Yet Another January Update

So the permits for this year's PCT hike have all but been snapped up and I am happy to say that I got mine. The trail is administered and maintained by a not for profit group called the PCTA.  They provide an invaluable service to PCT hikers by allowing us to hold a single permit rather than the dozens that would otherwise be required (and hard to get in some National Parks).  But in recent years they have implemented a daily cap system of 50 permits per day to soften the impact on the trail.  Yesterday was permit day!

I had planned on starting the trail on May 3rd.  But when about 2,000 people try to log onto a registration system at exactly 10:30 am, things do not always go as planned.  Anyhow, I ended up getting a start date of May 7th instead.  Not a big deal.  With the huge amounts of snow that have been falling in the Sierra this year, a bit later start date is not amiss.

The other bit of planning that I am engaged in is the pre-PCT trip.  Our daughter and I are going on a father/daughter road trip which will culminate in her dropping me off at the southern terminus of the trail.  Seems even "adult" children in university get pretty giddy at the thought of a couple of days at Disneyland and Universal Studios.  Apparently we have to try butter beer and buy wands at Harry Potter World.  Hey, the wand might come in handy at some of the stream crossings in the mountains!

Well, back to the couch for some more intensive training.  

January Update

Well, according to the count down clock on my computer, I start hiking the PCT in 106 days and a few hours.  Way better than the 2400 or so days I have waited prior to this!

As most of us know, California has been in the throws of a terrible drought for the past 5 or so years.  This has meant there has been very little snow pack in the mountains ranges such as the Sierra.  Well, old Mother Nature has decided to make up for all of this lost water in a two week period.  From all accounts, it has been snowing like crazy pretty much everywhere above 6 or 7,000 feet down there.  The picture below was taken at Donner Pass near Reno this week.  And, guess what.  The PCT goes through Donner Pass.

 

This is a photo of a chairlift at Mammoth Mountain.  Guess which trail also goes right past Mammoth Mountain!

 



Oh well, I am planning a late start (May 2 or 3) so hopefully most of this will be melted by the time I get there.

So you would think that the matter of hiking a trail would involve little to no paper work.  Well, that is true of the PCT, but there is some.  Got my campfire permit for California (you need this to operate an open flame stove in the wilderness of that state), joined the PCTA (not compulsory, but I like what they do) and prepared my application to enter Canada at an uncontrolled border crossing.  The next big one will be January 24th when the actual PCT permits go up for grabs.  They are free but are limited to 50 per day. 

One very odd thought has crept into my melon lately.  All the hiking I have done up to now has involved fairly rigid itineraries.  We had to make it to such and such a camp or refugio because of reservations or lack of opportunities to camp past that point.  Well, on the PCT, there are no such restrictions other than the availability of flat ground to lay my tired body upon.  So, I will have to work out which philosophy is going to work for me.  Do I start out in the morning aiming to hike to a predetermined flat spot, or do I start out in the morning aiming to hike a certain number of hours and then find somewhere to camp.  May sound like potatoes potattoes to some but it is an intriguing dilemma.