[pct-l] Trail report: WA section H southern part

[David Hough on pct-l]

Over July 5-9 I walked from Cascade Locks to Road 521 (just beyond Road 23)
on the approaches to Mt Adams.   I followed the official (equestrian) PCT.

There were intermittent residual snow drifts starting near Road 60 at Crest
campground and continuing to Road 8851 at Big Mosquito Lake.   Whether
there was snow seemed to have more to do with tree cover than elevation.
I would have thought, though, that the more continuous drifts would be an 
obstacle to stock, but I followed horseshoe prints from Blue Lake to Road 24,
so I suppose that depends on the stock.

As far as trees go, the trail was immaculate from Cascade Locks to Road 2070
beyond Rock Creek, and from Road 43 at Trout Creek to Road 60 at Crest
campground.   There were a number of trees between 2070 and Sedum Ridge,
with one large enough to be a problem for stock, although somebody had 
been working on it, and it was partly sawn through.     There was one
similar large problem tree between Sedum Ridge and Trout Creek.
I met a trail crew near Wind River that said they'd take care of it.

Trees have not been cleared north of Road 60, with lots of small nuisance
trees and a few big ones.   Areas that seemed to have a lot of trees:
 * Road 60 north to Sheep Lake
 * Blue Lake north to Deer Lake
 * From Deer Lake north to Sawtooth Mountain, lots more snow and trees;
   in the flat south of Sawtooth, lots of snow, trees, and general litter, leaving
   the trail look abandoned for years... and then I discovered I was on a
   segment of trail 171 that had in fact been abandoned for years.    The PCT
   is just to the east and might have looked somewhat better.
 * One 30" tree between Roads 24 and 8851
 * Several 24" trees between 8851 and Steamboat trail.    In this area,
   slopes are gentle, so it is fairly easy to walk around trees.
 * On either side of the Dry Meadows flats between Roads 8810 and 23,
   there's quite a mess of tangled clusters of down trees - a major cleanup
   will be in order there
 * There are a couple of 24" trees between Roads 23 and 521.

Somebody tried to break into my car, trying to pry out a door lock, but
evidently gave up - but it was on the passenger side, so I didn't notice until
I got home, and I don't know whether it happened at Ramona Falls, Road 2090, or Road 521, all of which I parked at for a couple of nights.

It's a shame that many people walk the roads instead of taking the perfectly
good trail from Cascade Locks to Wind River.    There are lots of flowers at
the right time of year - which however is not the normal through-hiker time.

I stayed at the Bridge of the Gods motel in Cascade Locks, which was OK,
and at the Trout Lake Motel, which was quite nice, though south of "town" by
a mile or so.

Trout Lake would like to be your resupply stop in section H.     Road 88 and
Road 23 are paved roads near the half-way point of section H
from which you might be able to hitch into Trout Lake.     There is no way to
call for a ride.    
But once in town, there are several local angels that will give hikers rides
back to the trailhead.    Besides the post office and the lodgings, there's an 
interesting restaurant/bar that claims occasional live music and free wifi.
$1 tacos and $1 beer on Thursdays.