[pct-l] Thruhiker quotas and overall capacity

[Eric Lee]

So not saying this is good or bad - it's just a thing.  But it occurs to me
that if we have 50 people start every day of all three months of March,
April, and May (and I'd argue that it kinda sucks to be the people stuck
with early March or late May, depending on the year), that's a capacity of
roughly 4,500 thru-hikers total.

 

There were 1,468 thru-hiker permits issued last year (plus 1187
section-hiking permits, of which an unknown number started at Campo).  So
conservatively we can say that last year we were already at 1/3rd total
capacity for thru-hikers under this year's quota system, and I'd guess we'll
be over 50% this year.  Kind of thought-provoking.

 

I guess it's safe to say that if you want to have a solitary experience on
the PCT, a SOBO hike is probably in your future.  :-)

 

I can only hope that increased numbers of PCT hikers will translate into
increased financial support, political support, and trail maintenance
support for the trail.

 

Eric