[pct-l] Section I information you may need

[Diane Soini]

I understand many people are southbounding right now. I have  
northbounded some of Section I and have some information you may need.

If you are southbounding, you need to cross Falls Creek BEFORE the  
confluence of the outflow of Tilden Lake. There is a safe crossing of  
the creek on a log that you may or may not see, but as long as you  
find a safe crossing before the outflow, you will be ok.

Then you need to hike up the outflow of Tilden Lake to find a safe  
crossing. You can come down the Tilden Lake trail, but then you will  
have to hike cross-country down Falls Creek until Wilmer Lake for  
several miles. The outflow of Wilmer Lake is easily crossed on an  
I-beam bridge.

If you don't do this, Falls Creek is extremely dangerous for many  
miles and where the trail expects you to cross near Wilmer Lake  
requires a ferry boat at the least.

If you're going north, just reverse these instructions. Good luck.

Futher south, there is a log over Stubblefield Canyon creek, however I  
was afraid of the log because it had a lot of tangled branches and  
ended up swimming part way across, hanging on to my hiking partner's  
pack part of the way.

I do not know the conditions of the trail between Kerrick Canyon and  
Tuolumne Meadows.

If you are northbounding, there is a detour for the end of Section I  
to Leavitt Lake to avoid dangerous conditions descending to Sonora  
Pass. The detour also is a little sketchy from what I have heard. I  
did a cross-country detour over Emigrant Pass to Kennedy Meadows  
Resort instead. It was cross-country for only a short bit and then  
there was a trail to Kennedy Lake. I lost the trail at Kennedy Lake  
but hiked cross-country through the marshy meadow until I found it  
again. The trail down to Kennedy Meadows Resort is wide and very long,  
but they have food and ice cream at the store and dining room. There  
was almost no snow the entire descent, so if you are sick and tired of  
snow, this may be a route you would prefer. You could avoid a resupply  
in Bridgeport this way, too, if you're not in need of lots of  
supplies. I didn't get a good look at the selection in the store, but  
it is a large store with lots of food, but probably not very  
hiker-oriented.

I completed Section I by hiking down the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne  
and then up to Pleasant Valley and Bear Valley. The Grand Canyon of  
the Tuolumne was spectacular. The river does run over the trail in one  
spot and you have to climb up rocks to get around. There is a deep  
river about 20 feet wide at the bottom of Pleasant Valley that I had  
to swim. There were logs over a scary, whitewater portion of the river  
downstream, but I didn't want to try this. Swimming was silly, but  
strapped in to my pack, the bear can allowed me to float on my back  
and I could row myself frantically to the other side. I'm glad I did  
not do all this alone. Because of this river, I can't really recommend  
our route as a good detour, but if you are up for a 20 foot swim  
across a placid river, I say go for it because hiking down the  
Tuolumne was absolutely beautiful.

It's nuts out there. Good luck to everyone!

Piper/Diane