Re: [pct-l] hotels, motels, resorts, etc. on PCT

[Owen <jrowen@ibm.net>]

Rebecca Williams wrote:
> 
> out of people who have attempted and especially those who
> have successfully completed thruhikes on this email list ...
> 
> how many nights did you stay in a hotel/motel/resort
> while hiking the pct? (how much did you spend?)
> 
> 1 night every two months? 1 night a month? 2-4 nights per month?
> 
> I'm sure it varies a lot, that people on a tight budget
> might spend fewer nights on hotels etc.
> 
> It's been suggested to me to stay one night in a hotel in
> Mt. Laguna. I've thought about staying at Pooh Corner (I don't
> know if that's in a bed or in my tent on land that has been
> kindly allowed to camp on)
> 
> is one or two nights per month a good number of
> nights to plan on staying in a hotel/motel/resort?
> or is 1 real bed every other month more realistic?
> 
> What are the best places to do this?
> What are the costs?
> 
> (Forgive me ... my guess is that I might find some of this
> info in the PCT data books that the PCT has, and that I haven't
> gotten yet.)
> 
> Thank you.
> 


Rebecca, mostly it depends on you - your needs and finances. You will be
in some sort of town about once a week. Whether or not you stay in a
motel or camp out at the local park is up to you.  In some places you'll
have a choice of picking up your food from the local resort/ranger
station and moving on or hitching into town for a real meal and
overnight stay.  I know from experience that you get to missing real
food, clean sheets and hot showers like you wouldn't believe. Towns
become very important to you, and you end up going to town a lot more
than you would expect. On the AT some people stayed in town as often as
every 3-4 days. I was in a hotel or hostel about once a week. Mostly
hostels - but the PCT doesn't have those. On the CDT we will have 29
"town" stops, I expect we'll stay over at about half of those.  That
costs though. On the AT, resupplying as I went, every town stop cost me
at least $100.  Jim spent the same amount, and he had prepacked his food
drops. Some places I stayed for more than one day in order to heal sore
tendons or knees, because it was pouring rain, because there was going
to be a birthday party for a friend the next day, because I was waiting
for my hiking partner to get back after going to a family reunion, etc.
I think I took off about 20 days total (Out of 170).  That doesn't
count  partial days off (i.e. hiking 5 miles into town, then taking the
afternoon off and maybe the next morning, then hiking on.  Of course,
going to town is exhausting - you have to get your food, find fuel, make
phone calls, do laundry, get cleaned up, do repairs on equipment (i.e.
reseal tent, waterproof boots, chlorinate water filter, etc.), write
letters to friends and family, mail them, etc etc.  It is a bit easier
to do all that with a home base - a room where you can spread out your
gear, repack your maildrop or food buys, wash clothes if the town
doesn't have a laundromat, etc. Not exactly restful. But necessary.

So - basically look at the town guide, and any place that has a real
town, expect to stay there.  You will want to.  Of course, after a few
hours of running around like mad, you'll be glad to leave.

Ginny


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