[pct-l] when to hike - was Cannisters & bugs

[pcnst@oakapple.net (David hiking PCNST in bits)]

> Or you
could walk this section, possibly the most gorgeous in the entire Sierra! at
night

Or on snow...

Two things that struck me about the after-dinner speech on Saturday:

1) how much of the "triple crown" in one year is going to be over snow
or in the dark or both - and in fact, even the "single cap" of through-hiking
just one of the trails northbound with everybody else may well involve
some snow and dark or both, and maybe lots

2) Brian's favorite section was the Wind River Range in August.    My
theory is that ANY section one did in August would be one's favorite, simply
because less snow and less night hiking allows one to enjoy more of the view.

I like snow and night hiking more than most people who don't read this list, 
but I enjoy
the view during the day as well.    So I usually want to save the snow and
night hiking for areas I've already seen at their best.   I think if I
ever attempt the PCT in one fell swoop it would be southbound, which is still 
quite a challenge, especially getting through the Sierra when all the 
commercial resupply places have closed up, and all of the desert water has
dried up. 

But I'd be more likely to enjoy four swell foops:

Year 1:
May after ADZ:		Cajon to Campo
August-September:	Ashland to Kennedy Meadows
Year 2:
May after ADZ:		Kennedy Meadows to Cajon 
August-September: 	Manning to Ashland

That way I would be in most places at about the right time.
Going north to south allows one to report conditions ahead to the northbound
masses one meets.   

But maybe something completely different would be even better:
start at the Idaho-Montana border around August 1, go north
on the CDT to Glacier, take the Pacific Northwest Trail west to the PCT
in the North Cascades, then south on the PCT until October 1 or so.
I don't know the mileages on the CDT or NWT, but a Thousand Mile
Summer would be about right.   That's the title of Colin Fletcher's first book -
much more interesting than his subsequent works for this audience -
out of print but available used from Amazon at a variety of prices.
He did his thousand miles from Mexico to Oregon over six months in order
to be in the right place at the right time.