Fw: [pct-l] PCT in Oregon?

[chelin at teleport.com (Sharon & Chuck Chelin)]

Sorry, folks, if you already got this but I got repeated grief messages when
I sent it yesterday so here it is again.

Steel-Eye

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sharon & Chuck Chelin" <chelin@teleport.com>
To: "Tanya Diede" <tanyadiede@yahoo.com>; <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 2004 5:52 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] PCT in Oregon?


> Good morning, Tanya,
>
> I believe Marshall's advise to wait until late summer to hike Oregon is
> best.  Hiking and camping in the snow is no big deal, except you must
carry
> more gear, and you will hike fewer miles per day.  Besides, route-finding
on
> 10' of snow can be a real pain.  Most PCT through-hikers are in Oregon in
> August, and that is a good time to start at Ashland.  By doing so you will
> meet, and hike with, some very interesting people, for all that they are
> scruffy, odiferous, and will likely blaze past you at a 30 miles per day
> pace.
>
> Concerning the snow, I reviewed my trail notes for a section of the PCT
> between Santiam Pass and Mt. Jefferson.  At the time I had noted there the
> trail had patchy and intermittent snow around 5000 ft. elevation, and it
was
> substantially snow covered by 6000 ft.  The trail in most of that section
is
> 5500-6000 feet, with Park Pass north of Jefferson around 6900 ft.  I
camped
> somewhere in that stretch, and it began raining after midnight.  By
> mid-morning the rain had turned to snow, which continued for the remainder
> of the day.  The overcast was so heavy that I could not see any part of
the
> craggy peak, Three-Fingered-Jack, even though the PCT passes about 2000
> horizontal feet west of its summit.  The snow pack on the trail was
> side-sloped and heavily crusted, but very scalloped by earlier melting.
The
> wind had blown wet fluffy snow across the trail, and had filled the
scallops
> so there was no way to determine a good stable place to step.  The blowing
> snow, the poor visibility, the lack of visual references, and the
incredibly
> poor footing created some the most bizarre hiking conditions I have ever
> encountered.  I was not using trekking poles at the time, and to this day
> whenever I am inclined to leave them home to save weight, I remember how
> badly I wanted them on that occasion.
>
> So, when was this interesting little snowstorm?  It was Monday, 30 August,
> 1999.
>
> As you can see on the attached links, today in the middle of March there
is
> still 199 inches of snow at 6000 ft. Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood near my
> home.  By the way, the PCT passes about 100 vertical feet above the lodge.
>
> http://www.timberlinelodge.com/conditions/conditions.asp
> http://web.pdx.edu/~cyjh/orresorts.html
>
> Enjoy.
>
> Steel-Eye
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Tanya Diede" <tanyadiede@yahoo.com>
> To: <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
> Sent: Saturday, March 13, 2004 3:25 PM
> Subject: [pct-l] PCT in Oregon?
>
>
> > My husband and I are new to the thru-hike idea so please pardon any
> ignorance we might unknowingly express. We are avid short-trip backpackers
> (3 to 14 day trips) but are ready to take our backpacking experience to a
> whole new level. We want to complete the entire PCT, however, we are a bit
> constrained with time because we are both in the process of finishing
> masters degrees and transitioning into new jobs. So we will have to settle
> (for now) to do the trail in segments... it's hard enough having to
explain
> to the new employer a need for a two month vacation, nevermind trying to
> request for anything more than that.
> >
> > Our goal is to complete the Oregon section in spring/summer 2006 and
> Washington in 2007, saving Cali for a later time. Our big question is:
what
> is the earliest and most reasonable time in the spring/summer to hit the
> trail in either Seiad Valley (Cali) or Ashland (OR) based on weather,
trail
> conditions, etc with the idea of us going north all the way thru to
Portland
> area? I have heard some horror stories about too much snow, extreme low
> temps, etc in May and June, too many mosquitoes in June and July, and a
lack
> of water in August. It's never going to be perfect, but we're looking for
> the path of least resistance! Out of these options, our preference is to
> take our chances with snow and cold temps, but we would like some
> experienced advice on this. We would be coming from Michigan where we do
> winter camping in the sub-zero temps so we're not afraid of snow or cold
> temps, but from my backpacking experiences in the Cali Sierras, mountain
> snow and cold temps can be a completel
> >  y
> >  different ball game. Would it be crazy or even possible to
begin/complete
> a thru-hike of the PCT in Oregon in May/June or would we be better off
> waiting until mid or even late summer?
> >
> > Thanks in advance!!
> > Tanya and Jonathan
> >
> > Do you Yahoo!?
> > Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam
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