Danger Hype

[Wooobie]

Hello all!

Just dropping by to get a question answered. I have hiked the CT/AT, Easy peasy trails. NO troubles no planning.

Now my question is how much do other hikers Hype up the danger? Is it actually dangerous or is it just difficult? Simply Curious about how much planning really needs to be done to complete the trail.

[LongBlaze2019]

It depends on the hiker and their experience level.

[Wooobie]

ive been hiking for 10 years. I bought a pack of cigarettes and got on the AT last year. I did a little more planning on the CT solely because it was my first thru. My thoughts are if i encounter something i deem dangerous, i can always turn around and walk south.

[burger]

There are a few dangers. In the desert you have the potential for dehydration or heatstroke/exhaustion. Those are pretty easily managed with an umbrella, good water planning, daytime siestas, appropriate clothing, etc. I can recall a few rescues due to heat/water issues in recent years but not any deaths (that doesn't mean there weren't any).

In the Sierra (or the Cascades if you're SOBO), you have snow, swollen streams, altitude sickness, and navigation issues. A small number of previous hikers have died on the trail. A number of others have been injured to varying degrees. But there has not been a big snow year like this year since the number of hikers on the PCT exploded, so I would not take comfort in the relatively small number of deaths previously. The risks are real and you should get appropriate gear (ice axe, maybe a traction device) and learn how to use them. Learn proper stream crossing techniques, too.

[Mags]

Too many people make everything #EPIC.

Working on electrical equipment can be dangerous too without proper tools, planning, and knowledge.

But saying I took a pleasant backpacking trip with proper equipment, planning, and knowledge does not make for good talks, blog entries, and Instagram feeds.

(Not directing this at Burger as his advice of " The risks are real and you should get appropriate gear (ice axe, maybe a traction device) and learn how to use them. Learn proper stream crossing techniques, too is spot on. Just an observation that even going to the mailbox now is an #EPIC journey it seems )

[Wooobie]

There are always risks, im just curious if there is actual danger.

[Mags]

There are always risks, im just curious if there is actual danger.

Some danger, yes. Just over-hyped IMO.

[LongBlaze2019]

There are always risks, im just curious if there is actual danger.

Sure but it depends on what you feel is "dangerous"
Sleeping next to complete strangers night after night could be considered dangerous, but is it really?
Black Bears can be dangerous, but are they 99.9999% of the time? No.
Climbing up and down mountains can be dangerous.......
Proper planning makes things easier but you can't plan for everything.

[imscotty]

Unfortunately, there was a recent death n the PCT due to heat stroke...

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loca...268934801.html

If you like to worry about things... I found this list of deaths on the PCT...

http://www.halfwayanywhere.com/trail...c-crest-trail/

It looks like Falling should be your greatest fear.

[jj442434]

I think it's a sort of Catch-22, in that if you are at least a little bit worried about bad things happening, they're much less likely to happen. If you're sure that nothing bad will ever happen to you, you're a slightly more likely candidate.

If you at least think about what will happen when it's 105F and the water cache is empty, or when your phone with your maps dies and you lose the footprints you were following after a fresh snow in late June, or you come to an ice chute on a high pass, and you have a contingency plan, you'll likely be fine. But my guess is that a lot the #EPIC's that you hear about are from people who were cocksure and underprepared. Definitely not every case, sometimes you do everything right and **** just goes wrong (but that's way less likely, and hey that's part of the appeal of the backcountry I think). And there's plenty of people who are un or underprepared and everything works out just fine for them.

That being said, the danger is overhyped online and through the trail grapevine. Be prepared, do your research and practice, but don't let stress affect your hike

[Kalaallit]

I think that as long as you're confident in your planning, you'll be fine. You will need to plan at least a little bit, as the desert can be dry, and trail towns are much less common than on the AT. This means that you'll have to go a week or more without a resupply, be it in a town or via mail. The northern part in the Cascades (Trout Lake to Snoqualmie Pass) has just one place to resupply in 180 miles, and the store is so small you'll likely have to send in a box. However, don't be too confident, as this could lead you to crossing steep, snowy slopes in the High Sierra without any forms of traction/self arrest.

[burger]

Unfortunately, there was a recent death n the PCT due to heat stroke...

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loca...268934801.html

If you like to worry about things... I found this list of deaths on the PCT...

http://www.halfwayanywhere.com/trail...c-crest-trail/

It looks like Falling should be your greatest fear.

The list is quite incomplete. I can think of at least 2 more offhand, and I don't really pay that much attention to these things anymore.

[Kookork]

ive been hiking for 10 years. I bought a pack of cigarettes and got on the AT last year. I did a little more planning on the CT solely because it was my first thru. My thoughts are if i encounter something i deem dangerous, i can always turn around and walk south.

No,that approach is not gonna work on pct. you need two packs of cigarettes for pct.

[bamboo bob]

I think day-to-day the AT is the harder trail to do. Although the PCT and CDT ( a six mile day post holing ) have some more scary sketchy parts. To me, an old guy, the PCT and CDT just require a lot of logistics to think about and plan for. Out west you can't just grab your pack and go as easily.

[burger]

Seems like a lot of you above are saying that the PCT isn't dangerous. How many of you did the PCT in an above-average snow year? I did, and there were definitely dangerous parts. That doesn't mean that you were _likely_ to be hurt or killed, but the possibility was there. I watched a friend get swept off her feet crossing Bear Creek. Had another hiker not been right there in front of her to grab her, she would have been swept downstream to who knows what fate. I had to self-arrest on Sonora Pass. A hiker a few days behind me had to self arrest on the snow chute on Forrester. I could go on...

None of this means that you're going to die on the PCT! Quite the contrary--the vast, vast majority of hikers make it through unhurt. But the risk is there. And it's heightened if you ignore it, are unprepared, blithely assume that because you hiked the AT you know what you're doing, yadda.

All of you people who are saying "it's fine" are not helping. It's not a dangerous trail if you are not prepared for the specific risks you will face. But saying the danger is "over-hyped" (I'm looking at you, Mags), does not help! That sort of language encourages people to go in unprepared. It's much better, IMO, to overhype the dangers. I would rather that every hiker who leaves KM does so a _bit_ scared so that they are prepared for what's coming, even if it turns out to be nothing.

[Mags]

It's much better, IMO, to overhype the dangers. I would rather that every hiker who leaves KM does so a _bit_ scared so that they are prepared for what's coming, even if it turns out to be nothing.

I disagree. A realistic assessment without hyperbole is far better. But I come from a practical background.

Overhyping is counterproductive and makes things less effective actually.

See the anti-drug programs of the 1980s.

Just take a page from my parents and grandparents who did dangerous trade work: Give a realistic assessment of the job, have the right training, the correct tools and approach it in an intelligent manner.

And, as someone said above, many thru-hikers don't have the skills and take on more than they should do in certain situations. Like a high snow year.

No need to make something more dangerous than it is out of some misplaced sense of bad-#ss self.

Acknowledge the difficulty. But don't over exaggerate. No one is going to be impressed in the long run. And for Pete's sake if you don't have the knowledge, skill or proper equipment for the type of hiking encountered: DON'T DO IT.


TL;DR - Yes, the PCT danger is overhyped. Have the right knowledge, gear and skill for the situations encountered.

[ScareBear]

That was humor?

[burger]

I disagree. A realistic assessment without hyperbole is far better. But I come from a practical background.

Overhyping is counterproductive and makes things less effective actually.

See the anti-drug programs of the 1980s.

Just take a page from my parents and grandparents who did dangerous trade work: Give a realistic assessment of the job, have the right training, the correct tools and approach it in an intelligent manner.

And, as someone said above, many thru-hikers don't have the skills and take on more than they should do in certain situations. Like a high snow year.

No need to make something more dangerous than it is out of some misplaced sense of bad-#ss self.

Acknowledge the difficulty. But don't over exaggerate. No one is going to be impressed in the long run. And for Pete's sake if you don't have the knowledge, skill or proper equipment for the type of hiking encountered: DON'T DO IT.


TL;DR - Yes, the PCT danger is overhyped. Have the right knowledge, gear and skill for the situations encountered.

You picked out one statement in my post and took it out of context . My comment about erring on the side of over-hyping the dangers was a response to a bunch of posts above (from hikers who hiked in low snow years, I bet) under-hyping the dangers. If you're going to miss the mark, err on the side of caution here. Obviously, accurate assessment is best. But it's better for hikers to be overprepared than under.

I think, Mags, that if anyone is overestimating anything, it's you--you're overestimating the level of preparation for today's PCT hiker who reads Wild, downloads a map app, and heads out to the trail with no clue how to travel on snow, ford a stream, etc. (yeah, that's not everyone, but it's more than a few). When I hiked, everyone read Yogi's book. A lot of us had read the WP PCT guidebooks from cover to cover before starting on the trail. We went to the snow travel session at ADZPCTKO. We know what we were in for. That didn't make us experts, but we were as prepared as you can be without having done it before. Today, there is so much less planning--that's why you get all the random questions here about "how dangerous is it really?" When experienced hikers start talking about the danger as being overhyped, it leads to false confidence, and that can lead to unprepared hikers getting into trouble.

In the real world, overhyping is far, far more dangerous than "underhyping."

[Mags]

In the real world, overhyping is far, far more dangerous than "underhyping."

Both are BS.

Eh..how about being "Taoist" : It just is.


Try it.

[burger]

In the real world, overhyping is far, far more dangerous than "underhyping."

Oops, got that completely backwards.