[pct-l] Oops! - Glacier Reroute closed by fire

[Brian Lewis]

"Brian Lewis reported this 24 hours ago to the list and I looked right past 
it in the archives where I read the list from."


No worries, I just wondered if my post hadn't got through or I had missed
something.

To Lumberjack: recall the post by Pearson that quoted Tatoo Joe as saying
that it's pretty hellacious in there ... to quote Pearson's post from
Monday:

"While he and Eric and another hiker named Sideshow Bob have hiked this
stretch instead of taking the re-route, he said he wouldn't advise it unless
you're up for a serious adventure.  Between the old growth blow downs, head
high overgrowth and serious trail erosion, it's a nightmare to hike.  He
said he'd be hiking barely able to see the trail through the overgrowth and
suddenly come to a cliff where the trail had eroded out and have to back up
and look for a way to get around it.  The blow downs number between 4-500 in
his estimation and all huge old growth.  All this in 15 miles!!!  He said if
anyone decided to take it though, one day extra food is required."

I too had been planning to do this stretch; now I'm fighting with Stehekin
lodge to get my deposit back (they say they need 14-days notice or the best
they can give me is a one-year certificate for lodging).   My group is going
to do another stretch instead.  

I've done my share of working past blowdowns this year already; some
stretches that weren't nearly as bad as described above were nevertheless
quite time consuming and challenging both to body and delicate ultralight
gear.  Note that the above quote is from the leading edge of the
thru-hikers, a pretty elite group --- to put the comments in some context.
That, plus what Terry of the Forest Service said (basically that one
shouldn't try to do the original stretch), plus all the bridges being out
--- I'm sure I could do the original PCT stretch there if I wanted to badly
enough.  I could also perhaps perform major surgery on myself if I had to,
but I'd just as soon avoid both!  <g>

There is in fact a re-route to the re-route, but it involves something like
40 miles of road walking.  What I heard (unconfirmed) is that at least some
thru-hikers are road walking or hitchhiking from Steven's Pass (Skykomish
area, U.S. 2) all the way to Trinity to pick up the detour there.   As the
herd moves farther north, it will be interesting to read trail reports to
see how the various folks handle this.  Hopefully there will be a
sufficiently good rain in the intrim to open the Boulder Creek trail back
up.



	Brian Lewis