[pct-l] Thruhiking 2017

[Gary Schenk]

Part of thruhiking is going through long parts of the trail at non-optimal times. Instead of going through the hot parts when they are coolest, you go through them when they are hottest. You encounter a lot of snow. It's just the deal.

Starting at Kennedy Meadows later in the year and just hiking is not a bad idea. KM can get hot, though. Starting at Horseshoe Meadows might be a better idea.

The Sierra Nevada is beautiful in snow, but it's beautiful in the summer, too.

Good luck.
Gary
--------------------------------------------
On Thu, 2/9/17, Ben Friedman <b.friedman86 at gmail.com> wrote:
 My partner Lauren and I have a start date on April 26 in
 Campo and have
 been beside ourselves with excitement.
 
 But I want to be straightforward- we are beginning to doubt
 the prospect of
 a true NoBo thru-hike, starting in Mexico and hiking to
 Canada without
 flipflopping or multi-week waiting in KM. The snowfall is
 clearly
 prodigious this year, a year to remember. The number of
 emails on this
 listserv discussing entering KM significantly later than
 usual, the immense
 snowpack, etc is concerning. If the snow is a challenge well
 into the
 summer, won't that mean thru hikers will be entering the
 volatile/unpredictable North Cascades too late?
 
 Not trying to be a debbie-downer. This hike has been a dream
 for us for
 most of our lives and we want to make this work so so bad--
 we're just
 trying to figure out how to maximize our PCT time. As a plan
 B, should we
 bag the PCT start date and notion of a thru-hike, and simply
 decide to
 start at Kennedy Meadows in the summer and just see how far
 our legs take
 us thru Labor Day?
 
 Thanks to you all, for this great community and advice!
 
 Ben