According to this article the US is warning Southbound PCT(Pacific Crest Trail) hikers that they could face a year in jail and a 5ooo dollar fine for entering the US through the PCT.
For north-bounders it’s legal to enter Canada through the PCT, if you get your permit from Canada, because, despite what Sutton at the border crossing says, you don’t need permission from the US government to leave the country.
Halfmile has benevolently bestowed, on the hiking community, waypoints for every 1/2 mile of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT)—over 6000 waypoints! So how are you going to fit all those waypoints on your GPS that only allows 1000 waypoints? Well, if you have a Garmin GPS that is recognized by the Garmin Point of interest(POI) loader, Halfmile has figured out a way you can do it.
So get a Garmin GPS that works with the POI loader. I used a Garmin 60CSx that I bought at REI on sale for 199.00.
It weighs 6.45 ounces with lithium batteries. It’s pretty much the same GPS as my older 60C but my 60C won’t work with the POI loader.
Install the ” Mapsource Trip & Waypoint Managaer” software, that came with your GPS, onto your computer.
Download Halfmile’s consolidated waypoints for:
Unzip the files and put just the .gpx files in a single folder. So, you end up with a single folder with three .gpx waypoint files…one each for CA, OR, & WA.
Now download the Garmin POI loader and plug your GPS into your computer via a USB cable.
Run the POI loader software, it will prompt you to select the folder where you placed the waypoint files and then it will load all the points in about 10 seconds.
He also offers this advice:
You will probably need to set the map zoom level that points display on your GPS. Go to the map screen(on your GPS), select Menu > Map Setup – Points >and then set the Max Zoom for Map Points and User Waypoints to a value such as .5 miles. When set to .5 miles, waypoints and POI’s will display on the map screen when the map is zoomed in closer than .5 miles but will not display if zoomed out farther than .5 miles, so set the number to what works best for you. I set mine for 30 miles.
So there you go… over 6000 waypoints saved as Points of Interest on your GPS. I’ve heard of people saving 10,000 waypoints this way.
Next you may also like to include all the topo maps for the PCT on your GPS. So pop in your topo software. I used Garmin USA topo but Halfmile recommends the Garmin West topo CD. The topo software doesn’t come with the GPS it’s something you buy extra.
Next I hit the “find” menu “find places” and started typing in the towns for the PCT and marking them as waypoints.
Some towns are listed under “features” and not “cities”
Once you have all the towns marked, highlight all waypoints, right click and select “select maps around waypoints.” Now you should have all or most of the maps you need selected. Look at the map and select any more maps you think you might need. Now transfer maps and waypoints to your GPS.
You don’t need a big memory card…I haven’t even put anything on the little one it came with.
Note: Garmins Topo software is nothing to write home about. It’s often wrong. For instance once I was standing on Pieper Pass and it said I was 278 ft from it. On the CDT it said I was on the trail and I was on the side of a cliff.
Halfmile also freely offers all the printed topo maps for the entire PCT– available for download.
Related posts:
Yesterday I put together this PCT town guide.. If someday I’m around high speed Internet I’ll make it better by adding links to the post offices.
I also added links at the bottom of other town guides on the Internet.
I found this little book on the Internet. It’s called “Pocket PCT— An Elevation Guide it the Pacific Crest Trail.” It weighs 3.8 oz(108 grams) and covers the entire trail.
I’ve never used it or even seen it but it looks really useful. I may try it out the next time I hike the PCT.
It cost 19.95 which is 10 dollars more than the Wilderness Press PCT Data Book but I was thinking it might be more accurate. The Wilderness press data book is missing some important water sources and it doesn’t always show you when you are at the top of a climb.
The Pocket PCT is built around an elevation profile of the entire 2655 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada. The mile-by-mile elevation profile is represented in chapters, each beginning and ending at a common resupply location. The detailed profile shows water sources (each rated by reliability), water cache locations, resupply points, and hundreds of other landmarks such as campgrounds, roads, creeks, rivers, and trails. Symbols identify each point of interest and includes that point’s elevation (and directions if off-trail). Commonly used resupply point addresses and other information is included in the back of the guide, including directions to each resupply point from the trail.
It doesn’t have any maps in it, but maps and way points for the entire trail can now be downloaded for free from Halfmile’s Pacific Crest Trail Map Site
This is a story I heard on the PCT. There is this old guy in a rest home and he decides it’s too expensive. So now, he lives in his van, traveling around the trails helping hikers. I don’t know if it’s true but it’s a good story.
Here is the secret to getting big easy miles when hiking the desert section of the Pacific Crest Trail( PCT). It’s amazing as you can get a 30 mile day in and still spend most of the day laying in the shade. Your pack will be light because after about 6:30 at night you don’t need much water. Your feet will feel great because they get a 5-6 hour rest in the middle of the day.
It you only want to do 20 mile days, well then, it will be really easy.
If you hike when it’s hot, you are going to need a ton of water and the trail will be brutal. If you hike when it is cool, it will be easy and you won’t need to carry much water.
Related posts: Backpacking lights
How to keep your umbrella from blowing away while you take your siesta.
#“The Herd” should be at least 400 miles along by the time I hit the trail. Unless they come back to hike a section that they skipped because it was icy or on fire, I shouldn’t have to deal with them for a month, maybe more.
The Herd is a teeming rat king of 50-75 hikers that hike within a day or two of each other. Last year, I would meet people, who were hiking in the opposite direction, that would tell me about them. They would shake their heads and laugh and say they weren’t like hikers. There was one report that they had drank up an entire town’s beer supply.
For a long time, I would just hear about them; I was meeting few hikers. The reports started getting closer and closer to me. Then, one early morning, as I was walking on the aqua-duct, all these hikers started rising off the desert floor and joining me. It was like something out of “Night of the Living Dead.” I knew if I couldn’t get out of that mire of hikers my trail would be done. Through fear spawned tenacity and great effort, I quickly escaped.
Up in Washington in the Goat Rocks Wilderness is where I think the scariest place on the PCT is; it’s this huge steep slide area. When I first went across it in September of 2001, there wasn’t much snow and it was late in the day so what snow there was, was soft. It looks like the whole mountain above you is just about ready to come falling down on you. I would look up and see rocks starting to fall. After I crossed it, I thought, “This is totally unsafe, there is no way this is the PCT. Somewhere I must of taken a wrong turn.” So back across the huge slide area, back across Packwood Glacier, and back down the trail trying to find where I went wrong. After I figured out that the slide area was the PCT, I went back across it again.
The next time I crossed it, in August of 2006, I got there first thing in the morning and there were 3 solid ice shoots to cross on the big slide area. I walked across the first one fine, reminding myself of Jardine’s wisdom, ” You don’t fall until your mind falls.” But after taking a few steps, out into the second ice shoot, my legs started shaking. I thought, “This is bad.” Carefully stepping backwards a few steps, I made it off the ice shoot; I crossed the one that I had just crossed and walked back to Packwood Glacier.
There is another trail that goes up and over the top of this area. It’s about a 500-to-600 foot elevation gain but the trail is good going up. Once on top you are walking a 2 foot wide crest that is very dramatic. I thought, “This is the way to go. This is a much grander route.” But coming back down it on the other side, the trail just disappeared and was nothing but these little round marbles of rocks to slid down on. After getting back down to the PCT, I felt like I needed a drink.
The next time I crossed it, in August of 2007, I knew to wait until the sun had soften the snow and since it was the section of trail my son had joined me on it was logistically easy to have him bring the ice ax and take it back with him when we were done. There was only one snow shoot to cross last year. I carried the ice ax and made good steps for my son to follow in. You should probably always kick steps as if someone you care about is following you.
This year has been a big year for snow in Southern Washington, I may carry my ice ax through here again. I will also make sure I’m not crossing it first thing in the morning.
The Goat Rock Wilderness in Washington in August is the most beautiful place on PCT. Often you walk on the crest and the crest is just three feet wide. There are wild flowers and green mountainsides. I saw at least 60 mountain goats last year through there. It will make you happy. If you can only hike one section of the PCT, that would be the one I would recommend. Don’t go if it’s raining.
Logistics: My son and I drove his car up to White Pass Cracker Barrel where they let us park it for the week for free. Then we drove back to Portland in another car and his girlfriend drove us to the trail head by Stabler’s Store–about 35 trail miles north of Cascade Locks. Then we hiked together to White Pass.
When we got to White Pass, I said that I was done hiking and I wanted to go home to Portland with him. He said, “Fine. Why don’t you go in the store and pick us up some Cokes for the road.” I went in to get us some Cokes and he drove off. I kept hiking to Canada. Thanks, James.
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