[pct-l] PCT Elevation Gain / Loss Stats

[Rob Langsdorf]

I have gone through the WP guidebook and noted that often in a two mile section between mile and elevation marks it is not unusual for the trail to go up 200' and back down 200' while the elevation marks in the WP guidebook would have indicated no change in elevation. When you add enough of these into your calculation you end up with a much greater elevation change than you get by just adding up the numbers form the WP guidebook.

                 Mataguay Connector Rob


________________________________
 From: Barry Teschlog <tokencivilian at yahoo.com>
To: PCT L <pct-l at backcountry.net> 
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2014 11:25 AM
Subject: [pct-l] PCT Elevation Gain / Loss Stats
 

FWIW:  Pre-thru hike back in '06, I went through the WP guidebook and made a spreadsheet of all the data points.  Yep....too much time.  It was done so I could make a detailed elevation profile of each section - the data book profiles weren't detailed enough.  Note that I agree with the previous comments on the limitations of such a course resolution.


Anyways, said spread sheet indicates the gain is +338,509'.  It also indicates the loss is -337,603'.  Net, +906 feet.  


There are undoubtedly some typos in there as it was manually typed in as I read the guide books.  There is also a few points where it was obvious that the data points didn't capture large climbs or descents, so I broke a few into estimated intermediate points and plucked intermediate elevations from the maps in the guidebook.  

As to the OP's question regarding a by State breakdown:  


Cali (Sections A-R, so this really has a bit of Oregon in it):  Gain of 219,614 feet, loss of 218,288 over 1710.5 miles.  Approx 128 feet of gain per mile average.


Oregon (less what is in Section R / Section A):  Gain of 42,825, loss of 46,865 over 433.5 miles.  Approx 99 feet of gain per mile average.


Washington:  Gain of 76,070, loss of 72,450 over 507.2 miles.  Approx 150 feet of gain per mile average.


My subjective feel:  Cali goes on forever.  Oregon is flat and fast.  Washington will remind you what hills are, doubly so from Stevens Pass to ~20 miles south of Stehekin.
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