Читать книгу The Pacific Crest Trail. Hiking the PCT from Mexico to Canada онлайн

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The High Sierra

The 450 miles from Kennedy Meadows to Donner Pass take you through a spectacular alpine landscape. You reach an altitude of 13,180ft at Forester Pass and cross a succession of passes above 11,000ft. For much of the time you will be above tree-line, where ice age glaciation has produced a landscape of crags and bare rock, dotted with thousands of lakes. Between the high passes you drop into deep, forested valleys. The mountain ridges and summits are the realm of the rock climber and mountaineer, the valleys and high passes are for the walker.

Many hikers take a day off to scale 14,494ft Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the US outside Alaska. For 200 miles the PCT coincides with the world famous John Muir Trail (JMT), which starts on the summit of Mount Whitney and ends in Yosemite Valley. The PCT leaves the JMT at the head of Yosemite and some hikers might want to take a few days off to explore this wonderland of rock domes and plunging waterfalls.

The High Sierra is the most exciting section of the PCT but also the part with most problems to overcome. Supply is a problem, with a 200-mile section without a single road. Any bears you meet might be after your food and mosquitoes can be a problem, especially just after the snow has melted.