What is the recommended hiking season and direction of travel for a thru-hike of the GET?
Like most long-distance trails, the GET has limiting factors that tend to channel thru-hikers into predictable patterns of movement. This makes their arrival at yonder road crossing easier to anticipate, say if your intent is to surprise them with a pizza and fresh-chilled glasses of pink lemonade. Beyond that, it gives them at least a fighting chance of running into each other and enjoying a bit of social time, exclusive of the javelina and stellar jays for once. The trail’s limiting factors are basically twofold: snowpack and cold or inclement weather in the higher terrain, dry conditions and extreme heat in the lower regions. To avoid both, the hiker needs to time the hike to avoid seasonal extremes. This means summer and winter are out. Luckily, though, the GET is only 700 miles long (compared with 2600 for the PCT, e.g.), and spring and autumn at these latitudes are comparatively accommodating. Beyond that, the trail’s highest terrain is located toward the eastern end nearer to Al
Like most long-distance trails, the GET has limiting factors that tend to channel thru-hikers into predictable patterns of movement. This makes their arrival at yonder road crossing easier to anticipate, say if your intent is to surprise them with a pizza and fresh-chilled glasses of pink lemonade. Beyond that, it gives them at least a fighting chance of running into each other and enjoying a bit of social time, exclusive of the javelina and stellar jays for once. The trail’s limiting factors are basically twofold: snowpack and cold or inclement weather in the higher terrain, dry conditions and extreme heat in the lower regions. To avoid both, the hiker needs to time the hike to avoid seasonal extremes. This means summer and winter are out. Luckily, though, the GET is only 730 miles long (compared with 2600 for the PCT, e.g.), and spring and autumn at these latitudes are comparatively accommodating. Beyond that, the trail’s highest terrain is located toward the eastern end nearer to Al
