[pct-l] Question for 2007 thru-hikers

[jeff.singewald at comcast.net]

Greg,

Re: the official detour.  It is not a 6 mile road walk as you have mentioned.  It is no further than 3.5 miles on this dusty dirt road from the river ford to the Buck Creek Pass trailhead at Trinity.

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Greg Kesselring <gkesselr at whidbey.com> 
Hi Mini John,

IMO the reroute (High Pass variation) has scenery that is at least as stunning, if not more so, than the original PCT, IF you take the trail UP the Napeequa Valley (instead of going down the valley to the Little Giant Trail), then the side trail to High Pass, then continue on the trail from High Pass to Buck Creek Pass.  The scenery in the upper Napeequa and around High Pass is some of the most magnificent in the North Cascades.  However, there are a couple of caveats:

1) The trail up the Napeequa should be easy to follow.  However, finding the trail the leaves the valley and heads up to High Pass may take some looking around.  You will need to find it because it goes uphill thru a tunnel of slide alder which would be nearly impassable without the trail.  Other hikers have written about finding this trail and it didn't seem to be much of a problem.
2) This year there will likely be snow in the High Pass area that doesn't melt out.  If you go thru the area in mid-September, it could be quite hard, depending on time of day and the weather that day.  You may need an ice axe, or at the least, hiking poles.  You would also want to have prior experience on summer snow and feel comfortable that you can handle it.
3) This version of the reroute does NOT require a crossing of the Chiwawa River and it avoids the 6 mile road walk.  These are a huge pluses in favor of this version of the reroute.  It's also a shorter distance to cover if you take the High Pass variation.  And the scenery on this version of the reroute is to die for and most of that scenery will be missed if you do the standard reroute.  This version of the reroute DOES require crossing the Napeequa, however. (So does the standard reroute.)  But in September it shouldn't be a problem.  I was with a party of three a few years ago on an outing that required crossing the Napeequa.  We were there Labor Day weekend and crossed the river without incident.

If you decide to do this version of the reroute, you should also be skilled at off-trail navigation.  Even though the route is on trails, it would be good to be able to read topo maps and know where you are on the map.  The trail in the Upper Napeequa is rarely maintained, so you want to feel confidant you can follow it.  The side trail to High Pass is more of a route than a trail and becomes indistinct in the meadows above the Slide Alder.  But if you know what you're doing with map, compass, and off-trail navigation, it's easy to make your way up the valley to High Pass.  And the tread does appear off and on thru these meados.  If you have these skills and feel you'd be comfortable on whatever snow you might encounter at High Pass, and if you get lucky and go thru this area in clear weather, you will not be disappointed.  It's one of the scenic highlights of the entire PCT.

Good luck with your planning, and have a great hike!

Greg

minnjohn1 at aol.com wrote: 
Any input from 2007 thru-hikers that made it through Washington is appreciated.

I found out there are some updates to the PCT Oregon & Washington book published by Wilderness Press. In fact, I downloaded them from their web site - all 100+ pages of updates. These updates are for their 6th and new 7th editions of the book. But, my question is about a detour that is detailed in these updates. It is called the "Indian Pass to Miners Creek Detour" and the following paragraph from Wilderness Press introduces their description.


"In October 2003, a storm damaged 45 miles of the PCT in Washington State, from Indian Pass to Miners
Creek, making some sections in that stretch extremely difficult. Following is a description of the
51.7- mile detour, which requires a high degree of backcountry skill due to difficult navigation and deep
river fords."


The detour looks complicated. According to Wilderness Press, the detour was available to the 2007 thru-hikers. My question is - did any of you take this detour or did you follow the original PCT?  Can you give me some input on this? As stated above, Wilderness Press labels the detour as requiring "a high degree of backcountry skill due to difficult navigation and deep river fords".

John - from Minnesota
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From: Greg Kesselring <gkesselr at whidbey.com>
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