My experience prior to my successful 2002 thru’-hike is worth relating, as there are lessons to be learnt. By 1997 a foot injury became so serious that my surgeon said he could do no more for me and recommended early retirement from teaching. By 2000 I was able to start walking again and I hiked a section of the PCT in the High Sierra, averaging eight miles a day. In April 2002 I arrived in Campo to thru’-hike the PCT. I only managed 10 miles on the first day before I had to camp, because I was exhausted and hurting. Yet five months later I stood at the Canadian border.
I hadn’t done any training but I had done a lot of preparation. In particular, I had worked out a strategy to complete the hike and had prepared a detailed schedule, which recognised that I was very unfit. In fact I finished about 14 days ahead of my schedule. Most of all I succeeded because I had the mental strength to overcome the difficulties I encountered (others would say I was too stubborn and pig-headed to give up!).
Billy Goat:‘How much training did you do for the PCT?’
Ancient Brit:‘None – I wasn’t fit enough to train!’
However, between 20 and 30 per cent of thru’-hikers give up in the first week. Many of those are ill-prepared ‘ordinary’ hikers; a good number of those succumb to injury. That means that between 30 and 50 per cent of those who fail to reach Canada actually give up in the first week!
Examples of mistakes made by hikers in 2006 include Ladybird, who set out from Campo carrying two bear boxes packed with enough food to last 12 days; Luigi, who had a 75lb load on his back; and Three Gallon, who set off carrying three gallons of water. That latter example might sound like good planning until you learn that it was a wet spring, it was raining and 10 creeks were running within the first 20 miles.
Despite those early errors, all three made it to Canada. Each started with an easy schedule, which meant that they got the most important part of their planning right. If you prepare properly and give yourself enough time you should be able to achieve a successful thru’-hike.
How long do you need for a thru’-hike?
The length of time you need to complete the PCT’s 2650 miles will obviously depend on how many miles you walk each day and how many zero (rest) days you take. If you average 15 miles per day, you should complete the trail in 176 days, or just under six months. Upping your daily mileage by two miles will bring the number of days needed to reach Canada down to 154, or five months. If you were capable of averaging 20 miles per day, it would take you 132 days – just under four months – while a hiker capable of hitting 25 miles per day should be able to cover the entire distance in 106 days, just three and a half months.
To those figures, you would need to add the number of zero days you might have in order to calculate the total time it might take to complete the hike. Most thru’-hikers take between four and six months. If you take few zero days, you can do a low daily mileage hike in five or six months. The data in appendices E, F, G and H illustrate how a thru’-hike can be completed with relatively low daily mileage. The longest realistic schedule to allow you to get through the High Sierra after the snow has melted and get through Washington before the winter snows is 180 days.
There are many reasons for doing relatively low daily mileages. The main one is the avoidance of injury. Many hikers are injured early during their hikes, primarily with blisters and repetitive strain injuries. Unless you are trail-fit before you start (and very few hikers are), you shouldn’t be hiking for more than between five and seven hours each day in the first week. Even when fully fit, your body won’t be able to cope with walking 25 miles or more a day, day-after-day, without a rest. Those exceptional hikers who set trail records have been building up their strength and stamina over years rather than weeks or months.
Do you want to enjoy your hike? Many people think the best parts of any hike are the rest periods! You’ve earned those rests and will appreciate the views, a mug of tea and the chance to chat to other hikers. You’ve earned that swim or soak in the hot springs. You can read that book you’ve never had time for at home, or even write your own book. You won’t have time for long breaks if you plan to hike 20 or 30 miles every day. You should instead follow the example of the gentleman from Seattle who ‘wanted time to smell the roses’.
Hiking schedules
It is possible to hike the PCT without a plan. People do so successfully but more of them will give up at some stage. You are more likely to succeed if you have a strategy to complete the hike and a detailed plan to fall back on in times of difficulty. Obviously circumstances might force you to adjust your plans as you go along.
The main reasons for a detailed schedule are to help you organise your food supplies and to ensure you neither reach the High Sierra too soon nor Washington too late. If travellers from outside the US have confidence in their schedule they can book a return flight at the same time as their outbound flight, and save themselves a lot of money.
In 2006, a record snow year, most hikers started far too early and, despite all sorts of delaying tactics, reached Kennedy Meadows when there was almost continuous snowpack in the High Sierra. Of the early starters only a small minority, who were experienced winter mountaineers, got through the High Sierra.
Sun cups (Section 32)
There is a lot to be said for having a schedule that you can achieve fairly easily: you will feel good when you get ahead and it will give you flexibility in case of problems or injuries. If your schedule is too demanding you will become demoralised when you fall behind, or injured if you try to keep up.
You will find all the information you need to produce a schedule in the appendices. Appendices D1 and D2 give hiking hours between recommended resupply points and outline schedules for 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170 and 180 day thru’-hikes. All of these leave Kennedy Meadows on June 15, which would be an appropriate date in an average snow year. Appendix E gives a breakdown of the figures for miles, hiking hours and miles/hour between the five main regions of the PCT. Appendix F gives the precise daily schedule completed by Ancient Brit in 2002. Appendix G gives a detailed sample schedule for a 180-day though-hike. This is the type of schedule you should produce for yourself. Appendix H gives a schedule for a very slow start for those who are extremely unfit. Those hiking 160– 180-day schedules might prefer to start a little earlier, if snow conditions allow, so that they finish a little earlier in October.
Zero days
‘Zero day’ is the term used on the trail for a rest day. Simply, you cover zero trail miles that day. Avoiding too many zero days is key to a low daily mileage hike. In 2006 EricD had taken 30 zero days by the time he reached Donner Pass and, despite hiking between 25 and 35 miles every day, still took longer to reach that point than the author, whose longest day was about 20 miles. The thru’-hiker who completed the PCT in 1979 averaging 15 miles a day, with no zero days, had it much better worked out.
Why do you need zero days? Hikers in 2006 gave many reasons. Some said their body needed a break after covering too many miles in successive days. Others had blisters, repetitive strain injuries, were ill or simply needed to recover from the night before! Some had started their thru’-hikes too early and needed to wait for the Sierra snows to melt, while others waited in town for rain and snowstorms to pass through.
Resupplying was another reason for taking zero days. Some hikers had reached town on a Saturday to find the post office to which they had sent their resupply