[pct-l] the entire distance in one go

[Shian Sung]

In the context of Ned's reply it was a rhetorical question, but i'd like to
comment based on my experience. I made the conscious decision to start at
the beginning of May and never felt like my experience was missing out on
long stops, swimming in falls and lakes, and enjoying the local flora
(especially the late desert bloom in 2010) and fauna. Having a lot of
experience hiking/backpacking in Southern California and the Sierras, I
don't regret starting later because I know I wouldn't have enjoyed hiking
Southern California in the month of April. Also, one of the big reasons I
love thru-hiking is because it is a challenge to build myself into someone
who can "blast up the trail" - it's an incredibly rewarding physical and
emotional experience to ramp up the miles in Northern California and Oregon
and know that you can still take nice breaks, nap at lunch, take swims and
do long days and big miles on the trail. I know that's not everyone's
experience, but it was mine.

In my opinion, no matter what, the North American big trail (AT, PCT, CDT)
thru-hike is a compromise between the "best" times to hike a section of a
trail and the goal of getting from end-to-end (Mexico->Canada or whatever).
It doesn't matter if you start in April, May, or June, you will go through a
tough section that is not the optimal time to do it. If you want to
experience the JMT at its best and safest, go in August (best is of course
relative - it's a wonderland in the winter). If you want to do small, lazy
days through Oregon as a NOBO, you should probably just take the time to do
just that and not worry about going end-to-end. If something is compelling
to you about the long hike from south to north in one go, then there will be
compromises.

I can't wait to go back and really spend a couple weeks in some of the
places I discovered only while hiking the PCT, like the Russian Wilderness.
I'm hoping to cross-country ski around Crater Lake this winter, which I had
never seen until I had done the PCT (maybe the most stunning single sight I
had on the entire trip). Would I have loved to do that full-fledged
exploration while hiking the PCT? Of course. But the greater goal trumped
that desire and pushed me along, and I loved having that drive me and feel
the miles roll under my feet and and the border call to me.

-Shian/Barrel Roll

*ned at mountaineducation.org wrote:*
<pct-l%40backcountry.net?Subject=%5Bpct-l%5D%20the%20entire%20distance%20in%20one%20go&In-Reply-To=90AB255C-3768-4EF3-9C94-6351853FE4B9%40santabarbarahikes.com>
>Why blast on up the trail every day, from before sunrise to after sunset, to
>get in all the miles you need to go the distance quickly because you started
>in May when you could have started "earlier" giving you more time to go
>slower and take in more? I know this idea of "starting early" comes up every
>year and many say, "we can't start April 1st because we'll run into snow."
>So. With winters like we've been having, you're going to anyway....