[pct-l] Late October Section hike in CA Section P,Q,R

[Tom Bache]

This list is mostly short notes and information exchanges.  This posting is
different, not least in being much longer than most.  Background: I write
accounts of my section hikes for my own amusement and circulate them to a
few friends and acquaintances.  Some of them have suggested that there are
PCT-L readers who might find it interesting.  With that encouragement, I
offer this little tale.  If you get bored, skip to the next message!

Tom Bache
San Diego


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I¹m a section hiker working my way north from my San Diego home. The PCT
ambition is easy to feed for the first 750 miles (border to Kennedy
Meadows). The trail is only hours away, and the hiking season lasts all year
(many sections are more pleasant in winter than summer). But the season gets
shorter and the transportation more difficult as you move north. My summers
are busy with work and family obligations, so I need a longer season to
reach my objective to finish the PCT in 6 years. I¹ve decided that October
is usually a fine month for hiking most of the PCT, and I¹ve been testing
that assumption. Last year (thanks to assistance from the wonderful Georgi
Heitman) I did Section N (Beldon to Burney Falls) October 13-18, and that
worked out very well (a bit of rain and snow, but not enough to be a
problem). 
 
October 19-27 of this year I hiked from Scott Summit (Section P) to I-5
south of Ashland (end of Section R). This is about 160 miles. The first 90
miles includes the very remote and rugged Trinity Alps and the even more
remote Marble Mountain Wilderness. The trail is often rough, narrow, and
exposed, so be warned that it is quite dangerous if there is ice and snow.
But the weather was predicted to be warm and dry, and it was. Except for a
bit of rain the first day and a lot of wind the second day, the weather was
perfect ­ 60¹s most of the day, 40¹s at night at my campsites over 6000¹.
The coldest night (mid-30¹s) was in Seiad Valley (elevation 1300¹). Go
figure.
 
I¹ve used nearly every possible technique to handle end-to-end gap-closing
problem. This time I was assisted by JoAnne Michael, another wonderful trail
angel. I got to Yreka by flying to Redding and renting a car. Joanne ferried
me between Yreka and Scott Summit (a multi-hour drive for her). When I
finished, she picked me up at Callahan¹s on I-5 and took me to the rental
car office in Yreka to reverse my journey back to San Diego. I also had an
opportunity to visit JoAnne and husband Emory at their lovely Lake Shastina
home at the foot of Mt Shasta. They enjoy one of the world¹s most
spectacular mountain views!
 
Solitude is a major attraction of off-season hiking. Except for the first
hour out of Scott Summit, I saw no one until I reached Seiad Valley. That
first encounter is worth describing. When I hiked Section O in August, I
followed two sets of small footprints all the way. I noticed that they were
getting a bit fresher each day, and I finally caught those shoes at the
store in Castella. The owners were two young women from Oceanside (sorry,
don¹t recall their names). They said they were planning to leave the trail
briefly, but would soon travel to the Canadian border to hike SOBO to
Castella. So who do I see as start up the trail but these same two women as
they near the end of their SOBO hike! Once again I followed their footprints
­ this time backwards watching them get older each day.
 
Sections P & Q are notorious for climbs not reflected in the guidebook. It
looks easy from the elevation changes between reference points in the
guidebook, but that is very misleading. I carry a barometer that logs total
elevation changes. I find that a day with >5000¹ of climbing is a very hard
day ­ and 4 of my 7 full days were over 5000¹ (one was over 6000¹). I
haven¹t done the calculations, but I¹m pretty sure that the guidebook
suggests no more than half that much climbing. In some areas the climbs are
very steep and the trail is rough and rocky, and these increase the
difficulty. 
 
The scenery is the most spectacular that I¹ve seen since the high Sierras
and Lake Tahoe area. The Marble Mountains are especially remarkable ­ the
domes and walls are not as big as those in Yosemite, but they are made of
gleaming white monument-class marble. The entire 160 mile journey was a
continuing delight for one who enjoys geology. The guidebook describes it
well, and it is easy for even a casual observer to see the contacts and
transitions from one rock type to another.
 
I haven¹t said much about Section R because it is mostly a forest walk in an
area with lots of roads and day-hikers (I passed through on a weekend). In
many ways it is similar to the Tehachapi¹s and the area between Big Bear and
Agua Dulce. The most noteworthy thing about this section is the big climb
out of Seiad Valley ­ it goes relentlessly up for 4500¹, and some of it is
quite steep. This must be very tough on the thru-hikers when they pass
through in the hot days of August. I did see two other section hikers in
this area. One was a solo woman going SOBO for several hundred miles. The
other was a young man with an interesting style. He was going south, and his
technique was to move his car about 15 miles down the trail each night (lots
of roads make that practical). He would then dayhike north from his car to
link up with his turnaround point from the previous day, return to his car,
hike south to a new turnaround point, and return again to his car to camp
for the night. He was hiking about 30 miles per day to log 15 unique PCT
miles. Seems like a hard way to do it, but he said that he enjoyed ³seeing
both sides of all the trees.²
 
The emotional high point of this hike was reaching the Oregon border just as
darkness fell one evening. I got the ambition to hike the PCT four years
ago, and it feels very good to reach this major milestone. The border is in
the middle of a long climb, and I pushed hard to get there before headlamp
time. After saying hello to the border, my body said ³no mas.² I slept on
the narrow trail just past the border. I suspect I¹m far from the first to
do that!
 
A little spice added to this particular hike ­ one of my other hobbies is
riding fast and spooky Arabian horses. Just 6 weeks from starting this hike
my horse ran out from under me. Absent horse, I hit the ground hard and
cracked a couple of ribs. If you have ever felt cracked ribs, you know that
they force a sedentary life. So I started the hike totally out of shape and
worried about the weather and my ribs. Well, the weather was perfect, but my
ribs hurt every $%@$%& step of the way. We should all thank God (or somebody
operating at his direction) for inventing Advil. Gobbling those little pills
kept the pain to a dull roar ­ dominating my hike to be sure, but not
ruining it. Returning to my earlier theme of extending the hiking season ­ I
wouldn¹t have tested my ribs so soon if I thought I could hike in this area
in November, but I¹m not yet ready to push the season that late in those
northern climes.  
 
A personal oddity that may interest a few people ­ I lose my appetite when I
hike -- it is very difficult for me to force any food down. This is not
unique, but I haven¹t heard of anyone as extreme as me in this regard. I was
on the trail for 7 full days plus about 3 hours on my entry and exit days.
During that time my total food intake was 2 apples, 1 granola bar, 1 cheese
sandwich (1st day), 1 small energy goo packet, a few ounces of gorp, 30
wheat thins, and 4 Hostess cupcakes. I passed through Seiad Valley on my 5th
night out and ate a small carton of Yogurt plus a normal sized
bacon-and-eggs breakfast. In total, this is roughly what I eat each day in
my normal life spent in front of a computer. I feel fine ­ apparently my
body is happy metabolizing fat for energy. As a result, I lose a lot of
weight. I dropped more than 10 lbs this trip, and the 10 lbs I dropped on my
August trip is still off ­ so two hikes dropped 20 lbs that I may regain,
but it will take many months (perhaps until next hiking season). It deserves
a cover story in those supermarket magazines ­ hike >20 miles/day while
eating <200 calories/day ­ guaranteed to take off weight and clear your mind
for a healthier life.

Tom Bache
San Diego