[pct-l] Reality Check on Craig's PCT Planner

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

I agree with Big Toe and Ken.

Before I hiked the PCT I used Craig's PCT Planner plus I also hedged  
my guess with the knowledge that never in my life had I ever hiked  
more than 16 miles in a day without severe debilitating pain by the  
end. The reality turned out so much different for this old lady.

1. You do not need to hike fast to go far. Hours hiked is more  
meaningful than pace. My pace was 2.5 which is considerably less than  
when I day hike.

2. I started at around 15 miles a day. Within a few weeks I was  
easily doing around 20-23 miles a day. Kept that up to the Sierras  
when my longest day was 19. Once beyond Sonora Pass I was hiking  
26-28 miles a day. Once beyond Castle Crags I thought perhaps 30  
miles was more a psychological than a physical barrier so I psyched  
myself into doing it and was able to do a 35 mile day. After that I  
regularly did days in the 28-32 mile mark, but two or more 30+ mile  
days in a row beat me up. Don't underestimate yourself. Don't fall  
for the "when we get to Oregon we can do 30 mile days" trap, either.  
The trail is as easy as it's going to get starting somewhere in Nor  
Cal and pretty much stays that way.

3. Long hours of sunlight. In the height of summer I'd do some 14+  
hour hiking days no problem. What else is there to do?

4. Long hours of sunlight II: The days are longer up north. You hike  
fast enough to follow those long days and get a really long summer of  
light that way. At least for a while.

On Jan 14, 2013, at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> From: Ken Powers <ken at gottawalk.com>
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] Reality Check on Craig's PCT Planner
> To: "David Ellzey" <david at xpletive.com>, "b j" <xthrow at yahoo.com>,
> 	<pct-l at backcountry.net>
>
> Big Toe is right on with the hours per day.