Reply to Thru hiking Katy

I am planning on hiking the entire trail, most likely in May or June 2009. Looking for anyone who has recently accomplished this.

There are a couple who have hiked the length of the trail that are frequent posters here.....GC and DougK. Search "hiking" on this site to find some of their threads that may be helpful to you.

Thom,
Let me know what you need to know. DougK and I have both done it, and I am sure there are others, too.
Greg

Thom,
Good luck on your hike. The best advice I can offer is water. I made arrangements at spots between the trailheads to stash gallon jugs of waters in the weeds. There were times when those jugs made the difference between a long hike and a medical emergency on some of those 99-100 degree days with no shade.
I will give you my personal guarantee it will be one of the most rewarding experiences you'll have despite the above advice.

Here are two websites you might find helpful:
http://gregwalk2006.blogspot.com/
http://www.dougknox.blogspot.com/

I have to warn you that mine contains solid advice, philosophy, and whining like a 4 year old.

Thom –

Late April, 2008, I hiked the KATY from Clinton to Machens, plus several side trails along the KATY, including to Columbia and Eagles Nest. The hike took me 10 days. Although there were several days with sporadic rain, only one downpour; overall, the weather was good for hiking. My wife followed the trail by car. Consequently I needed to carry only one day’s supply of water, food, bug spray, minimal first aid items, etc. Without the need to carry supplies for multiple days, I was able to achieve a good pace. Each morning my wife and I would agree to meet at a specific trail head within a two hour range in the afternoon. This permitted us both some flexibility with our time during the day. The nights we alternated between camping and staying in lodging. A long hot shower and good bed were well worth the expense every other night. A month prior to my hike, we used this website to make our preliminary plans and compiled a KATY folder. This site’s comments (especially from Doug and Greg), mileage charts, trail head descriptions, food and lodging recommendations, etc., were extremely helpful. (KUDOS!!! To the administrator and all those who added to this wonderful website – best I’ve seen.) My wife kept the folder in the car and used the information to locate the trail heads, call ahead for room or campsite reservations, select a dinner site, brief me on what to expect along the trail the next day, etc. Do you have any specific questions I might be able to answer? Good luck with your hike.

Enjoy! - MJ

Way to go, MJ

MJ,

We're proud to have you as one of the few, the proud, the Katy thru-hikers!