Chunk Hiking the PCT

[Coffee]

After seven weeks and close to 900 miles on the PCT (including side trips and backtracking), I'm back home having had an amazing experience this spring. My intent was to thru hike and I'm probably in the best shape of my life right now, but I came to the realization that being away for another three months would be too difficult from a personal and business perspective. That realization came during a one week break from the trail to go home, after which point nothing felt the same once I got back on trail. Less than a week later after much contemplation two paths diverged in a wood, and not being able to travel both, I took the one back to civilization (after literally standing around at the trail junction for quite some time).

I have no regrets. Southern California is amazing and totally unlike what I expected. I actually want to go back to the desert at some point. I was able to cross the highest passes in the Sierra under what was, for me, very unfamiliar conditions (yes there was still snow up there!) For the most part the trail did not feel overcrowded to me despite the "Wild" effect. I could have done without some of the wild rumors on the trail grapevine regarding the Sierra but almost everyone I met was pleasant to be around. The towns were almost always great places to stop.

I know that the concept of "chunk hiking" has come up in the past, usually in the context of the CDT, but I'm already planning to apply that same concept to the PCT in 2016 and 2017. My plan next year will be to enter at North Lake and go over Piute Pass and hike to Ashland and in 2017 I would like to hike from Ashland to Canada. I feel like those distances and time commitments are ones I can handle personally and in my business, whereas I'm not sure that I want to take 5 months off in a row at any point in the foreseeable future.

On the bright side I can now really optimize the timing of my upcoming hikes. And to that point, I wanted to get some opinions on when I should start out from North Lake/Piute Pass heading to Ashland, and when I should start from Ashland heading to Canada. I was very comfortable with low-mid 20s everywhere on the PCT except the Sierra where I feel capable of comfortably hiking high teens to 20s.

Based on my knowledge of the weather conditions, I'm thinking that Piute Pass to Ashland might be best hiked from mid August to late September and Ashland to Canada from early July to mid August. Does this sound about right?

[burger]

From the Sierra to Ashland should be fine for a late-summer/early-fall hike. But for the WA/OR section, I would start at Ashland in late July (or even early August if you're a fast-ish hiker) to let the mosquitoes die down some, assuming a normal winter in the PNW.

[Malto]

I would look at a fall NoBo hike for the section south of Ashland. that is depending of course on how fast you care to hike. Likewise I would pick late summer, early fall for Or and Wa. I would go southbound and maximize fall.

[5th]

As someone who does a lot of hiking in Oregon, I second burger's advice for that part. The mosquitoes are numerous and ravenous in July. Wait until early August if you can. Unless you enjoy living in long sleeves, long pants, and a headnet 24/7 that is.

[Dogwood]

Nice PCT chunk hike from N. Lake over Piute Pass to Ashland. As far as your proposed timing of this section I assume you mean "best hiked" in regards to clear/clearer easier to locate trail, low skeeter pressure, and availability of all services? If those are your goals I would say you're timing is spot on - FOR NORMAL CONDITIONS! However, all those factors are influenced by snowpack and melt out. IF CALI/the SIERRAS continues to experience low snowfall as they recently been having I would say it will be drying out faster making it more possible to achieve all those goals as early as mid to late July.

[Coffee]

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, my primary consideration would be to hit the best weather windows for each section. A secondary, but not major, consideration would be to hike when the trails are less crowded. However as I mentioned in the original post, I just never felt that the trail was all that *crowded* even near the southern terminus in a year when everyone says that the trail has never been more crowded. Sure there were lots of people in towns early on but the trail itself never felt oppressive. So primarily I'm hoping for the best possible weather conditions, as well as the best conditions for mosquitoes. I was very fortunate on my hike this year to only encounter any material mosquito activity on the final few days of my hike, and mostly in the Rae Lakes area. I know that restarting in the Sierra in August should eliminate most mosquito issues. I'll have to think carefully about the Ashland to Canada section. Starting in early August is probably fine but I was kind of thinking that it would be best to finish Washington in August - which would lead to a mid July start in southern Oregon. I suppose I could SOBO Canada to Ashland but I'd like to keep the direction consistently north and to be able to walk into Manning Park rather than deal with the logistical hassles of starting SOBO at the border.