[pct-l] L 9 O

[svein_eriksen@yahoo.com (Svein Eriksen)]

1998 was called a El Nino year. I thruhiked that year
and was forced to jump around (called a flip-flop),
which means hiking first from the Mexican border to
Kennedy Meadows. Then go north and hike southbound
back to Kennedy Meadows.
A lot of people (probably most) either quit or tried a
flip-flop in 98, but a lot quit in Wa as the snow
levels there were fairly high.
Quite a few people made it thru the Sierras and hiked
the complete PCT nortbound though. Doing a flip-flop
isn't (for me) how a thruhiked should be done, but I
had a time constraint that meant I had the choice of
either doing the whole trail by flip-flopping or doing
most of the trail northbound. I chose the whole trail.
As I live in Norway it's also not that easy to go back
and finish it another year.
So it's certainly possible to thruhike in a El Nino
year/high snow level year, but probably (since I
haven't tried both) more enjoyable when you don't have
to deal with that much snow. If 2003 is your chance
then go for it.
High snow levels also have some advantages making
southern California easier. There were almost no water
problems. It actually rained when I entered the first
major "water alert" area in the Databook (25 miles
without water), and almost all streams were running.
A high snow level year in California doesn't
necessarily mean high snow levels in Wa/Or, so it
could still be a good southbound year.

Svein

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