Campo to I-10 or I-15 in October

[condorito]

I am thinking of hiking the first sections of the PCT in October. Is this a bad idea as far as the hiking season is concerned? E.g. no water, too hot, all burnt by the sun. etc.

[Dont Panic]

October is usually a fine time of year to hike in Southern California. It will be hot and dry for sure, but that is true for the area most of the year. Any seasonal creek will not be running, so focus on the man-made water sources and the year round creeks, but there should be enough water if you're willing to carry a bunch at times. I believe it is also around the time of year that the early SOBOs come through (at least in a normal year) so you might be able to get some water info from them. One thing to keep in mind is that it can get very cold at the higher elevations, especially if a storm blows in.

[Miner]

October is the time SoCal often gets very strong winds known as Santa Ana winds (hot high desert air flowing down the passes and canyons heating up even more flowing towards the ocean; a reverse of the normal air flow due to a high pressure over the inland deserts and a low offshore). Temps tend to get hot when those happen. Water sources will be very scarce since there will have been no rain since last spring and water caches may not be maintained as much.

Late October would be an excellent time to hike this section in terms of temps. Also November temps can be cool (cold in the mountains) and there is the small chance of rain in November that may temporarily cause some water sources to flow and may be preferred by some. SoCal gets almost all its rain in the winter months to early spring and is dry for the rest of the year except for an occasional thunderstorm over the deserts and mountains in summer.

[leaftye]

I plan on hiking from Hwy 74 to I-10 in the last week of September. I'll be hiking areas closer to the Mexican border shortly after. For the latter hikes I'll be religiously checking the PCT Water Report, driving to check caches and water supplies and placing my own personal caches wherever needed. Hiking the southern part of the PCT in October is certainly doable, but you should really know your capabilities and be smart and safe about water. In any case, maybe I'll see you out there. I had some thru hikers in late May tell me that they had water problems in the days after Cajon Pass...

[sbhikes]

I think hiking the San Jacinto section in October would be ideal. It will be dry, but that section is dry anyway with off-trail cattle troughs as water sources toward the Highway 74 end. Seasonal creeks up high on the mountain may be dry or may be a trickle, but the year-round ones will still have water. It's good to have a map so you can tell which kind of stream is which.