[pct-l] easy PCT?

[Owen <jrowen@ibm.net>]

illips wrote:
> 
> on a few of the at lists, posters are saying that the pct is a fluff
> ball ( flame intended :-)) as compared to the at because the slope is
> soooo gradual. true? Jim ( bring on the flame war!)
> 
> * From the Pacific Crest Trail Email List |  http://www.backcountry.net   *

It's funny you should ask - the issue came up this weekend at a workshop
on the PCT at the Gathering.  Karen Berger, who has hiked the AT, PCT
and CDT (among many others) started out by asking, "How many of you have
heard that the AT is harder than the PCT?"  Most of us raised our hands.
Having hiked in California, I know that the walking is generally easy,
despite the altitude.  You don't have the 1500 foot per mile climbs that
you can get on the AT - it is generally at 500' or less.  But then,
there aren't all that many places on the AT that are that steep - though
there are a few that are steeper.  

Anyhow, Karen said that while the grade really is a whole lot gentler on
the PCT, and the treadway much smoother (fewer wet roots and rocks to
trip over) so you can actually look around instead of having to
constantly watch your feet - in some ways for her the PCT was the
hardest of the three for her to do.  I never did quite understand why. I
think the 34 out of 35 days of rain she had in Washington may have had
something to do with finding it difficult.  For an early season
thruhiker, dealing with constant snow and snow melt would be difficult,
though that is also a problem on the CDT. It almost seems to me from
reading thruhikers journals and watching videos that the PCT is more
monotonous than the other two - much more of the same type of terrain
for much longer. It is in many ways the most scenic - but there is less
variety. On the AT, each state is different.  There is a constant
variation of vegetation, wildflowers, types of trail, weather, towns,
etc. On the CDT, there are big differences in terrain between low
desert, high desert, low mountains and high mountains, on trail and off
trail. It isn't boring.  As Karen said, after hiking half the trail, she
was still in her first state.  That can do a number on you.  I don't
know - she never explained where she found the difficulty - but it was
quite clear it wasn't in the treadway.  

Often, since difficult is in the head of the beholder, the most
difficult is whichever trail you do first.  Learning the lifestyle,
learning not to fight the trail, the weather or yourself, trying to
decide whether a thruhike is what you really want, trying to determine
whether you have the mental and emotional endurance needed to finish -
these issues can make a trail much harder than just the sum of the
physical aspects.  

When we've done them all, instead of just bits and pieces, I
may have another answer. But for now - my 0.2 cents.
Ginny

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