[pct-l] Thru hiking with dog

[Eric Lee]

Sabory wrote:
>
Any opinions, experiences, warnings, recommendations regarding thru-hiking
the PCT with a dog?
>

This tends to be a contentious subject.  As Bob said, there is lots of
material available in the archives but I'll try to sum up some of the major
themes you're likely to find.

Not many people try to thru-hike the PCT with a dog in the first place, and
of those that do, the vast majority don't complete the trail in one year,
(though there have been a few, so it's not impossible).  There are a several
challenges that you would have to overcome:

* Southern California is very hard on dogs.  In many areas the trail is
mostly abrasive sand and rock rather than dirt which is very hard on a dog's
pads.  Your dog will almost certainly need booties, which introduce their
own problems.  When the weather is hot, it can be *really* hot, and dogs
have very limited ability to regulate their body temperature in that kind of
heat, especially when most of their body is close to the ground where the
temperature can be significantly higher than the free-air temperature.

*   It's difficult to hitch rides with a dog in order to get supplies.  It's
also more difficult to find hotels in town that will accommodate a dog.

*  Some sections of the PCT (notably in National Parks) prohibit dogs, so
you'll need to either skip those sections or make arrangements for your dog
to be picked up and boarded while you do them.

*  There's a huge difference between going out for day-hikes or weekenders
occasionally and hiking all day every day for five or six months.  Yes, lots
of dogs thoroughly enjoy a 20-mile day hike.  Not many dogs are physically
capable of doing that day after day after day.  Dogs can't say, "I'm not
having fun anymore - screw this, I'm going home."  Dogs tend to be very
loyal and may walk themselves literally to death for you.  Seriously.  You
would need to be very observant and sensitive to the needs of your dog and
be willing to bail out at the first sign of serious distress.  Yes, this
means that your dog can end your thru-hike at any time.

The bottom line, in my opinion, is that it's fine to get out there and go
for a long hike with your dog, but your hike needs to be oriented around
your dog's needs, not your goals and desires.  If that's the kind of hike
you want, then go for it.  But that means giving up the idea of a one-season
thru-hike.  If you have your heart set on getting to Canada in one year then
you'll probably need to leave your dog at home.  Thru-hiking is hard enough
when you have just yourself to care for; caring for your dog as well makes
the proposition almost impossible.

One option that would make it slightly more feasible would be to have a
dedicated support person with a vehicle that meets you frequently at road
access points.  That way your resupply problem would be solved and your dog
has an option to take a break if it's getting beaten down.  Of course not
many people are lucky enough to have a dedicated support person available to
do that.

Eric