Is May 14 too late of a start?

[Yeah Yeahhh]

I currently am planning (and permitted) to leave May 8 but am wondering if updating to May 14 makes more sense?

I have 4 months off from work to attempt a full thru and with given the current snow levels, it seems a late start that gets me to KM June 18th is probably my best call. This would leave me ending by Sep 14th.

Is the heat leaving that late a serious concern? Are there other good ways to mitigate the snow level risk of the Sierras?

[ImAfraidOfBears]

no you will be fine if you hike fast

[Kalaallit]

Going south is a good way to avoid the heat, as you're in the Cascades during July, where it'll be cooler. However, you'd have to start late June/early July when the Harts Pass road opens. You avoid the heat, but also see less people, and resupplying in the Sierras can be tough.

[Kookork]

Going south is a good way to avoid the heat, as you're in the Cascades during July, where it'll be cooler. However, you'd have to start late June/early July when the Harts Pass road opens. You avoid the heat, but also see less people, and resupplying in the Sierras can be tough.

Too early to say but Harts pass might be close( or dangerous ) to pass until late july this year. Going Sobo is not the sure thing to do in a high snow year. You avoid something in the expense of a few other things including harder logistics and resupply.

[royalusa]

I'm thinking your game plan sounds do-able. I do not think May 14^th is too late of a start date for a 4-month hike as long as you are prepared for the heat as well as the miles. Some desert hiking experience would help, but it's not necessary if you learn (quickly) along the way how to manage your water needs and consumption vs. the heat. You'll eventually dial into a formula such as 1 liter per 5 miles and/or something such as 5 gulps every 15 minutes in you are in extreme rationing mode. (Those are EXAMPLES not RULES though they are the general guidelines we used and they did work for us – you would need to figure out what formula works for you.)

Though the long siesta during the heat of the day routine is often preached, we never felt the need to do so. Perhaps our bodies handled the heat better than the norm?

Our longest water haul was about 33 miles where we carried 6 liters. I believe we each had the capacity to carry 7 liters.

We started May 8th and finished Aug 24 - about 3.5 months (108 days). We are two gray-haired (53yo at the time) and vertically challenged (5'3" and 5'8") individuals....so a 4-month hike starting mid May can be done....but it does take consistency (ie time management in regards to zeros and neros and hiking consistent mileage days).

In our journal we tried to document the daily temps (highs/lows) as well as any lengthy water haul for that day so that would give you an idea on what to expect. It can be found here: http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=477102

And just in case you are a numbers person, here are some more numbers for you that we posted at the end of our journal:
ACTUAL miles hiked: 2692.5 miles
(All the numbers below are based on ACTUAL miles hiked from Campo to USA-Canadian Border, thus the reason they differ from our TJ ‘Stats’ page.)
Miles per Hiking Day: 25.8
Miles per All Days: 24.8
4 Days = 0 miles
2 Days < 15 miles
7 Days > 15 miles and < 20 miles
30 Days > 20 miles and < 25 miles
47 Days > 25 miles and < 30 miles
18 Days > 30 miles
Longest Day: ~35 miles (34.2 per Erik the Black; 36 per Postholer)
Number of Zeros: 4 (2 planned; 2 unplanned due to medical issues)
16 Rainy Days (Who said it doesn’t rain on the PCT? Oh well, 15% rainy days on the PCT sure does beat our 48% rainy days on the AT! We’ll take it!!)
Number of Shoes: 3 pairs (each)
Number of Detours: 5 (Endangered Frog, Poodle Dog Bush and 3 fire Detours)
Longest Waterless Stretch: 33 miles
Largest Water Haul: 6 liters (each)
Number of Food Drops: 15
Number of Food Purchases: 10
Average Food Haul: Just over 4 Days
Calories per Day: 3100 – 3500 (each) 50% carb; 40% fat; 10% protein
Combined Base Weight: 20-23 pounds
Training Miles: 830 miles

[Malto]

I started May 21st so that answers your question. If you have four months and a hard stop then moving your start date back make a lot of sense, in fact depending on your fitness level you may want to push back further. My May 21 start worked well for me as I hit the ground averaging over 30 on full days. I hit KM on June 14th which was frankly a bit early for the high 2011 snow year. If this year continues to be a big year and I was hiking the same schedule I would actually start about May 27th with a target KM of June 20th. The later date would have reduced the snow levels a bit all the way to Canada.

As for the heat, I didn't have much issue with it and there are ways of dealing with it like early starts and hiking later into the evening.

[AlpineKevin]

There are some several page threads of past years that answer this very same question. One on how late to start and one on how late to leave KM. The consensus in the threads was that a late May start is fine as long as you are not some bum doing 10 miles a day. And the consensus was that most people hang around KM until June 15th upon when they all shove off in a NORMAL year. Which means later June I assume is normal for stranglers and in high snow years. And Keep in mind that if you are a fast hiker through NorCal, OR and WA you can push these numbers up a lot. Most average 20 miles a day. If you look at lunatics like Malto he was averaging around 35 miles a day when the trail was completely covered in snow and ice.

FYI: My current start date is May 21 and I'm planning 27 days to KM.

[Wyoming]

I currently am planning (and permitted) to leave May 8 but am wondering if updating to May 14 makes more sense?

I have 4 months off from work to attempt a full thru and with given the current snow levels, it seems a late start that gets me to KM June 18th is probably my best call. This would leave me ending by Sep 14th.

Is the heat leaving that late a serious concern? Are there other good ways to mitigate the snow level risk of the Sierras?

Look at it this way for a different angle.

Assuming your 4 months window is 120 days and you travel or zero 10 of them it gives you 110 days of hiking. That is the whole trail at 24 mpd. Quite doable. There would likely be a number of days in the 110 which were shorter than 24 of course, but especially north of the high Sierra you will be at peak strength and should have no trouble gaining back on the average.

It all depends on your physical capabilities and mental outlook. Many who are physically capable of hiking really fast are not mentally suited for it. And others who are very strong mentally do not have bodies which cooperate. So take off with a plan and adapt as you go. No matter what the end result is it will be a big adventure.

Dealing with really hot days requires you adapt to them. They don't adapt to you. If it is going to be really hot then do the standard stuff. Get up early - like before daylight - and get your miles in. Take a long break in the shade in the hottest part of the day. Then hike until after dark. If it is too hot to even do that then flip your day. Start hiking about 6:30 pm and hike all night until maybe 10 am. You will cover loads of miles. Last year I did pretty much that and covered 35 miles in a 24 hour stretch.

Snow is snow and if you want to cross it you just have to. It is either that or wait for it to melt. Your schedule does not leave any time for waiting for a week for snow melt so read up and get a little experience on snow hiking if you can. Follow others and learn from them and look out for each other. Especially at stream crossings. Cross with others if you can as holding onto each other makes it much safer.

The later you start the easier it is to make your schedule as it lessens the snow/stream crossing issues. Heat will be worse down south but just do the above and you will be fine.

[takethisbread]

No if I was doing it this year I'd start Memorial Day weekend given the snow. Easy to make up the time after Sierra .

[ezabielski]

If I were you I'd take the later start date. Mid-May to Mid-Sept is a perfect window for a 4 month hike. The crux of a fast-ish hike in a high snow year is not arriving too early to the Sierras such that you would be forced to slow down a lot or take time off. Malto's postholer journal has proven to be very helpful for planning my own fast 2nd PCT thru hike this year. Take a look at it. And pay attention to his advice about starting even later.

[burger]

I would go south if you want to finish in 4 months. There's a record-setting snowpack this year, and several feet more are coming this week. In the absence of a massive change (like a huge warm spell/drought this spring), hikers getting to KM anytime in June may hit a wall of snow, and that could slow you down a lot if you need to finish in 4 months. Snowpack in the Cascades looks average or a bit below right now, so you might have a better chance to finish quickly with a Canada start.

[Wyoming]

But, if you decide to go south as burger suggests you will very likely need to change your departure date and finish dates to not screw up your work issue you mentioned.

If you go SOBO you very likely would not want to start until near 1 July (my SOBO plan is for about a 7 July start and flexible on that). There is going to be lots of snow up north until well into June even in a good year. So it depends as always, but one must be prepared for a very late start up north just like down south at this point.

On the 19th the snowpack on the PCT down south was 235% of normal. But the levels up north in Washington were at the levels usually seen 1 April.

If you can do it don't finalize your plans for as long as you can wait. I know that "work" does not always see it that way though. Best of luck.

[Yeah Yeahhh]

Thank you for your thoughts and expert inputs! I am all set to launch on May 14. I wish I had more time to research & for these additional posts to come in before I had to finalize my date with the boss -- I would have probably gone SOBO again (I did my AT thru SOBO) or at least a May 20 kick-off. Alas, alea iacta est.

I will now spend my time prepping for handling snow in the Sierras and figuring out my contingency plans. It sounds like skipping ahead/flip-flopping doesn't make much sense from my research. I plan to improve my snow nav (both map + compass and GPS) and research exit points/resupply given the potential snow level.

I will plan for 2011 snow conditions, hope for a late season draught + a hot May to reduce snow pack, and stay flexible throughout it all

Segments	Start Date	End Date	Days	Zeros	Miles	Avg Mileage
Travel to Cali	13-May	13-May
Campo-Kennedy Meadow	14-May	18-Jun	35	3	698	21.8
Kennedy Meadow-End of Sierras	18-Jun	9-Jul	21	0	320	15.2
End of Sierras-Canada	10-Jul	13-Sep	65	7	1642	28.3
Work Start	15-Sep	Ugh…

Any thoughts of how to best use my prep time to get ready for the potential snow conditions in mid-June Sierras would be much appreciated!!

[Malto]

"Any thoughts of how to best use my prep time to get ready for the potential snow conditions in mid-June Sierras would be much appreciated!!"

Since you you live in Wa. I would get as much sloppy, snowy, rainy hiking in between now and your departure. I really believe that people view their situation through the experiences they have been through. It really helped me both mentally and physically to have done winter and spring snowshoe trips into the Sierra. While others were fearful and uncertain, I had a very good idea both what I was getting into and how to best manage the situation. My prehike training also had the goal that none of my top ten toughest days would occur on my thru. You have that same opportunity and I would definitely seize it if at all possible.

[Yeah Yeahhh]

Awesome advice Malto, much appreciated! I have been trying to increase my limited backcountry experience & am starting to knock out snow hikes at night after work. Definitely taking your advice to heart and will double down on it.

Looking to up my snow nav experience as well w/o obvious trails to follow and maybe re-up my wilderness first aid to boot (it's about 4 years since my last class).

[AllDownhillFromHere]

I am also starting the 14th, so I hope it's not too late!