The PCT Volume 21: Closest to Home

[JC w KC redux]

Some great scenery, aspect and feel good dad/daughter shots in that last batch.
Drum roll please...

[Brad Young]

Our last day was short and beautiful. We continued along the pacific crest:




The trail alternates sides of the crest. It also passes among volcanic towers:




We took a break overlooking Blue Canyon:




Before long Chipmunk Flat, a Sonora Pass Climbing area with hundreds of established routes came into view (this was quite a new way to see this climbing crag - too bad the smoke was thick on this day from the fires to the south):




One last flat stretch led to a point from which we could clearly see the paved highway at Sonora Pass:










Two miles of long switchbacks then led down to the closest point that the PCT comes to our house:










We continued another tenth of a mile to the picnic area located near the pass and then we were done. There remained only to wait for Vicki, our ride home (only a 50 minute drive!), and to add up all our remaining food. Here's the leftover food, left over from a three person, seven day trip (not bad, I wish I could call it that close every time!):




And now we're still waiting for the weather. Although Tricia and I had hoped to finish from Highway 108 to Highway 4 and then from Highway 4 to Highway 88 this week, the thunderstorm cycles are back, and we're not so foolish as to go out directly into them if we can help it. Instead it looks like we'll get out Saturday and Sunday for the 31.6 mile hike to Highway 4 and beyond that will wait until after Tricia's week at science camp.

[waldo]

Again, great work!  I very much liked your lake picture, too.  By the by, are there routes on that north face of Volunteer?

[Jim]

Beautiful!  And a wonderful write up too.

[mungeclimber]

How far in are the volcanic crags?

[Brad Young]

Again, great work!  I very much liked your lake picture, too.  By the by, are there routes on that north face of Volunteer?

Waldo, I don't know of any routes up that obvious face of Volunteer. That's a looong way in for what would likely be 4 or 5 pitch routes (although the climbing lines look good from below).

[Brad Young]

How far in are the volcanic crags?

About four miles (but with 1,500 feet ?? of elevation gain. These crags can be seen from east of the pass (they are above Sardine Falls).

Interested?

[mungeclimber]

oofa, 4 miles. I may have some alternatives.

[mynameismud]

not very long on a bicycle....

[F4?]

Too bad there isn't a road up there....

[waldo]

I forgot to mention how great I thought the alpen-glow camp was!  An evening like that fixes everything.

[Brad Young]

I forgot to mention how great I thought the alpen-glow camp was!  An evening like that fixes everything.

Yep. And we both woke up in the middle of the night and spent time studying the stars. Pretty fun.

And Factor, there is s road up there. It's called "Highway 108."

[lasher]

It must have been great ending at Hwy 108.  After the hours of driving to shuttle between points having a 50 min drive home must have been a nice change.  I imagine Vicki appreciated it also.

Can't wait to share some of the trail with you.

[F4?]

And Factor, there is s road up there. It's called "Highway 108."

I meant the part from Dorothy Lake. then we could bolt the volcanic stuff.

Nice job!

[Brad Young]

I meant the part from Dorothy Lake. then we could bolt the volcanic stuff.

Nice job!

I knew what you meant   

I think I'll just be very happy that our U.S. Government has had the good sense to preserve large swaths of public land as wilderness. I for one am ever-so-grateful for the foresight, the wisdom, and the intelligence of this move. Fifty years ago: The Wilderness Act.

Wilderness with a capital "W."

Have you ever read the statute (the written law) that defines wilderness? It's beautiful, actually it's nearly poetic.

[F4?]

I can only imagine.

I must say that the last 10mil to the pass....wow that would be cool to hike.

[Brad Young]

I can only imagine.

United States statutes are called the U.S. Code. And actually there are two parts of the Wilderness Act that are wonderfully written:

Here's the first sentence of 16 U.S. Code Section 1131(a), about the purpose of the Wilderness Act:

"In order to assure that an increasing population, accompanied by expanding settlement and growing mechanization, does not occupy and modify all areas within the United States and its possessions, leaving no lands designated for preservation and protection in their natural condition, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the Congress to secure for the American people of present and future generations the benefits of an enduring resource of wilderness."

Now I know that this is the internet, and I know that no-one reads long sentences on web forums, but read that law. Even read it aloud to yourself. It's an amazing statement.

And 16 U.S. Code Section 1131(c) defines wilderness. It's first sentence is even more worthy of reading aloud; it truly is like a poem:

"A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain."

There are some things that our country and our government have done emphatically right over the years. The Wilderness Act is among them.

[Brad Young]

All righty... "T Girl" and I are off in twenty minutes (leisurely start since the next leg starts only 50 minutes from our house!!!).

We'll go 31.6 miles in two days. We're both carrying a lot less weight (I've got 29 pounds instead of 48).

And, bonus, our four-legged beauty gets to go too:

[clink]

We'll go 31.6 miles in two days

That is hauling arse.

[F4?]

Is it all downhill???