As The Crow Flies

I used to carry a sil-nylon poncho as a ground cloth, figuring that it would do double duty as rain gear and pack cover. It worked fine as a ground cloth except it was really slippery but as a poncho it would just blow around and was really hard to take on and off by myself.

In the “How to hike the CDT” video, one of the hikers interviewed gave the following instructions for using a poncho:  Tie the back of the poncho to the bottom of your pack, flip up the rest behind your neck.  When you want the poncho on, just reach back and pull it over your head and secure with the waist belt of your pack. When you start getting too hot just un-lash your belt and pull the poncho up over your head and store behind your neck again.

That’s a really functional way to wear a poncho, however I have stopped using a ground cloth so I don’t carry it anymore.

When I was hiking the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) and stopping at Mojave for a resupply, an old man told me, “When the skies get dark, climb high”. It was a warning about flash floods in the desert.

Later I heard about a thru-hiker that camped in a dry river bed that year. He said that there were campfire rings in it and it looked well used for camping. That night he was woke up by a strong pressure pushing on him. He fought his way out of his sleeping bag and tarp to swim out of the way of the water. He said that if he had been in a tent he didn’t think he could have gotten out. He lost everything. And hiked into town with nothing but a t-shirt on. He also said that it wasn’t even raining where he was; the water must of come from rain up in the hills.

At http://postholer.com/ you can see the 7 day forecast for anywhere on the PCT.

This message was posted on the pct-l mailing list:

Here at Death Valley, I just met a young hiker, Chris,
who left the trail from Mt. Whitney because of this
storm. He says that there were about 50 other hikers
within a day of him.  Apparently, a lot of them are coming down out of the
Sierras because of this storm.

Man, those hikers are early. Everyone is leaving early this year. I may have the whole trail to myself by the time I get there.