Just thought I would include some Pacific Crest Trail essential planning information for anyone thinking of having a go sometime. Some of this stuff may be obvious to Americans but for Europeans it's good to know. I had a lot of help from my trail angels with much of this stuff......once again THANKS!
The Trail
You need a PCT thru-hiking permit and a California fire permit.....(unless you wish to eat sandwiches for 700 miles)
The PCTA has a mass of useful info for you. Join now!
Route Basics and guides
For the longest trail in the world YOU NEED A MAP & A GUIDE! don't be one of these people that waits on trail junctions for others to show you the way. That's really lame. Learn to navigate first and get some experience in the backcountry...also a good idea...training in first aid, survival and knowledge of high mountain weather. A spot device is not a substitute for the above!
Some say you should hike the AT first. Maybe a good idea.... but in my opinion not necessary if you have other hiking experience.
The older PCT guides ( Wilderness press ) are good with some history and background info but my criticism is the maps are poor.(difficult to read, no gps points, some have different scales, and some are very narrow showing no areas or mountains near to the trail ie useless for bailout)
I used half mile maps for Southern California. I wish I used them for the whole route they are SUPERB and at the moment free. Good detail, Longitude and Latitude grid. If you use these you will not really need others apart from for bailout routes.
The data book is used a lot by many hikers (i did not use it)
GPS or not? To be fair unless you are hiking early in the snow or late again when snow is due you do not need one of these. I carried one but only needed to use it maybe a handful of times. However it can be fun to use. Do what you want to do!
Spot device. I could write a lot on these gadgets. Maybe will blog about them. I carried a satellite phone for emergency use and sending and receiving texts from home. You do not need either gadget.....BUT they could save your life or someone else's so consider yourself if you should carry one. Once again, a spot device or sat phone is not a substitute for experience and sound judgement.
Eric the Black guides were very popular on the trail. I didn't use them although a few I hiked with did for some days (I hiked solo for majority of trail)
Other guides are also available which can be useful for town info.
Southern California.
Its hot......its long.....its dry and yes you could be in big trouble out there without the water report
Training / Planning / Getting ready
Some people get fit on the trail. That's fine but the chances of injury are probably greater.
If your feet have a likeness to a babies due to gym work and no trail hiking you will probably get many blisters and suffer at the start. Get ready for the pain.
Town info
There are many options with resupply stops. Heres a list of where I passed through or hitched to from the trail. Those marked with a P are where I sent food parcels too.
This list worked well and I had to post parcels to myself from the bigger towns where resupply was available. (I also sent three off from San Diego before the start). I had nobody sending me food apart from once at Kennedy meadows which was really useful. Many of the towns have resupply.....some do not
Morena village P / Mt Laguna P / Warner Springs P / Idyllwild / Big bear / Wrightwood P / / Agua Dulce P / Tehachapi / Kennedy Meadows P / Lone Pine via Independance / VVR P / Mammoth Lakes / Tuolumne meadows P
The biggest towns are Big Bear / Mammoth / Lone Pine where you could mail food on.
This takes you to the end of the John Muir Trail........more to follow!
