North vs South PCT 2015 June 1 start

[HohenhimofLight]

Hello everyone a longtime lurker but first time poster. I'm ready (I think) to tackle the PCT and am trying to figure out if I should go northbound or southbound. It looks like this is an extreme drought year for both the Cascades and California and for that reason I was looking at doing a southbound trip starting June 1st. http://francistapon.com/Travels/Paci...und-on-the-PCT
It seems that southbound gives more solitude and better weather, but potentially starting in snow which I don't have experience navigating with (i'll probably bring a gps) and issues getting water in the dessert toward the end of my trip. I'm very fit and ready to hit the ground running and in short just want to know if June 1st is too early to start a southbound trip and/or too late to do a northbound trip as I'm still thinking about it. Thanks in advance for your help! Also this year would an ice axe and crampons be necessary for travel during those times?

[Spirit Walker]

What you could do is start at Walker Pass or Mojave on June 1 and hike north, then flip and hike the desert after you've reached Canada. You'd be in the midst of the thruhiker hordes though, which may not be what you are looking for. I would bring an ice axe in either case for the first couple of weeks, until you have a better idea of whether there is any lingering snow on the shady sides of the ridge. (Or read journals before you leave from some of the early-bird thruhikers.) Don't forget, you may also still get falling snow in either the Sierras or the Cascades in early to mid-June, so be prepared, gearwise, for that possibility.

[sbhikes]

As a life-long Southern Californian I think it's pretty safe to say that the water situation come fall is going to be fairly similar to what it is now. Basically you're going to get the vast majority of your water from cattle troughs, pipe springs and faucets (leaving town usually) and you're going to have a few 30+ mile sections without water. You'll likely have it worse if any water source is a tank or something else that could run out like a cache. There will still be water in some of the larger, more reliable creeks in the mountains of So Cal. There are not very many of these, though. I can think of only two or three off the top of my head but my memory may be pretty faulty by now. I heard some hikers were trying to fix Golden Oak Spring near Tehachapi. That's a pretty critical one. Without it you might need to carry water for several days in that area. Anything in a guide book that says "seasonal" will be dry. Anything that says "iffy" in a drought year will likely be dry as this is more than a typical drought year. Still, it's doable. Many of us locals go out on multi-day waterless trips. It's not that bad, really, especially in the cooler months of fall or even winter. Late fall is a really beautiful time to hike in our area. Perfect daytime temps, cold nights, the predictability of the weather is better (not as volatile and the weather report will know if something's coming), possibly there's been one good storm to refill the creeks again, more fall color.

I'd recommend going northbound if you can, though. The loneliness of a SoBo hike does cause a lot of people to quit. If you want solitude, you can create it pretty well once you leave So Cal. In So Cal everyone tends to congregate around water. Once you're in the Sierras everyone disperses more. A lot of people who made it through the Sierras drop out around Lake Tahoe or north of there, so the crowds diminish as time goes on.

[toastyjosh]

Hello everyone a longtime lurker but first time poster. I'm ready (I think) to tackle the PCT and am trying to figure out if I should go northbound or southbound. It looks like this is an extreme drought year for both the Cascades and California and for that reason I was looking at doing a southbound trip starting June 1st. http://francistapon.com/Travels/Paci...und-on-the-PCT
It seems that southbound gives more solitude and better weather, but potentially starting in snow which I don't have experience navigating with (i'll probably bring a gps) and issues getting water in the dessert toward the end of my trip. I'm very fit and ready to hit the ground running and in short just want to know if June 1st is too early to start a southbound trip and/or too late to do a northbound trip as I'm still thinking about it. Thanks in advance for your help! Also this year would an ice axe and crampons be necessary for travel during those times?

June 1st is a great time to start! You should be ok with the water untill you get to OR in july. The from there south you will have to watch your water. Cali is a really bad drought as I am sure you know, water will be trying.
This will give a a little heads up .

http://wildfiretoday.com/2015/05/01/...ough-august-2/

[SCRUB HIKER]

Halfmile covers Oregon and NorCal in the water report these days (it used to be for only the southernmost 750 miles of the PCT). It was already a very useful resource for NOBOs and SOBOs both, but it's even more so now.

I think June 1, in this particular year, would be too late to start a northbound trip. You can already see on the water report that some sources (especially Golden Oaks spring, mile 583, a crucial one ... it was flowing for me in June 2013, a pretty dry year in and of itself) are dry or on their last legs. Every single one is already flowing slower than it was for me in 2013, and I started at Campo May 5. Water caches are frequent but I'm not sure if any but the biggest ones (Third Gate, e.g.) are stocked outside the normal thru-hiker season. It seems like an unnecessary challenge for the first-time thru-hiker, but your priorities and abilities may be different than mine. The desert will be dry too when you come through at the end of a SOBO but it probably won't be as hot as in June and July, the June Gloom notwithstanding. Your time window is longer in this case for a SOBO as well. I say go SOBO, and check Snotel and highway pass cams to get a vague idea of what the snow conditions are like before you go. I think it's entirely possible that you will not need snow gear even with a June 1 start, just because of the horrendously low snowpack in the PNW this year. But you have to gauge that for yourself before you go.

[HohenhimofLight]

Thanks everyone for the helpful replies. As of now I'm leaning toward a July 1 start date heading southbound as it appears that starting in mid June/July in the desert is just asking for trouble. My biggest worry though now is hitting the desert in the fall and being out of water. Using the pctplanner it looks like I should hit Kennedy Meadows around October 5. After that point are there reliable water caches/campground water faucets?

[SCRUB HIKER]

My biggest worry though now is hitting the desert in the fall and being out of water. Using the pctplanner it looks like I should hit Kennedy Meadows around October 5. After that point are there reliable water caches/campground water faucets?

These guys didn't seem to think it was a big deal. Just like most things on the trails ... it sounds like a big deal when you're researching it, you think on your feet and get by fine when you're out there. The water report will be a huge help and will tell you more than anything anyone could possibly have to say now.

[sbhikes]

Thanks everyone for the helpful replies. As of now I'm leaning toward a July 1 start date heading southbound as it appears that starting in mid June/July in the desert is just asking for trouble. My biggest worry though now is hitting the desert in the fall and being out of water. Using the pctplanner it looks like I should hit Kennedy Meadows around October 5. After that point are there reliable water caches/campground water faucets?

You definitely don't want to hike So Cal in July! My boyfriend attempted Cabazon to Big Bear in July. It was 108 degrees at 5pm when we pulled up to the trailhead. I hiked with him and camped on the trail that first night. It was hot all night and there was no way to sleep with anything covering your body. It did finally cool off a little and by dawn it was pleasant. So I drove home and he continued on. It was 120 degrees later that day. He started getting confused from heat exhaustion and a little lost trying to get between Whitewater and Mission Creek. He ended up backtracking to Whitewater and making a shade shelter and alternating between sitting in the water and under his tarp until it cooled off enough he could hike out. I had all these frantic messages on my phone. I swore in some of them he sounded like he was dying. I had to drive all the way back (3 hours one way) to go get him. He really thought he could get out of Mission Creek into the altitude before the heat set in, plus it had been unseasonably cool for weeks before that day.

In So Cal most of your water comes from faucets and cattle troughs anyway. The faucets are in gas stations and hotels as you leave town. The cattle troughs, pipe springs and guzzlers are the main "natural" water sources on the trail. Caches will likely be empty. You could probably post to facebook during your hike and maybe arrange with someone to cache some water for you.

[HohenhimofLight]

Ouch! Hey so I figure an ice axe is absolutely necessary, but are crampons as well? This is supposed to be a very light snow year. I've decided to wait until the snow report for harts pass is 0 inches. What kind would be ideal? I'm planning on doing most of my hike wearing minimalist style footwear such as five fingers spyridons and trail runners. I also have an old pair of my army winter boots that I'm thinking about bringing just in case but they are really big, bulky, and heavy and I think they may be overkill.

[jessejohnson787]

Well if you go North you'll have some company. I can leave at the earliest on May 27th.