45 free days, AT or PCT? (or perhaps somewhere else?)

A trip to the West may put some misconceptions aside. It sounds like a rare opportunity for you. See somewhere different.

I've been to the West a number of times (much of my father's side of the family lives in CA and i was born there, and for awhile my longest term friend lived in Portland OR and we visited them, as well as taking a trip to WA just cause), just not on or for a long, multi week hike. The Almighty Airline Gods and their capricious whims, will be a big factor in going to the PCT or not. Inexpensive tickets would make me a lot more inclined to choose this option.

With 45 days to use, give serious consideration to a through-hike of the Colorado Trail – 450 miles from Denver to Durango. Optimal starting time for doing so is July 01. See http://www.pmags.com/colorado-trail-end-to-end-guide-2 and http://coloradotrail.org/

With the rain and snow already falling I hope the fresh clean water here will not be a concern next summer anywhere that you would want to be in June or July, like the desert. Have fun whatever you decide to do. See you in Chaff certainly.

Hi Bob, Thanks for the potential alternative. I'll definitely take a deeper look.

Thanks Ken, yep, see you around in the nether region of BPL.

Bugs aren’t bad on the AT south of new jersey. A lot of people don’t bother with nets or closed tents south of there. By June you should be clear of the worst of the “surge” of newbie cattle. They don’t last long. The shelters will still likely be “social” though.

PCT will have a lot more diversity of Biomes to explore. Especially on contrast to Va. I’ve heard from a guy that’s done the PCT, AT, and CDT that wasn’t really a problem on the PCT thanks to the water tanks. Not sure if the PCT has changed since my reading sources, but it sounds like you’ll be solo-camping a lot more.

PCT not only involves more money for travel in your case (but check airfares – sometimes it isn’t a lot) but also money and time for logistics.  Resupplies are further apart, more of them are Post Offices or paid services instead of just shopping at an A&P just off the AT.  Also, there aren’t a ton of places along the PCT that are easy to get to with public transit (Greyhound Bus, a few Eastern Sierra shuttles, hitch hiking).  You focus on water, but you can carry as much as you like for any stretch of the PCT, altogether, yeah, more water plus more average food weight and those higher elevations will slow you down.

Some BPLers have made some amazing Trail Angel arrangements in advance with other BPLers (I’ve helped folks on their Alaska trips).

For me, the opportunity to see a different part of the country for such an extended would cause me to go to the other coast.

P.S. no one is acclimatized to 11,000 when they start their trip.  Hopefully, they have a decent amount of conditioning and a base level of fitness already, but picking any moderate elevation (5,000-8,000 feet) for the first week or two and you’ll be on par with everyone else on the trail.

I also thought of the Colorado Trail for you – I did it this summer and it blew me away.  Definitely do the Collegiate West alternate tho – one of the best parts of the whole trip.

For a 30-40 day hike I’d vote Colorado Trail or the northernmost part of the CDT.  Both of those are ideal for a start in early to mid July.  Transit for the CDT would be the most expensive, but IMO worth it.

The Washington section of the PCT is about 500 miles long with lots of water and fairly dry weather in July and August. The distance can be shortened easily, such as starting at Mt. Adams instead of the Columbia River to cut off 70 miles or so. The WA section is at moderate elevations and many people consider it one of the highlights of the PCT.

Wow, a 45 day backpacking trip gets me to salivating.  Here’s what I would do:

Carefully study an area you want to backpack—like a large wilderness area or a linear trail like the Benton MacKaye in the Southeast and blue blaze off it into the Cohutta wilderness on loops and work your way north thru Big Frog wilderness and up the BMT to Upper Bald River wilderness and into the Citico and Slickrock wilderness and do great loops for those 45 days in this large area.

Here’s the kicker—I would carry 30 days of food to start (about the max in my studies a solo backpacker can carry at one time before resupply)—and cache a last 15 day bearvault food supply further up the route.

30 days without resupply means you’re out for the duration, or 45 days with the cache, which means a 45 day backpacking trip without interruption—PARADISE.  No town visits, no exchange of folding money, no chitchat with mere non-backpacking civilians, total immersion in the forest and mountains of your choice.

The longest I’ve done with one food load and no resupply is 24 days so I know a guy could pull 30 days with careful menu planning and home dehydrating.  The weight of a 30 days food load could approach 55 or 60 lbs alone—the price of backcountry freedom.  It’s gets lighter as you eat.

Thank you everyone for the further suggestions and ideas.

I really liked WA when i was out there, and so that is tempting, but so far i’m leaning to the CT or the northern part of the CDT simply because i haven’t been to those areas of the country yet (except flight layovers and they don’t count).