Author Topic: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?  (Read 11818 times)

Brad Young

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The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« on: June 24, 2016, 08:07:08 PM »
Who knew?

Who knew how much rugged and beautiful scenery there is in the less-famous mountains of northwestern California? Who knew that the Trinity Alps and the Russian Wilderness contained so much granite, so many lakes and such fantastic vistas? Who knew that massive, wonderful Mount Shasta would continue to be visible (and powerfully so!) from mile after mile of the PCT?  And who knew that we'd get more views of even Lassen Peak, now far, far south of us over this additional 128 mile trip?

We didn't know these things. I'd been in the Trinity Alps before, but way back in 1986 and then for only two days. I've been expecting lots and lots of what I call "forest marching" during this part of the trail, walking for miles in deep forest only. We had a bit of that of course, but we also learned that these are beautiful and substantial mountain ranges; not quite the Sierra Nevada, but very, very worth experiencing in their own right.

We know these things now. And we had wonderful family time gaining that knowledge.

The trip started very smoothly. Tricia did so well in school this year (again) that we treated her to a trip to Washington D.C. with two of her classmates and teachers and parents (as part of several eighth grade classes from around the state):










She flew into the Sacramento airport blurry-eyed at 11:00 p.m. on Saturday. So we picked her up there, stayed in Sacramento, and then resumed our drive north on Sunday morning.

I suppose it will start to get "normal" as we continue to drive farther and farther north each trip. But seeing Lassen and then Shasta from the road was and is still pretty thrilling. Memories of adventures past are complimented by the knowledge that we're on our way to start some more:







Even though we started this day in Sacramento, the drive was still long. And the last part of the drive was still winding and slow. We got to Ash Camp on the McCloud River at 2:00 and started a 14.7 mile hike at 2:15:




Right where we ended the last trip:




Today's hike started low and stayed low. This kept us deep in forested canyons; on a warm day it was cooler down there, and we were near water sources. But we had no vistas:













Tricia made up for the lacks of views by seeing her second-ever bear in the wild. She saw her first bear in the wild when she was in Kindergarten and Katie was in seventh grade; the girls were at their bus stop then, 100 yards from the house when a big bear casually walked out of the woods, stopped on the road to eye the girls, and then shuffled off back into the woods (we didn't get any photos then). Today's bear seemed just slightly curious. He or she watched us from 200 feet away before also shuffling off to more interesting things:




Tricia's eye for scenery impresses me more and more as time goes by. Late in the day she thought to take this pretty shot of the last of the sun's rays across the canyon:




And late in the day we made it to Squaw Valley Creek (where we knew that we'd have one more quick climb up to our pick-up point and Vicki):




This wrapped up a late day but a good start to getting back in the groove for the PCT season.

mynameismud

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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #1 on: June 24, 2016, 08:46:13 PM »
more
Here's to sweat in your eye

Brad Young

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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #2 on: June 25, 2016, 06:24:14 AM »
We stayed at a small, private campground that was close to McCloud Reservoir and only four miles from today's start trailhead:




We let Tricia sleep in late since it seemed like she hadn't slept much on her Washington D.C. trip. Eventually we got going (at least still in the morning today).

This next hike would bring us to a milestone: Interstate 5 and the end of PCT Section "O." Our following days would be spent in the next section, "P," which curves way out west (even southwest) before bending north and then east and into (yes) Oregon in about 200 more miles. Every hike starts with a few steps, so our trusty (and beautiful) driver took us back to where we finished yesterday:







Today's trail was up high instead of down in the canyons. Although we were still mostly in forest, occasional gaps let us get some views:







This is one big mountain, and it's always a treat to see our progress around it:




And boy how much bigger the Castle Crags seem from only five miles away:







We got our first glimpse of I-5 (from the trail that is). It's a long way down to it on some long, long switchbacks that don't drop very quickly:




But we were finally on the last mile:




Then we broke out of the trees, hit a road and then found this bridge over the Sacramento River (the river is not so big this far north):







Now with Vicki, we made the short but satisfying walk over to and under I-5:










And that wrapped up Section "O." An easy hike tomorrow would start just barely west of the interstate:







Brad Young

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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #3 on: June 25, 2016, 08:07:34 AM »
Today's hike was an easy eight miles - we'd exit the PCT on a side trail after that distance so as to be set up the next day for an 18.2 mile hike with a lot of elevation gain. Vicki joined us for the first bit:










It was interesting to meet here our first "through-hikers" of the season. The words are in quotes because these three had started at the Mexican border early enough that they got to Kennedy Meadows south by mid-May. Kennedy Meadows is the start point for the Sierra Nevada, and in mid-May there was still too much snow in the Sierra for them to proceed. So they'd bailed from there to Ashland, Oregon and were hiking south from there (and would later continue north again from Ashland).

This easy hike was most notable for bringing us around the south side of the Castle Crags. These are big. They're also a fair distance uphill from any parking:







This trail junction is where the PCT and the Crags trail intersect. I think that "looks easy from here" mentioned this junction in his recent Supertopo climbing trip report for Castle Crags:




We took plenty of water breaks (and Tricia took more imaginative photos):










We quickly hit the Dog Trail junction, where Vicki was waiting (after a steep uphill hike of her own):







Since we'd finished early, we made a driving reconnaissance of our next pick-up points and campsites nearby. We watched a storm start rolling in (which, although we didn't know it yet, would force us to take the next two days off). And I just had to get this photo of "Hurricane Halifax" in one of her favorite positions - braced out the window and looking for trouble as Vicki drives the forest road:




And one final shot of my "color-coordinated" beauty back in camp, in the cool of the evening:



Brad Young

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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #4 on: June 25, 2016, 10:21:54 AM »
Bad weather moved in as we were finishing our hike off the PCT at Dog Trail. The next day's forecast was bad - rain, heavy rain and thunderstorms up high (and our next hike would take us up high). So we took a rest day in Mount Shasta City. Then the forecast called for the same weather on a second day. More rain and thunderstorms. We didn't come up here quite ready for heavy rain, and we usually try to avoid hiking up high when there are thunderstorms. So we took a second rest day (at least we got to go see the new movie "Finding Dory"). Finally, after two rest days the forecast was for "rain" but with no mention of thunderstorms. Time to go for it, "mere" rain be damned.

The drive over to the trailhead wasn't all that encouraging (remember, we're from California and, although Brits might consider this "sunny," we did not):




Vicki helped at the trailhead:




Soon we were up Dog Trail and back on the PCT:










Although we have really good rain shells and just the right layers, I have a certain level of paranoia about getting really wet way out in the back-country. I know where the paranoia comes from too - it comes from having been caught up high on climbs by rain on far too many occasions. But hiking isn't way up a cliff face and I've been working on getting to be OK hiking in the wet (although without thunderstorms is still fine). Still, today we went with the "wimp option." Yes, umbrellas might look wimpy on the trail, but they add that much more water-proofness to the mix:







The first half of our 18.2 mile day required 4,500 feet of elevation gain. The rain and mist certainly prevented overheating. It also kept the flies away (the PCT guidebook talks about the awful flies that seem to swarm on this particular part of the trail):







The dogs are basically water-proof:




As we got up higher, some of the terrain seemed quite primeval:







The last seven miles of the hike were in and among a series of 6,500 to 7,000 foot peaks. The terrain was open (which made me really glad we hadn't ventured up during thunderstorms). And, we lucked out with a two hour period of no rain and times when the clouds rolled away and let us a see up to a mile at a time:
















We spotted the gap we'd hike through in the Trinity Divide from half a mile away. Water falling on one side of this divide flows into the Sacramento River, while that falling on the other side (ten feet away) flows to the Trinity River (and eventually the two flow to the ocean 280 miles apart!):




From the divide it was a cruiser 2.3 miles to Forest Road 26 and Vicki. We moved with speed (the entire hike took us six hours and 50 minutes):







We were glad to have made this hike and to have gotten more used to hiking in wet conditions (we are after all moving quickly toward the Pacific Northwest). Still, we were also glad for the next several day's forecast: clearing to sunny with cold temperatures slowly increasing to the low 70s.

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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2016, 01:32:40 PM »
The wet weather was a nice break for us in Mendocino.
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Brad Young

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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #6 on: June 25, 2016, 05:22:16 PM »
Cold morning today, but definitely clearing. The residual snow on the ground at Gumboot Trailhead made us glad we hadn't camped there:







Vicki hiked with us for the first half a mile:




We then continued up toward a trail crossing of Forest Road 40N41 which crossed the PCT and, coincidentally, leads (by car) right to our end point for the day. We waited there for a photo of our bad-ass driver, wife and mother:




Tricia caught this of me, doing what I do a lot of on the trail:




We had easy hiking (with one exception) and great views all day. Here's the trail slowly traversing above Toad Lake, up to the Trinity Divide crossing, and the day's high-point, at 7,600 feet (look for the trail up high on bare slopes):







The Castle Crags from the northwest:




The one hard part of this hike came at the Trinity Divide crossing. Here there was a significant cornice with a 25 foot high drop off/steep slope for the north-bound hiker (that's Trinity County's high point, Mount Eddy in the background in the first shot):







The two inches of fresh snow over the old winter snow made for really slippery conditions (especially with light, trail-hiking shoes). We decided to go up and around, avoiding the snow altogether (and it turned out to be way up and around). More hiking across snow slopes followed, but this was just routine, early season trail conditions:




Conditions to the east cleared enough that we saw freshly snowed-on Mount Shasta:




The freshly snowed-on Trinity Alps:




The girls made the highest and best use of Deadfall Lake:




And we saw this trailhead from a few miles away. In July, 2007 Tricia, Katie and I had used this trailhead to start a hike to Mount Eddy (because it's a county high point). Tricia was then 5 1/2 years old:




We crossed the Mount Eddy Trail too. I stood there for a moment and tried to fathom how and why I'd thought then that I could take a shrimpy little five year old on a hike of that magnitude (of course we made the summit):




On Mount Eddy in 2007:







The rest of the trail was easy. We linked up with our friend (and frequent PCT companion) Sharon on her way out to meet us. Vicki had hiked out too:







We all quickly made it to the car at the open and viewful Parks Creek Trailhead (that second shot is looking down toward I-5 and Mount Shasta City):







And while there we got a view of this peak to the north:







I didn't recognize the peak, which looked big and, with its mantle of new snow, quite beautiful. A little research showed that it was a long-distance view of Mount McLoughlin (9,495 feet high). My research didn't only give me the name and height of the peak, it got me pretty damn excited.

Mount McLoughlin is in Oregon.

Brad Young

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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #7 on: June 25, 2016, 07:04:43 PM »
Over the years that Sharon has been joining us on the PCT we seem to have developed a few fine traditions. Traditionally she joins us just before one or more of our long hikes. So, traditionally, we're already in shape for the trail, she isn't totally yet, and we trash her (and, traditionally, she's tougher than nails and seems to have a ton of fun).

Such was to be the case today. We'd planned a 20.5 miles hike from Parks Creek Trailhead back to (primitive) Scott Mountain Campground on Highway 3 (we'd driven to it last night after hiking).

But first a start to the day. I got up early to enjoy some breakfast, coffee and reading. When first Vicki and then Tricia got up I got these:




It was Father's Day and they hadn't forgotten (and Katie had called me the day before - late night for her in Malaysia and so almost Father's Day).

Our camp here at Scott Mountain was very nice. The whole campground has seven sites and the whole time we were there we had it all to ourselves. The PCT goes right through it, and, it's centrally located (right on Highway 3) for pick-ups and drop-offs for several of our hikes:




We drove back to the trailhead and got started:













The hike today was long for sure. But we couldn't remember a PCT hike that was so nearly level for so long a distance. Starting at 6,500 feet, this trail ends at 5,600 feet and does very little other than drop very slowly for the whole distance. An example is the first 4.5 miles, in which the trail makes almost a complete circle at almost exactly the same elevation as it makes its way around the High Camp Creek drainage (photo is of the Halfmile map):




This part of the trail stays up relatively high though, and so the views are great in almost all directions, and the terrain is green and pleasant:







Here's Sharon, passing "Cement Bluff" (Mount Eddy in the background):




The Trinity Alps to the southwest:







Mounts Eddy and Shasta:




One price exacted by a nearly level PCT is that the path seems to traverse every cirque and every ridge:







In just under eight hours we'd made the 20.5 miles to Highway 3 and Scott Mountain Campground. And there was Vicki, just starting to hike up to meet us:







We enjoyed a great night in camp. We were joined there mid-evening by "Sprocket," the very, very first of the season's PCT though-hikers. We'd met him in Mount Shasta City, shopping for groceries. I'd then given him a ride back to the trail and told him where we expected to be camping for the next several days. He was behind us on the trail, but, sure enough, he pulled a 35.4 mile day and joined us in camp that night.

I couldn't believe we were actually seeing a through-hiker this far north, so early. And his tale of his Sierra Nevada traverse was incredible. After an early start on the Mexican border, he hit Kennedy Meadows south in mid-May. He proceeded to then traverse the whole High Sierra portion of the trail in one month, hiking 99% on snow, while navigating by compass and map (he's British, which probably explains some of this; he's also worked in far northern Sweden before, guiding winter trips there to view the Northern Lights, so the cold and the moving over snow weren't new to him, but still, wow!).

And finally, to close out this day's report, here's a shot that shows how Tricia's artistic imagination continues to develop - a shot I wouldn't ever have thought of; the full moon reflected in the window of our Expedition, and next to it our car's PCT sticker:


mungeclimber

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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #8 on: June 25, 2016, 09:09:07 PM »
Not disappointed. TFPU.

I especially like the pics of Tricia when she was little little. It gives great perspective for those of us that have know the girls so long. Amazing!
On Aid at Pinns... It's all A1 til it crumbles. - Munge

Brad Young

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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #9 on: June 26, 2016, 07:38:34 AM »
We knew we had two more long hikes to finish out our trip (19.9 and 19.6 miles). And we had three days to do them. So we took the 20th off as a rest day.

Tricia took this photo of a real bug (although it looks like a toy):




On the 21st we started hiking straight out of Scott Mountain Campground. Our dogs' paws were getting a little worn after over 88 miles. We gave them a day off from hiking:




We quickly dispatched the initial uphill part of this hike and broke out to clear terrain. We got a nice view of Shasta (so big that Mount Eddy, the Trinity County highpoint - with an "S" like snow patch on it - seems tiny in comparison):










We ran into more snow up above 7,000 feet:







And, to our delight, we got clear views of Lassen Peak, now God knows how many miles south of us:







Hiking on and near ridge-tops today, we also had nice views of lower terrain. This shot is looking Down West Boulder Creek Canyon to the Scott River Valley (where the town of Etna is situated):







I had no idea that the Trinity Alps had peaks up to 9,000 feet (Thompson Peak), and permanent glaciers (well, at least for now):







As we wound around the various ridges, we caught our first glimpse of Carter Meadow Summit where we planned to meet Vicki:




And then, as always, we crossed over and walked a few feet of the next day's trail to insure overlap:







The drive back to camp was just slightly longer than the 19.9 miles we'd hiked for the day. With four people and three dogs, things were slightly crowded so our older dog, Charlotte rode on my lap. Again, Tricia's eye for a photo is so much better than mine's ever been; she took these two unconventional shots which I really like:






mynameismud

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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #10 on: June 26, 2016, 11:21:36 AM »
more?
Here's to sweat in your eye

Brad Young

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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #11 on: June 26, 2016, 11:23:26 AM »

more?


Yes, one more day to report.

Damned Flickr is giving me fits though. I finally just closed everything down and I'll try again to download the last day's photos.

Brad Young

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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #12 on: June 26, 2016, 01:09:39 PM »
Before we had left home I'd penciled out a plan (penciled out, as in "this might be fun to accomplish, if it works out"). The plan ended at Etna Summit, the end of Section "P." Ending here would be a great start to the season; we'd have done over 128 miles on the trail, and be set up to start a four day backpack through the Marble Mountain Wilderness next time up.

After our hike to Carter Meadow Summit, we needed one more twenty mile hike today and we'd be at this goal. It looked like a relatively hard hike though, lots of up and down, south facing areas that were sure to be warm, and 19.6 miles total.

The dogs came:




We started into the uphill right away:







I'm proud of how competent a hiker Tricia's become (Katie too, but she wasn't on this trip). Here's a shot of her waaaay out ahead with the dogs (try squinting). As usual she's seemingly unconcerned that her "trip leader" and "mentor" is so far behind:




Snow patches were fun on this hike, but in two places they also provided serious and very serious difficulties:




Here's the serious difficulty (a long, tedious and challenging work-around of a several-hundred yard long, steep section of snow which covered the trail):




The very serious difficulties came near the end of the hike. There (when we were already tired) a more than quarter mile long, north-facing part of the trail was covered with really steep snow. It took a huge amount of energy to work around and over this. And the "over it" part was objectively dangerous in that in many places a slip by any of the three of us would have meant a broken leg. It was difficult enough in this last area of snow that we didn't take photos (we were all too focused to think about them). I also used the old mountaineer's trick of using a well shaped rock to cut snow steps through a bunch of the more exposed sections.

Other parts of this "south of Etna" trail had been hit hard by winter too. We had lots and lots of tree work around/overs (although where the fallen trees were just really terrible, during the last two miles, a trail crew had cleared dozens of tree-falls with what looked like an incredible amount of work):




A notably hot part of the trail led uphill above South Russian Creek:










It was in this section that we saw some of the most intriguing granite formations too in this "Russian Wilderness" that I'd never heard of. This buttress was across the creek (long, long approach though, so I'm sure it's unclimbed):




But right above the trail was "The Statue" and large formations and a huge steep slab nearby. The rock quality looked very good in this area, and a potential climber could pack in and stay at Statue Lake, a few hundred feet behind the similarly named rock formation:







Tricia's always dealt with the heat in practical ways:




Payne Lake was beautiful (one of only two lakes that the trail touches in all of Section "P"):







We gained a view of the part of Highway 3 that ascends Scott Mountain from the north (right to where we were camped):




Another "routine" (i.e. great) view over, in this case, Smith Lake:




We were tired by the time we saw the road at Etna Summit, but mightily pleased to see Vicki and the truck:













The rest of the hike was a nice downhill cruise; very satisfying. A quick drive into Etna led to a tasty and filling meal at "Dotty's" restaurant (after all, we've gotta support the local economy).

We stayed one more night at Scott Mountain before packing up in the morning for the long drive home. And, just as we were packed, three young ladies came into camp looking for help. These three were "bouncing" through-hikers in that they'd hiked from Mexico to Kennedy Meadows south, hit too much snow and were now hiking south from Ashland. Unfortunately one of the three had a very serious foot issue (I think she had a stress fracture). The last three days of hard hiking had proven to her that a mere ten days off the trail weren't enough help and she really needed to see a doctor.

We'd learned through our stay that Highway 3 has very little traffic (especially on weekdays). So we rearranged the packing, got her and her pack in with us, and made a seven hour drive into an eight hour drive by taking her straight to the E.R. in Yreka (if not us to help her then who?).

Our next trip for this summer starts with that same drive (in reverse) on July 6th. And then the 49 mile backpack in the Marble Mountains is first up. I can hardly wait.

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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #13 on: June 26, 2016, 02:22:57 PM »
Truly impressive!

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mynameismud

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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #14 on: June 26, 2016, 05:41:34 PM »
very nice.

practical ways made me laugh
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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #15 on: June 26, 2016, 07:01:19 PM »
In your experiences, on average what is the gradient of the PCT when ascending?  E.g. Forest Service has a something of a target max, but the PCT covers many jurisdictions.
On Aid at Pinns... It's all A1 til it crumbles. - Munge

Brad Young

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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #16 on: June 26, 2016, 07:11:29 PM »

In your experiences, on average what is the gradient of the PCT when ascending?  E.g. Forest Service has a something of a target max, but the PCT covers many jurisdictions.


It depends hugely on when the section of trail was made.

Older trails are steeper. The trail up to/down from the Volunteer Peak/Benson Lake area in northern Yosemite is almost as steep as a stairway! And that section of trail dates from the first quarter of the 1900s.

Trails built in the 1970s and 1980s are much, much less steep. Another famous example of the "modern" trend is down in San Diego County - the San Felipe hills. The Dawsons hiked that 24 mile section of trail in February. It winds in and out of every gully and ridge, sometimes a 30 foot climb off the trail to a ridge-top and then down 60 feet from that ridge-top back to the trail would cut a quarter of a mile off the hiking. Another way to look at is that an increase in the trail steepness by only say, three degrees, would probably shorten it by at least four miles.



mungeclimber

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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #17 on: June 26, 2016, 07:32:29 PM »
Ah, didn't think about the history. Thx
On Aid at Pinns... It's all A1 til it crumbles. - Munge

Brad Young

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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #18 on: July 04, 2016, 08:11:43 AM »
I forgot to post this photo in the main part of the trip report. Tricia and I are certain that we found a new species in these northern California forests.

Presented for your approval is the "J.C. Mushroom:"




We saw them in a few places along the trail. They could be alien invaders who rode their uni-saucers here from outer space and are now stranded on earth. Or residual's of an old Meanderthal civilization slowly circling the Earth as part of plate tectonics.

We don't know if they are edible so we strongly suggest that no-one Cook them.

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Re: The PCT Volume 30: Who Knew?
« Reply #19 on: July 04, 2016, 12:56:44 PM »
I don't see the photo. Is this an invisible species?
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