[pct-l] OR PCT - Snow Conditions

[Michael Donnay]

My wife and I were planning to hike our final third of the PCT (940 miles) from I-5 in Ashland, OR through to Manning Park, BC this summer.

We camped at Callahan's Lodge off I-5 near Ashland the night before our first day. The new lodge's construction is almost complete (a few more weeks) and the owners are excited to start hosting hikers this season. They are very hiker-friendly and welcoming.

We set off on June 21 and found terrific trail conditions throughout OR/WA Section B (1727.1 - 1780.6) with no traces of snow, all blow downs from the winter had been freshly cleared away by trail crews, and there were few to no mosquitoes. Really ideal hiking conditions!

As of June 24, OR/WA Section C  from "Hwy 140 near Fish Lake" (1780.6) to the "Broad saddle" (1792.2) there were still some patches/stretches of snow with 6-8 foot snow drifts around massive tree holes in the shade of the forest. Trail crews hadn't yet tackled this section and there were lots of blow downs from the winter. Mosquitoes were swarming in hoards. North of the "Broad saddle" (1792.2 @ 6,300') the snow was continuous and the trail was completely obliterated beneath feet of snow.  We lost the trail and had difficulty navigating in the thick forest, so turned back to Hwy 140 and returned home to Olympia,  WA to wait out the snow melt.

There weren't any foot tracks of other hikers at the time, so we assume we were the first in that section in quite a while. Since then, I've read that Wolffman, Sonic, and a couple other hikers have tackled this section too. Have any of them, or others, made it through to Crater Lake (1830.4) and reported trail conditions since the Sun 29 June update from Firefly?

When does the thru-hiker pack usually arrive in OR? ...although with this year's fires in CA, nothing is predictable, right?

Does anyone know who to call (Forest Service ranger districts?) to monitor the snow melt and trail conditions in this section before we attempt to resume our hike from Hwy 140? I've checked with the PCTA but my update for this section remains the latest.

Thank you.  Good luck to the thru's this tough hiking season!
Mike