[pct-l] Oregon Trail

[Rees Hughes]

The Oregon Trail really was not just one trail by the time it reached the
Dalles.  Many emigrants ferried down the Columbia River although that last
leg had its risks and tended to be a bottleneck.  As a result, several other
options were developed.  In 1845, Barlow Road was first scouted and
eventually developed.  That route intersected the current PCT in the area of
Barlow Pass south of Mt. Hood.

In the Pacific Crest Trailside Reader, which has just been released by The
Mountaineers Books, there is an interesting excerpt from the journal of Joel
Palmer whose description resulting in the naming of Zigzag Canyon (which the
PCT also traverses).  Mt. Hood's also has a glacier named for Palmer.
-- 
Rees Hughes