were scattered 
all over the sierras.

Marcia's mantra was "I don't think you can do it" until mid-Nevada then it 
became "You better get trotting".  My mantra was "Get below snowline before 
October 14th".

Now I need to work on the "The bears will get you" and "Don't you carry a 
gun?" warnings.

Ken
www.GottaWalk.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Erik Turnberg" <erik.turnberg at gmail.com>
To: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2011 9:45 AM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] [John Muir Trail] When will the snow go?


I want to echo what Ned is saying in regards to snow and skipping/flipping.
 I live up in Seattle and we've had an extremely high snow/late winter.  Our
snow line in most places is about 3500 ft.  The cascades are not a place you
want to be just yet.  Keep pushing through the Sierra and try to enjoy the
beauty.

Second, and this goes out to everyone who meets one of this years through
hikers.  Be nice, and be encouraging!  Last season Terrapin Flyer and I did
a no skip, no flip thru hike and finished October 9th.  September 20th to
October 9th was some of the most beautiful hiking of the whole trip.  One of
the worst parts of the whole trip is that from Northern California through
Washington just about every day we encountered another hiker or someone in a
town that told us within minutes of meeting, "You'll Never Make It."  For
over a month this happened literally every single day and was the single
worst part of the hike.

It was really, really discouraging and it came just as frequently from past
thru hikers as it did regular day hikers, folks in town who don't even hike.
 They knew nothing about our gear, skills, or hiking plans.  They only knew
that "people say you have to finish by mid september."  Well we finished in
early october and have friends from last years class who finished in late
october.  The trail didn't disappear and we had a great time without putting
our lives in danger.

Don't get down on this years class.  They can all have a great year.  Parts
of it might be hard, but they can make it.

Granite
_______________________________________________
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/