c) Andrew Carter, 2021
How Many People Did You See?
The number varied by time of year, where I was hiking, and whether it was during the week or on a weekend. There was only one day out of 119 days hiking that I didn’t see anyone and only a few days when that number was as low as one or two. This surprised me. Based on my AT thru-hike in 1977, I thought there would be many days when I would see no one. That shows how many more people are hiking today.
Even though I was seeing people every day, I usually camped alone. This was the opposite of my AT experience. The AT has shelters every 10 to 15 miles. These shelters concentrate overnight use. There are no shelters on the PCT, so hikers spread out along the trail when they camp. This camping-alone was also due to my flip-flop-flip itinerary. NOBO’s and SOBO’s often camp together because they’ve built up camaraderie after crossing paths with the same people over days, weeks, and months. Even when I did camp with others, I was usually the odd man out.
Except on weekends and during July and August, almost all hikers I saw were thru-hikers. From mid-March to mid-May, as many as 50 NOBO’s start at Campo each day. On weekends, particularly when I was near Los Angeles, I would see day hikers as well as trail runners. Trail runners didn’t exist in 1977. In July and August, I saw lots of section hikers out for several days, a week, or a month. Who I didn’t see were Boy Scouts. That was a change from my AT hike. Scouting is less popular today than it was back then.
During the first section of my hike, southbound from Walker Pass to Campo, I was passing northbound thru-hikers every day. At first, just a trickle in early April. Then a stampede by early May. Then a trickle again by late May. This has to do with when most thru-hikers leave Campo. April is the prime departure month. On May 5th, I passed 70 NOBO’s. These hikers left Campo in mid-April.
During the second section of my hike, northbound from Sierra City to Santiam Pass, the number of NOBO’s started out low in early June but reached a crescendo by late July. This was again a function of when hikers left Campo. Many of those starting in Campo in April were in Oregon by July. The crescendo, however, was 10 to 15 hikers a day. That was due to hiker attrition and because I was hiking northbound. The NOBO’s I saw were passing me. In principle, if two hikers hiking in the same direction at the same pace start just a half hour apart, they will never see each other. Two hikers hiking in opposite directions on the same section of trail, will always see each other.
In the third section of my hike, southbound from Sierra City to Sequoia National Park, August to late-September, I continued to run into section hikers, but also SOBO’s and folks hiking the John Muir Trail (JMT). The only reason I ran into so many SOBO’s was due to the Dixie Fire in Northern California, the Caldor Fire near Lake Tahoe, and the August closure of all National Forests in Northern California. Many of these SOBO’s had to skip from Ashland, OR down to Carson Pass (15 miles south of Tahoe) or Sonora Pass (20 miles north of Yosemite National Park). That’s 650 to 700 miles of trail they missed.
On this third section, I was booted off the trail on August 30th for 17 days when all the National Forests in Central and Southern California were closed. When I got back on the trail, there were very few hikers. Many SOBO’s and JMT hikers simply gave up their hikes and headed home. In part, this was because the original National Forest closure was scheduled for three weeks and during a similar closure last year, the Forest Service extended the closure instead of shortening it.
What Type of People Did You See?
It was a wider cross-section of America than in the 1977, but still not a true cross-section. I saw more people in their 50’s, 60’s, and even 70’s. Yet, as in the past, most thru-hikers are in their 20’s. I saw more women. I saw people of color. I only saw a few women on the AT in 1977 and no people of color. Nonetheless, the male/female split isn’t 50/50. It’s more like 75/25. And I saw only a half dozen people of color. What people I did see, with only a few exceptions, were the privileged. In other words, those of above average income and above average education. Most had grown up in the suburbs, not the cities or rural areas.
I did see more couples hiking together as well as families. In the past, dad would go hiking alone, leaving the wife at home. If he did take any kids with him, it was usually the sons, not the daughters. I also saw foreigners. This was particularly the case on the JMT. Of course, none of those foreigners were from the Third World. Most were White or Asian, not Latinx or Black.
Do I have pictures of the people I saw? No. I don’t feel comfortable taking pictures of people I don’t know. (Sorry, sister Virginia.)
Carter Hikes 