Mt Whitney Zone Forums The Chat Room Some new SPOT messages

Checking my email tonight, I have several SPOT emails.

Check-in/OK message from Steves Spot II SPOT Messenger

Check-in/OK message from Steves Spot II SPOT Messenger

Custom message from Steves Spot II SPOT Messenger

...from a trailer park in Michigan.

Brett is 2 weeks away from his PCT start at the Canadian border. Here's the Spot shared page.

His web page.

And a video of his stuff (from his web page):

Wow ... a southbound PCT hike. That's definitely in the minority. Certainly doable, but you have to plan it right and hope the weather cooperates. Could get pretty hot by time he gets to SoCal, esp. the desert sections.

CaT

Hey Steve... if he needs anything down here on the far southern part of the trail... tell him to call me... pm me if you wanna give him a good contact number...

CaT, He won't be out of the Sierra until September.

SCG, thanks! I'll keep everyone posted as to his progress, so if/when he gets that far, we can start planning for supply meeting points. I appreciate the offers for help.

Meanwhile... Thursday evening, wagga and I drove over Walker Pass, and found several northbound PCT hikers:

Balls, GoGo, OKie girl, and Graduate. OKie is a "trail angel", someone who provides some goodies and help at any road crossing. She had set up a camp, and the three guys were enjoying her campsite hospitality.



Man! the log at Walker pass had already been signed by dozens of northbounders. They are probably struggling through the snow in the Sierra these days. Glad it's not me.

Edit 6/13/2010: Went over Tioga Pass today and through Tuolumne Meadows. The store is STILL CLOSED at TM! So no resupply for any PCT hikers if they've made it that far already. And at the 9,000 ft elevation, only about half the ground was snow free.

Yeah the biggest worry for South bound hikers is water since so many sources of water are dry late season.

Twelve pounds base weight for a through-hike. Twelve pounds! I can't go on a freakin' dayhike with just 12 pounds! The UL apples don't fall far from the tree, huh?

Best of luck Brett! Keep us updated Steve. I'll be curious to see how the lock sack works out.

Steve... when does he expect to hit the southern part of the trail?

Bulldog, we sort of encouraged each other to seek out the lightest gear we could find. A number of years ago, he made one of those Ethanol stoves out of a Pepsi can. And 8 or 9 years ago we were hiking part of the PCT in northern Yosemite, and came upon three guys hiking it then. Talking to them, we learned one of them had a base weight of 8 pounds. So he always had the super-light goal.

SCG, it will be late September and October when he gets to So Cal. I sure hope he makes it that far!

Hey there! Thanks for all the offers of support already! One week from tomorrow I fly to Seattle and barring any difficulties should be hiking out of Canada the next Friday morning. I'm aiming towards 20 miles per day at the beginning of the trip, but might not be able to make that in the first few weeks due to lingering snow in Washington. I'm hoping to get my miles up to the 23-28 per day by mid July as I need to be south of Forrester pass by October 1st. I've been planning this since November and have read extensively about the challenges of a SOBO (southbound) PCT hike. I think at this point my biggest concern is the snow in Washington. Southern California in October-November might be dry, but cooler so that should offset some of the distance between water sources. Keep me in your prayers and thoughts I've never thru-hiked before so this is going to be challenging to say the least.

You can follow my progress on my website and the links found on that page. I hope to update the journal weekly, photos and videos as often as I can mail my data cards to Steve.

Thanks again
Brett

Brett's PCT Adventure

Brett and Steve...

SoCal in September/October isn't necessarily "cooler". That is the time of the year that we tend to get our worst Santa Ana weather... dry as all get out and hotter then hades. It also tends to be some of the worst of our fire season (mostly because everythings dried out all summer and the Santa Ana winds spread fire like crazy).

My fingers are crossed and prayers are flying your way Brett... I'll keep tabs, maybe we'll have a greeting party for you at the southern terminus in Campo!

Get dirty, have fun, be safe... if you need help down in my area let Steve know... I can give support anywhere south of Cajon Pass...

Brett/Steve -

I can help with anything in the Idyllwild to highway 74 area and probaly farther. Keep me posted when you're coming through and I'll have something ready. If the timing is right I would love to jump on the trail for a few hours with you.......DUG

Hey now! Stay in your own county! Don't make this a turf war! LOL..........................DUG

And maybe I'll come down just to say hi to y'all.

I'll try to maintain an ongoing thread here covering his progress.