Start Dates: PC trail & Transamerica

[Doug]

Greetings!

My plans are getting firmed up for my tour and I wanted others' opinions who have done the routes.

As of now I plan to fly out to San Francisco April 14th, spend a day or two visiting with family, and then follow the Pacific Coast trail north.
I figure I'll get up to Portland (I'm detouring a little) by May 2nd or so. From there I'll start the Transamerica trail headed east.
The PC trail info recommends spring as a good time of year, and the transamerica trail says May is fine time for the trail.
My question is,
should I be fine starting these routes at these dates?


Thanks for the help, see you on the road.

[staehpj1]

That is a little early for the TransAmerica.  McKenzie Pass may still be closed.  AC says it usually opens in July, but last year it was open in May I think. If it is closed you can take the Santiam Pass alternate.  They were working on McKenzie last Summer,check to see if it is open again before assuming.

It varies from year to year, but you are likely to have some cold weather and maybe snow at the higher elevations.  Snow is always a slim possibility even in July at high altitudes, but pretty likely in May.

We started June 11th on the TA last year and thought that it was probably the earliest that we would count on.

If it was me I would go a bit later than you are planning.  I guess if you can be flexible with your starting date you could see what kind of year it looked like it was shaping up to be and adjust the start as needed.