Thoughts now that my wife and I are more than halfway through the PCT.
Horses on the trail are pretty neat because the riding clubs do maintenance.
The elevation per mile is less than the AT, but given the 20-24 mile days vs 10-12 on the big elevation AT days I’ve had bigger elevation days on the PCT than the AT.
The number of times I’ve come across someone’s tent pitched so it or a tent stake touched the trail has been a surprise.
Without shelters the only natural clusters are in towns.
On our SOBO stretch when we started seeing NOBOs my wife was counting them. Sometimes she would tell someone which NOBO of the day they were. Many times at 40-50 (before lunch) they would insist that they were the only NOBO on the trail.
Met an amazing number of Germans. A lot of female hikers. Sometimes as many as ten or twelve out of the last sixteen hikers.
Very few bear hangs. The only PCT hang I saw almost killed a guy when the branch broke off.
Bear canisters seem to get heavier each day.
The trail surface is really good most of the time. I had to quit saying “great trail” to my wife.
I’m really enjoying it. We are making plans to come back and hike the fire closures in Oregon next year.
I still find myself checking out other hikers’ gear.
Hitching rather than shuttles has been a transition.
The amount of ash has really been a surprise.
Had a brief recovery from shin splints stop and we washed all the ash out of our gear. Not what I would have expected if you had told me I’d be washing my sleeping bag before I started in June.
Ash “poofs” out of my socks every night. Gaiters are actually worth the effort.
I’ve really enjoyed everything so far. Except fires and blowdowns. Ouch to fires.
BTW “this part of the trail is just like the Whites” (a part of the Appalachian Trail) is not a compliment.
Did I talk about bear canisters? And they seem really necessary too.
Views have been great as well.
Glad I started in Oregon because We enjoyed the state rather than the usual complaining about the views.
Altitude makes me glad we did altitude training.
People have been nice. Trail Angels have been incredible.