When to start the pct northbound
Advice for Future PCT Hikers
are you planning to thru-hike or either
section hike the PCT coming up well I
might have some advice for you
so this video was actually spawned out
of a comment and a question that I got
from a viewer here on YouTube and I
thought it was a great topic to make a
video about and share my advice if you
had a friend that was going to hike the
PCT in 2019 what are the three biggest
pieces of advice you'd give them before
they started excellent question and it's
something that I actually think about
quite a bit now aside from giving the
typical advice the cliche advice like
hike your own hike or you know make sure
you have enough water in the desert or
any of the other advice that one through
hiker would give to another I thought
about what some advice that I would give
a future through hiker that had to do
with my hike in particular in 2018 so
three pieces of advice I'll do you one
better I have four so the first piece of
advice that I have for anybody that is
planning to do the PCT within either the
next year the next couple years and
whether you're through hiking or section
I 'king is don't go out too hard listen
to your body folks the first section of
the PCT if you're going northbound can
be very deceiving now for me when I went
out and started my hike in April I
started doing 20s every single day and
you can do that no problem at all well I
was doing 20s and since I was feeling
good doing 20s I decided to keep jacking
it up and jacking it up and by the
second week I was already doing 25 and
close to thirty miles a day now in my
opinion the terrain is pretty easy and
you can put out those miles because it's
nice smooth terrain however if you're
not used to hiking in the desert it can
definitely beat you up fast without you
even knowing it the trail itself is very
hard and rugged and it can definitely
put a beating on your feet and your legs
within the first couple hundred miles
now I myself got injured in the first
300 miles when I was coming out of Big
Bear now the reason I got injured was
because I tripped and I tore something
in my shin however I'm sure doing 25 and
close to 30 s up to that point was not
helping my case instead I
probably should have just stuck to low
20s maybe even 15 for the first handful
of days and don't that strength up so I
didn't have the injury later I know a
lot of people that got injured in the
first 300 miles of the trail I
constantly heard about people getting
shin splints people getting Planners
fasciitis people having sore knees so
the first 500 700 miles of the PCT if
you're going northbound can be deceiving
so listen to your body and don't go out
too hard the second piece of advice that
I have for any through hiker or section
hiker planning to do the PCT is take
advantage of trail towns so in Southern
California up until about Mammoth Lake
so right after you leave
Bishop you get to Mammoth Lake that is
basically the last trail town
now when I say trail town I'm talking
about towns that have a lot of hiker
services that have good resupply points
like nice big grocery stores they have
Outfitters they have hostels they are
more catered for the through Hecker or
the section hiker now once you start
getting into Northern California from
there on trail towns just kind of
disappear now out on the Appalachian
Trail there pretty much the entire trail
but when you're on the PCT they go
bye-bye after Mammoth Lakes so take
advantage of those trail towns in the
first seven hundred miles when you go
into one of those towns take a little
bit of time make sure that your gear is
dialed in go to the Outfitters maybe buy
a new pair of shoes and send them ahead
maybe resupply for further on down the
trail box it up and bounce it up to
yourself so in that first seven hundred
miles go into places like Ottawa go into
places like Tehachapi go into Julian
have a good time experience those trail
communities stay at some hostels meet
some trail angels because for me a big
part of through hiking or section hiking
is experiencing the trail culture and
you're not going to experience any
better trail culture than the first 700
miles of the PCT the third piece of
advice that I have for any through hiker
or section hi
and this one pertains particularly to
the Sierra Mountains make your own calls
now this year in particular and I'm sure
that it's every single year there was a
lot of fear mongering and misinformation
about the trail there was a lot of other
hikers businesses Outfitters that were
fear mongering people about the Sierra
now this year on the PCT we did get a
lot of snow and I personally got off of
the trail in Bishop because of a big
snowstorm that came in however there
were a lot of hikers that were getting
fear of monger whenever they were in
Kennedy Meadows not to go into the
Sierra people that hadn't been to the
sea-air yet
telling people that the snow was too bad
you needed all this gear are you needed
to wait and there were a lot of hikers
that either didn't go into the Sierra
State put in Kennedy Meadows for weeks
on end or they flipped up and switched
their hike and most of that was because
of fear-mongering by people that weren't
in the Sierra and didn't know really
what was going on there was one
outfitter in particular that actually
used my name and stole a picture off my
Instagram to scare hikers into buying
more expensive gear and gear that they
didn't really need at their outfitter my
advice to any future through hikers or
section hikers is get to Kennedy Meadows
look at the weather report maybe look at
some reliable sources like find the
Facebook group and see people that are
ahead of you listen to people that are
experiencing the trail at that time and
then make the decision for yourself you
know me personally my whole thought was
leave Kennedy Meadows get into the
beginning of the Sierra and if it looks
like it's gonna be a bad situation if it
looks like it's not something you're
gonna hike in make the decision and turn
around or there's plenty of places that
you can bail out before you get to
Bishop there's two points that you can
get out to go into Lone Pine so if it
looks like it's gonna be bad
are you hearing bad weather reports get
out there make the decision for yourself
and make sure that you're not changing
your hike because of what someone
says or how someone else feels okay and
the last piece of advice that I have for
any future through hikers or section
hikers is create something during your
hike now what do I mean by create
something well
document your hike while you're out
there if not for someone else just for
yourself journal about your hike do a
blog shoot photos make videos use your
phone and record a podcast from the
trail create something while you're out
on the trail you're out there from four
to six months and you're having this
awesome experience with other people
with yourself you're in your own mind a
lot of different thoughts and ideas come
to you whenever you're on the trail a
lot of hikers that I've talked to and I
personally get very creative while I'm
on the trail and I think it's because
you simplify your life a little bit why
you out on the trail you take all the
extra stuff out of your life and you're
basically just left to your own devices
so a lot of people including myself get
very creative it's something that I've
said in the past that I wish so much
that whenever I was out on the
Appalachian Trail in 2015 that I would
have recorded my hike and took a lot
more pictures and it's not just because
I started a YouTube channel but it's
because I would love to personally
experience that again whenever you get
off trail it starts to fade away the
whole journey you start forgetting about
certain parts you start forgetting about
certain hikers that you met you forget
about certain towns that you went to
certain views that you saw so take that
time and create something again even if
you don't want to share it with the
world
like making YouTube videos or making a
blog or something have it for yourself
because it is an amazing trip and an
amazing journey that you're taking in
your life so document that have
something for yourself so you can look
back at that or maybe even share with
your family and friends one massive gift
that the trail has given me over the
years is teaching me to be a more
creative person whether it's through
video or photos or writing about it and
sharing my experience with others which
is why
I encourage you to do the same all right
so hopefully some of that advice will
help you if you're planning to do the
PCT in the future have you through hiked
or section hike the PCT what's some
advice that you would give a future
hiker planning on going out there leave
something down in the comments and let
me and everybody else know your thoughts
you haven't had a chance yet go over and
check me out on Instagram and posting a
ton of new photos lately of some of the
things that snows and I have going on
throughout the week plus some pictures
from some past tags if you found any
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if you haven't already and as always
guys thanks for watching
you
