[pct-l] snowed out of my shakedown ...

[Eric Lee]

Paul wrote:
>
was going to start a nice shakedown trip today at the local provincial
park... 
... was cold but tolerable this morning... but it just got colder, and
colder. 
and started to snow...
... and snow ...
>

Well - I don't know exactly what your weather was like today (where do you
live?) but it's been known to both rain and snow on the PCT during hiking
season.  Yes, in southern California.  Yes, in May.  See the "Wizards of the
PCT" movie for an example, among others.  Seems like exactly the kind of
conditions you'd want to test your gear in.  If you don't feel that your
gear is up to a test drive in cold, snowy weather, what do you plan to do if
you hit cold, snowy weather on the trail?

I don't mean to sound condescending but everyone should be clear about the
range of weather you can expect to run into on the PCT and have solid plans
for dealing with all of it.  Doesn't mean you have to carry ridiculous
mountaineering gear (maybe you'll just wrap yourself up like a burrito in
your ultralight tarp) but if you're not confident enough to try it in bad
weather on a shakedown trip then you're not really confident enough to rely
on it when you're a day and a half from a bailout point.

My apologies if you're currently in the middle of some north-Alaskan
blizzard or something.  :-)

Eric