Itinerary

A lot of people, when we tell them we’re hiking the PCT, well…a lot of people think we’re crazy. But after they find we are reasonably sane, they conjure images of us out in the desolate wilderness for months at a time. No showers, no beds, no electricity. Foraging for wild berries and hunting squirrels to survive… This is only partly true. In reality, we’ll be coming off the trail every 5 to 6 days or so to resupply (and maybe take a shower).

The trail runs fairly close to lots of little towns, small resorts, and stores that accept hiker boxes, where we will be sending ourselves resupply packages (BIG thanks to Ashleigh’s mom, who is coordinating the supply drops). Post offices will accept packages mailed “General Delivery” and hold them for you at the post office for a few weeks to pick up. They’ll be filled with food, replacement gear, toiletries, etc. It would be too difficult to go longer without resupplying due to the sheer amount of food you have to carry. So every now and again we will have to take a break from our single-minded goal of ‘North’ and hike down side trials, or hitch-hike (a proud tradition of hikers) into these little resupply points. Our longest stretch without resupply is 8 days in the High Sierras, in a 200-mile stretch of wilderness with no roads crossing the trail.

Resupply Madness

Resupply Madness

Most PCT thru hikers are northbound – they start at the Mexican Border and hike north to Canada. This is because you have a higher chance of completing your hike if you follow the weather patterns. If you start in the south in spring, you will be walking in the Southern California desert when it is (relatively) cooler. You will pass through the High Sierras when the snow is melting in the summer. And you will be in the Washington Cascades before the snow hits in the fall. People do hike southbound, but much fewer of them and with a lower success rate.

The towns that hikers frequent on these trips are accustomed to the yearly invasion of bewildered, wide-eyed, zombie-like, smelly creatures that are long-distance hikers. Some of their local economies count on it, as hungry/dirty/tired hikers hand over wads of cash to stuff their faces with the local pizza and beer, shower, and sleep in a bed. No doubt, we will gladly overpay for a load of laundry from time to time, but we are also lucky to be passing through several areas where we have friends who have offered to receive our packages (and tolerate our stank). Peter, Patricia, Natalie, Jeff, D. Jay, Mom and Dad, Jonathan and Lindsey, Seattle peeps, et al. – THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!!!

Organized?

Organized?

Our itinerary is below, along with mailing addresses for all our resupply points. This should give you a general sense of where we’ll be at any given time. The itinerary currently doesn’t necessarily account for all “Zero Days” (days with no hiking), so it will be constantly changing. We will do our best to keep it accurate.

Last updated: 09/02/13

Resupply Location PCT Mile # Shipping Address ETA
Campo 0 N/A 04/22/13
Mt. Laguna 43.2 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o General Delivery
Mt. Laguna, CA 91948
04/24/13
Warner Springs 109.5 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o General Delivery
Warner Springs, CA 92086
04/29/13
Idyllwild 179.4 Mark Halverstadt and Ashleigh King
c/o Reina Meek
Box# 1920
Idyllwild, CA 92549
05/03/13
Big Bear City 266 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o General Delivery
Big Bear City, CA 92314
05/10/13
Wrightwood 369.5 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o General Delivery
Wrightwood, CA 92397
05/15/13
Agua Dulce 454.5 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o The Saufley’s
11861 Darling Rd.
Agua Dulce, CA 91390
05/21/13
Tehachapi 566.5 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o General Delivery
Tehachapi, CA 93561
05/28/13
Kennedy Meadows 702.2 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o Kennedy Meadows General Store
96740 Beach Meadow Rd.
Inyokern CA 93527
06/04/13
Bishop Pass 831 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o Parchers Resort
5001 South Lake Rd.
Bishop, CA 93514
06/15/13
Mammoth Lakes 906.7 Mark Halverstadt and Ashleigh King
c/o Peter Kobylarz
100 PMB 409
Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546
06/20/13
Tuolumne Meadows 942.5 Mark Halverstadt and Ashleigh King
c/o Peter Kobylarz
100 PMB 409
Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546
06/27/13
Kennedy Meadows North (formerly Bridgeport) 1018.3 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o Kennedy Meadows Resort and Pack Station
57 miles East of Sonora on Hwy 108
Sonora, CA 95370
07/01/13
Lake Tahoe (via Echo Lake) 1094.5 Mark Halverstadt and Ashleigh King
c/o D. Jay Shontz
PO Box 438
Tahoe City, CA 96145
07/04/13
Sierra City 1197.5 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o Sierra Country Store
213 Main St.
Sierra City, CA 96125
07/13/13
Belden 1289.5 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o The Braatens at Little Haven
15913 HWY 70
Belden, CA 95915
07/19/13
Drakesbad Guest Ranch 1353.6 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o Drakesbad Guest Ranch
End of Warner Valley Rd.
Chester, CA 96020
07/22/13
Burney Falls State Park 1423.5 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o McArthur Burney Falls State Park
24898 HWY 89
Burney, CA 96013
07/26/13
Castella 1509 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o Ammirati’s Market
20107 Castle Creek Rd.
Castella, CA 96017
07/30/13
Etna 1607 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o General Delivery
Etna, CA 96027
08/04/13
Callahan’s Siskiyou Lodge 1726.8 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o Callahan’s Lodge
7100 Old Highway 99 South
Ashland, OR 97520
08/10/13
Crater Lake 1829.5 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o Mazama Village Store
700 Mazama Village Dr.
Crater Lake, OR 97604
08/16/13
Elk Lake Resort 1959.1 Elk Lake Resort
Attn: PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
60,000 Century Dr.
Bend, OR 97701
08/22/13
Timberline Lodge 2107.3 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o Timberline Ski Area Wy’ East Store
Timberline, OR 97028
08/30/13
Cascade Locks 2155 N/A – picking up at Ashleigh’s parents 09/01/13
White Pass 2303 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o White Pass Rural Branch Post Office at the Kracker Barrel Store
48851 US HWY 12
Naches, WA 98937
09/09/13
Snoqualmie 2402 N/A – picking up at Ashleigh’s brother and sister-in-law’s 09/13/13
Skykomish 2476 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o Dinsmore’s Hiker Haven
PO Box 374
Skykomish, WA 98288
09/21/13
Stehekin 2580.2 PCT Hikers Ashleigh King and Mark Halverstadt
c/o General Delivery
Stehekin, WA 98852
09/26/13
Manning Park!!!!! 2668.8 N/A 10/01/13

 

4 thoughts on “Itinerary

  1. Aaron

    When I see all this logistics, I have new found respect! Daaaaaaaamn, so that’s what you were doing on the coast. No wonder you didn’t visit Portland more often, I had no idea!

    Reply
  2. Heidi

    My family and I live in Eugene, OR. I see on your itenerary that you might be at Shelter Cove August 9th. That is a Friday and I’m off work Fri-Sun. We are frequently up in the Cascades hiking on the weekends (but we don’t get very far with a 6 and 2yo :)). I think we will try to be around Shelter Cove that weekend. It would be neat to run into you (and other thru-hikers.)

    Shelter Cove is a little place that is very nice but doesn’t have a whole lot of stuff/supplies. If you can think of anything particular that you might want from a city, let us know. Our family eats almost all organic, and we are used to eating/buying backpacking food.

    Thank you so much for your wonderful blog posts! I loved reading about your food prep and gear. Your pictures are amazing!! I love reading about thru-hiking and your blog is one of the best I have read 🙂 I plan to follow your posts along the way.

    Happy Hiking!
    Heidi 🙂

    PS I found your blog via Becky and Luke’s blog.

    Reply
  3. LydTheKyd

    I can’t BELIEVE we have arrived at the end of September and simultaneously at the bottom of your itinerary!! Has it really all happened THAT quickly??! REMARKABLE! I hope the completion of the trail is one of the best birthday presents you ever give yourself, my lovely, dear and equally remarkable friend, Ashleigh.

    Reply

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