Early Season Backpacking Thoughts?

[anacrime]

Howdy fly fishers,

Sooo I was thinking of doing a hundred-ish mile section of the PCT late May / early June from KM to Whitney. Thoughts/predictions with current snow pack? Bums me out, but I feel like I may have to postpone the trip. Open to other week long options if anyone has any suggestions.

Shane

[Flyjunkie]

You should postpone until later in the year.. as You progress North from KM, and gain elevation You will encounter more and more Snow.. I doubt you'd make it much past Dutch John Flats before you run into big snow drifts... and trust me, backpacking thru deep snow drifts really Sucks.. Bear in mind also that Golden Trout Wilderness doesn't open to fishing until July 1st....

This is a Late Season Backpacking Year.. I won't hit the trail until mid-late August..

Cancel the Early trip and reschedule For later in the Year.. Too bloody much Snow (which is a good thing)...

[RJH]

I think you are gonna have to postpone. I know that China Peak (huntington lk) has well over 500 inches of snow this year and got 2 feet last week. Even with considering going further south in the sierra you are still gonna run into lots of snow at that time of the year with the snowpack we have.

If you really want to backpack at that time of the year I would say play it by ear, keep your fingers crossed, see how run off starts and make a last minute decision based on what looks feasible. Be flexible with your expectations.

Otherwise, August should be pretty nice this year.

RJH

[NorcalBob]

Bring snowshoes, ice ax, and crampons because you're gonna need all of them if you wanna safely do that trip when you want to in late May/early June.

[Gary C.]

I've got to agree with everyone else. You will have to plan a lower elevation that early this year. For a later date you still need to decide and get your permit ap in ASAP. I was on the phone this morning trying to get permits for a trip the last week in July. For the dates that I wanted the Cottonwood Lakes trail are already gone, and Kearsarge was taken until early July(they said that Forester Pass would be unlikely that early this year). I did find permits available for Cottonwood Pass but the clincher came when the lady said that all of the Whitney Zone exit permits were already taken from July 15 until sometime in September. Whitney will have to wait until next year. I guess that because of all the snow this year everyone is planning there trips for later in the season and competition for permits is high. I'm going to go through the TOPO's this weekend and decide on a new area for this year, maybe back to Yosemite or a North Lake-South Lake loop. Then again there are some nice Golden Trout lakes come to mind.

[anacrime]

Thanks fellas, pretty much the comments I expected.

[Sheriff Joe]

Come to Colorado.

Also, you stole my tagline....

[Bernard]

Howdy fly fishers,

Sooo I was thinking of doing a hundred-ish mile section of the PCT late May / early June from KM to Whitney. Thoughts/predictions with current snow pack? Bums me out, but I feel like I may have to postpone the trip. Open to other week long options if anyone has any suggestions.

Shane

With that kind of distance in mind and time available, the world is you oyster man! Agreed that this season is unusually challenging. Are you limited to that time frame?

B

[RiverRat]

Early July last year many hikers were stuck at KM. They were trying to hitchhike rides to Bishop due to closed mountain passes. More snow this year.

shane