PCT Thru-hike–How much will I slow down in the Sierras

I use “equivalent miles” of horizontal miles plus 10x the vertical (or 2 miles for every thousand vertical feet).

A Grand Canyon transverse (Bright Angel and North Kaibab is 21 miles, but almost 10,000 vertical feet up plus down. So 29 + 10 x 2 = 49 equivalent miles. And, yeah, do that hike and you’ll be as tired afterwards as if you did 49 level miles. It won’t take as long, but it will require as many calories and leave you as sore and tired.

This means there’ll be some Sierra days of 20+ miles, but others of <15 miles when you’ve got one or two big passes to get up and over.

And the bigger unknown: if you stay healthy, don’t start off too fast, and your feet are in good shape, how much more conditioned you’ll be after the first month.  The longer I stay out hiking, the easier it gets.

It fine to make estimates now, but you may be over planning. Your tastes may (will?) change on the trail. “Hiker hunger” will hit when it hits and suddenly you’ll want a lot more calories/day. So maybe don’t seal up all the boxes now, but have someone ready to add, subtract, and throw in last-minute items prior to mailing.

What David said.

Assuming no injuries, you will be in great shape by the time you hit Kennedy Meadows and the days will be getting longer. So miles = pace X hours. In a low snow year you could maintain close to your daily average by walking a little longer each day…. assuming a low snow year. Other than that, there really isn’t anyway to predict it.

Do a Google search for BPL member Malto’s Postholer Journal. He did the PCT in 2011 (a very high snow year) in 100 days (he had a time constraint). Look at his miles prior to the Sierra and then how he did in lots of snow. It might be helpful. If I remember correctly, he documented his daily miles and his daily hours hiked.

I hiked in 2009 which was about an average snow year.  Was originally a bit below average, but we had some unstable weather for the first 2 weeks of June that added some snow and delayed the melt off so we had pretty average conditions from mid June on.

I was averaging 24 mile days from Aqua Dulce to Kennedy Meadows.  Between Tehaccappi and Kennedy Meadows, I didn’t resupply at Lake Isabella so I carried 7 days of food with some big water carries, but still kept that average.  My hiking style through here, had me getting up a little before dawn, taking a 15 minute break every hour, taking an 2 to 3 hour break at lunch due to the heat, and hiking till 7:30 to 7:45pm before stopping to camp with a goal to be in bed before 9pm.  Repeat next day.

I did a late entry into the High Sierra, leaving Kennedy Meadows on June 24th (I had taken 3 weeks off near Idyllwild due to an injury).  So the snow had melted off some from those going in a week or two before me.  I had continuous snow on the passes starting somewhere between 10.5k and 11k.  Earlier entry or a bigger snow year would be worse, a lighter snow year would be less.  I continued to get up at dawn and hike to 7:30-7:45pm.  Though I was now only stopping for a 15-20 minute break every 2 to 2.5 hours and only taking 1 hour for lunch.  I averaged 19.5 miles through the High Sierra.  It was very physically demanding to maintain that pace due to the snow.  After having experienced postholing up to my Thigh a few times coming down Forester Pass at 2pm, I forced marched myself to get up about 70% of the next pass every day so I could get over it by mid morning the following day and not have to worry about postholing.  This was harder to do some days then others due to the distances between passes.  I took a zero day in Independence, and Mammoth Lakes (from Red’s Meadow) to recover as I felt a bit beat up.  My average north of Red’s Meadow picked up some, though I did a forced march over Sonora Pass that ended up being an ill advised 30 mile day that only ended just as it got dark at the highway and my body suffered for it the next day.  What I get for hiking someone else’s hike.  He wanted to hitch into Bridgeport for dinner only it was dark when we made the highway so it wasn’t going to happen.  I hiked on the next day instead of hitching since I had the food to make South Lake Tahoe.  Terrain was a bit easier to Lake Tahoe after Sonora Pass, though the lack of most snow may have made it seem that way.

When I left Lake Tahoe, I started averaging 27 miles which I maintained to northern Washington in late September where the shorter days made me cut back to 24-25 miles.  I likely could have averaged a bit more in Oregon, but I was suffering from bad shoes causing foot pain through most of it and thus kept at 27 miles til I got new shoes sent to me in Cascade Locks.

I can’t imagine why a person would want to pound through the Sierra at 23 mpd. It’s such a gorgeous area. I’d plan on some pleasant long lunches and time spent going at least a little off-trail and hanging out on gorgeous granite slabs. Just my $.02 and I hope you have a great trip.

One Q: What do you mean by a WAG? I don’t think you are talking about the bag…

I think the word SWAG was intended.  SWAG => acronym for Scientific wild-ass guess.

Cheers.

There isn’t any set formula that can be used for the Sierra in figuring out how much you will slow down, it’s very snow and weather dependent.  You could sail through it like I did in 2014 without ever putting on your rain gear until reaching Lassen NP.  On the other hand, you could be stuck in your tent waiting out  late season snow storms more than once, or dealing with freezing rain for multiple days in a row.  Something to think about however, is to plan a 20%-25% decrease in milages for food planning from KM to Sonora Pass, which is typically the last cold snow holding spot in the Sierra.

Enjoy your hike and if you find your face hurting after a few days hiking up there, not to worry, it’s only because you are smiling all day long.

I use “equivalent miles” of horizontal miles plus 10x the vertical (or 2 miles for every thousand vertical feet).

I use the same.  My sister told it to me — I think she may have picked it up from NOLS maybe (not sure on that) and she found it useful when guiding trips in the himalaya.  It is usually pretty conservative, but represents a solid first order correction.  The physics nerd in me just thinks of it as the backpacking equivalent of optical path length taught in an optics course.

As pointed out, depending on snow levels the time as which you hit the passes will have a significant effect on how quickly you can get over them and how f’n exhausted you are afterwards.  I’d argue that for sections of the trail above 10k feet, planning should explicitly incorporate the details of the hike.

From a philosophical point of view, I’m in the camp of matt k.  My wife and I only averaged maybe 15 miles a day through the high country and I regret not slowing down further and swimming in more lakes.  In contrast, in northern CA I wish my feet could have maintained 30 mpd instead of 20.  Just my 2 cents.

I used WAG because of how inexact this kind of info can be.  But still very informative.

Nick, Miner, Terry–thanks for the WAGs and tips.  I looked at Postholer’s journal and it indicates about a 25% slow down in the Sierras–given a high snow year.  Wow–he did incredible miles.  His experience lines up pretty well with what you (Miner and Terry) experienced–20-25% slower in the Sierras.  This is really useful to me because some of the resupplies are really expensive in terms of miles hiked off trail to get to roads, to do long hitches…   And I was having a hard time figuring out how often I would need to resupply.  This has helped me a lot!!  Thanks BPL community!!

Still waiting for the drone that delivers my resupply to me at my campsite.  Or maybe not…

My wife and I only averaged maybe 15 miles a day through the high country and I regret not slowing down further and swimming in more lakes.

Given when a typical PCT thru-hike goes through the high country, those lakes are full of recent snow melt. I had no such desire to go swimming in any lake up there till we left the snow behind. As for taking more time, it depends on your overall mpd average and when you hike through the Sierra. I finished in Canada on October 2 in a snow storm. And I can think of at least two years that was too late. If your goal is to hike the whole thing at one time, you have to be a somewhat of a mile Nazi. That said, if this ends up being a really low snow year, people can do a much earlier entry and have more time to enjoy themselves.

My wife and I hiked in 2014. We slowed down about 10-20% in the Sierra’s.

We started at about 18mpd and inched up to the low 20’s by Kennedy Meadows. Then with a similar effort, we dropped to the high teens in the Sierra’s.

You don’t really notice how great of shape you are in, in the Sierra’s, because right when you’re body is getting dialed in, the trail gets harder. But then you leave the Sierra’s and the MPD goes way up. We did mid-high 20’s for the rest of the trail after the Sierra’s.

If your goal is to hike the whole thing at one time, you have to be a somewhat of a mile Nazi.

Fair point.  We opted to hike NOBO through CA, skip oregon to get through washington before the snows came, then flipped down to do oregon SOBO.  Cost a little extra cash, but bought us the ability to go slower, not stress, and OR was complete solitude at that point.

As for the lakes… all the better to ice my legs!

I hiked in 2015 and did it similar to Miner (including a couple weeks off in SoCal due to injury); up to mid-20’s by Kennedy Meadows, then down to low 20’s for KM-Mammoth. You’ll recall 2015 was a very low snow year. I left KM June 16 and crossed perhaps 200 feet total of snow (only on Whitney and N side of Forster). I did KM to VVR, plus Whitney, in 9 days with no resupply, which was heavy but it was also really great to have such a long unbroken stretch through those great mountains. I was hiking from around first light to around last light, plus 2 ~1-hour-long breaks and a few shorter ones. It was harder than the mid-20’s I’d been doing before that, but still a pace that was plenty enjoyable and allowed me to remain present with my surroundings.

On the topic of “rushing” through a spectacular place like the Sierra: I’m very fortunate to live very close to the Sierra; its where I’ve done most of my backpacking. I considered it a unique experience to be in pretty good walking shape and to be able to cover bigger miles and pass through the different geologies and characteristics of the range in a relatively shorter time span than I’d been able to do on any previous trip. For example, climbing up from Bubbs Creek through all the dark slatey-looking angular peaks north of Pinchot Pass, then dropping down into the big, broad and bouldery Upper Basin, then finally going up and over Mather and down the dramatic, steep-sided and classically-glacial area below the Palisades and on into the Golden Staircase, all in one day, provided a unique and memorable perspective on how those mountains are put together.