[pct-l] First Thru-Hike 2012; Start Date?

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

That is a totally reasonable start date. There will still be water  
caches. You should never rely on them. Nobody should rely on them. It  
was not long ago that there were no water caches and people still  
managed to hike the PCT without them.

Diane

On Jul 15, 2011, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
> Hey Team.
>
> I am 17 years old and am planning on (if I can save the money) to hike
> the PCT as soon as I graduate from highschool. I live in San Diego so
> I can start pretty much the day after I graduate. The problem is that
> I don't graduate untill mid-may. I am a little bit worried that this
> might be too late to start.
>
> One of my worries is that because of the late start, the water caches
> that I have heard so many people rely on will be non-existant.
>
> My hope is that with a May 15-17th (ish) start I can catch up to the
> herd by kennedy meadows. Does this sound reasonable?
>
> Are there any other issues that I will run into with such a late  
> start?
>
> Also, approximately how much should I be saving? I'm planning on
> getting a job at a gear shop or something to make money. I don't know
> if it will be enough though.
>
> Thanks!
>
> -Jace