One Month to Go! --- A trip full of Unknowns
One month from today, I will be starting my hike on the Pacific Crest Trail! It feels very strange how close it is, especially as I have been planning this trip for around two years. Unfortunately, it is now obvious that this year will not be a "normal" thru-hiking year, as it has been an extremely high snow year in California's Sierra Mountains. Postholer is a site that I have been frequently checking throughout the winter, watching the snow depth graph slowly rise higher and higher. As shown below, this year's line sits just above 2017's, the highest snowpack recorded in recent history. As of 3/4, the 2023 snowpack (green line) is 266% of average for this time of year (black line). The last series of snowstorms even impacted the southern-most parts of the PCT, and early season hikers are reporting a consistent 12-24 inches of snowpack starting less than 40 miles into the trail. The forecasted rising temps in the next couple weeks will ...