Zero Days

[footslogger]

On the AT there is quite a lot of talk regarding "ZERO DAYS" but as yet I haven't seen much comment here.

Would like to hear from PCT vets in terms of the number of days they ended up staying in towns or at hostels rather than hiking in and then out again the next day.

Thanks ...

[Mags]

On the AT there is quite a lot of talk regarding "ZERO DAYS" but as yet I haven't seen much comment here.

Would like to hear from PCT vets in terms of the number of days they ended up staying in towns or at hostels rather than hiking in and then out again the next day.

Thanks ...

Hiya Footslogger!

On my PCT hike, I took (IIRC) ten zero days. I prefer hiking into town with few miles to go, get my chores down, then take it easy. Yeah, I like nero (near zero) days better!

[girlscout]

i was big on zeros... i took a total of 31, but that includes the week off i took to go home for my parent's anniversary party... took plenty of neros as well...

[footslogger]

Hey Mags ...great to see you here. Not long until the "Rockies Ruck" but don't want to get too far off-topic here.

OK ...that a range of 10 - 30(ish). Reason I was asking is that rather than try and hike a segment with me, my wife (BadAss Turtle - AT 2001) wants to at least come out for a weekend. I was just wondering if taking 2 - 3 days off around Tahoe would be more trouble than it is worth in terms of time off trail and lost miles/days.

Starting to look at the "window" of time on the PCT to determine how many actual hiking days (on average) it takes to get to Canada. Read a lot of journals and know the start/finish dates but didn't have any info on the number of days off ...or said another way, the number of actual days "on-trail"

[chai guy]

Hey Footslogger,

I think some people plan their hike thinking they're going to do 20 miles per day, every day, and take one zero every other week. For the average person that's just not realistic.

A through hike like this one takes a huge toll on you both mentally and physically. You need time off to let your body & mind recover, not to mention heal from the inevitable injuries you will face.

You should factor in side trips, injuries, serendipities and mental health days into your hiking plan. This is supposed to be a rewarding and elightening experience for you, not a death march (though you'll find many hikers on the trail who have given up any assemblance of an experience in favor in "Making it to Canada").

One of the reasons I'm advocating that people start hiking earlier (early April) is that you just never know when you might get shin splints, or a spider bite, or planters fashishtwhatever, the more of a window you give yourself the more enjoyable your hike will be, and the more likely you'll be successful.

Let's say you're going to "average" 20 or so miles a day (some places you will do less, some places more). That's about 4 months of hiking. Add one zero day a week to those 4 months (16 weeks), that's 16 days of weekly zeros, I'm going to suggest you give yourself at least 2weeks for "injuries" and another 2 weeks for side trips, hot springs, or other "vacations". That means you'll have 6 months more or less time needed to "complete" the trail.

And if you don't take those injury days, you can add them to your vacation days, if you don't think you need them on the trail, you can take them at home after your hike before you have to go back to work.

[footslogger]

That's good feedback Chai ...thanks.

Not a total stranger to the wear/tear of a thru and the need for R & R but just need input so that I determine the approximate number of actual hiking days necessary to knock this puppy out.

One question I do have though is about the "window". Seems l've heard that it's important to shoot for Canand by October 1 ?? If I leave Campo around the middle of April that allows less than the 6 months you suggested to complete the hike.

I'm no martyr and plan to get the maximum enjoyment possible out of this hike. Got nuttin to prove except to myself ...that an old fart like me can still get the job done !!

Thanks again ...

[girlscout]

i've been following the pct herd through blogs, etc, for the past 4 seasons, and it seems pretty clear that the average pct thru is generally 4.5 to 5 months. my thru was 5 months and one week, but as i said previously, i took a week off the trail to go home for a family event.

as far as a finish date goes, i was obsessed with the oct 1 "deadline," but realized somewhere in the sierra that i just wasn't going to make it. by northern oregon i was looking at an oct 10-ish finish, which had me worried, but then i ran into scott williamson on the flanks of mt. jefferson and he reassured me that he thought i'd be just fine. i ended up finishing on oct 8th, and that was the very first day i got snowed on.

others finished much later than i did, and had to deal with more snow days, but they made it. personally, i'm glad i finished when i did, and wouldn't have wanted to be out there much later. but that first week of october was just fine- had some nice sunny days, even.

so, even though you can never say for sure until you see what the coming seasons' weather is shaping up to be, i'd say that you shouldn't worry much about spilling over into october, even mid-oct.

of course, all this depends on your own mileage ability, etc.

don't forget that starting mid-april is not at all a guarantee that you'll have "enough time" to finish a thru, because you've always got the sierra snowmelt issue to contend with. it takes most folks anywhere from 4-6 weeks to hike from campo to kennedy meadows. let's say you're average, and it takes you 5 weeks. well, that puts you at km a week before june starts. if you head into the sierra then, i guarantee you'll be one of the trailblazers- maybe not THE first, but definitely one of the first. the herd won't head into the sierra until around june 8-12 at the earliest. so if you want to be sure to have plenty of footsteps thru the snow to follow, you'll have to either hike REAL slow from campo to km, or take lots of zeros along the way, or take lots of zeros at km, or take a vacation from the trail when you get to km.

another thing to remember is that hiking slow (~10-15 miles/day average) thru the desert (campo->km) is not really all that feasible because of the scarcity of water. you pretty much HAVE to keep up your daily mileage unless you want to be carrying ALOT of water and doing alot of dry camping.

[George]

April 20th - Sept 17th
9 separate layover days
2 days short of 5 calendar months.

I think it's important to 'keep the hammer down' to some extent, as you're never quite sure of what delays you may experience up ahead for whatever reasons - I'd find it a bit soul destroying to have to bail a week or so before making the full distance.
Probably prudent to aim for the Canadian border before October turns up.