User deleted post
Starting SOBO at CA_OR border 6-5-2024. When will I meet NOBO PCT'ers?
Why would you not take a phone? Just makes everything like getting rides/help from trail angels or other people so much harder, if not impossible. If you make friends, you can’t coordinate meetups. You miss having updates on water sources, fires and other really important things.You don’t have to be on it all day but I don’t see the point in not having one at all.
You are on Reddit so obviously not a complete Luddite
Many people hike the trail to disconnect from the online world. Just having the phone “with you” makes it more difficult to do that.
I hiked the trail without a phone. Granted it was in the 1990s… but still, humanity got along just fine for most of history without them.
Hike your own hike!
Eh it’s not that hard to disconnect - it’s practically useless as a phone or internet for most of the trail. I don’t think I went on social media or even Reddit a single time while on trail. It’s basically just a digital map with water source updates + music and audiobooks.
If you don't want to bring a phone please at least bring the Garmin, just in case.
The vast majority of NOBOs enter the Sierra around mile 700 ish in the month of June, depending on weather/snow pack. Some are already in the Sierra, but very very few, only those who are very comfortable traversing snow and making slow slow miles. I'm guessing you won't see any nobo PCTers when you start, probably more likley to see locals eager to get out there early in the season.
Best answer to my question, thanks. I've got well above average map reading and if I hit a lot of snow will have a friend drop off my AT gear.
Some type of communication device is helpful for tracking fire, IMHO, should there be any. As you prob know they are moving fast now and often in unpredictable ways. I’m a TA at NOBO mm1501 Soda Creek and normally we’d see the bubble in late July but with heavy snow in the Sierra people are skipping around so you’re bound to see a few hikers soon. There’s at least 2 heading out of Etna. A few waiting out the snow on the OCT.
Thanks!
One of the hikers was seriously injured in the Marble Mtns. The conditions are pretty bad. Check the PCT Far NorCal trail angel and the Southern Oregon PCT trail angel pages on FB for up to date info. Happy trails!
Real talk buddy... as a seasoned and experienced hiker, I am very adamant you have some form of communication and mapping. I don't know if you're trying to drop weight or "embrace" The trail, but you're f'n stupid if you think you will be fine without anything. You wont know if you're off trail, where water is located or what your location is should something happen. At absolute minimum bring the inreach. True NOBOs won't be near Tahoe or points north till mid June if not early july due to the snow pack, and only a handful are bouncing forward now. You likely won't see people everyday. I don't know what your experience is but you really need to be smarter about hiking in locations that are so remote. Good luck, hope I don't see your story on the news.
Hilarious. Not asking if I should bring an electronic device.
I'm asking if there is a way top track progress of NOBO hikers. More to gauge quantity/quality of hiker box contents as I head south. I'm a dirt bag climber and I liked the treats on last year's JMT in the hiker boxes. I might be new to simple trail hiking but ain't my first rodeo.
FWIW - Please don't preach unless you know you audience.
I did three years as a Mount Rainier Climbing Ranger, +12 year volunteer in King county SAR, tons of mountaineering all over, guided Mount Rainier for 8 years. Last thing one needs as a unreliable electronic device. Good fitness, awareness of objective and route hazards, map, intel, ability to read the weather and proper gear. A phone is at best a distraction and at worst a liability.
Can't count the number of times on the JMT people aimlessly following their phones. Glad they didn't have cell phones in my youth. Patagonia, spent 2 months working the Compressor Route, even with a phone how you getting help? Head up to Denali, Wickersham Wall attempt, good luck with a phone there. Pay the pilot to fly over once a week. Climbed all of Colorado 14'ers no phone, skied off half of them no phone (had a beacon).
PCT is of the individual hiking it. Even with my experience I'm not a trail boss telling people what they are doing wrong/right unless it might kill them.
Moderator removed comment
15d
And know the audience? your profile doesn't say anything about what you've done, or whatever level of experience. You asked a question, you got a response.
Far out and possibly FB are the only way outside of trail registers to know where people are.
You did call him ‘f’n stupid’ and told him ‘he really needs to be smarter’. Honestly the more I read your comment the more rude it comes off. So his reply might be a bit overboard but still a fairly understandable response to a very rude and condescending lecture. He didn’t even say he wasn’t gonna bring a phone, just hadn’t decided one way or the other and then you jumped all over him. Even if he was a total noob or idiot, your approach would still be uncalled for and counterproductive.
Bring a phone and far out so you can get water updates at the very least. Only a few ounces and doesn’t need recharging if you are only using it a couple hours a week offline.
Be careful in the desert section once you get to KMS.