[pct-l] what can you do when the PCT is closed?

[David Hough reading PCT-L]

Carefully consulting all available resources, I planned a shuttle hike
from Ebbetts Pass to Sonora Pass.    This was perfectly legal on Thursday 19th.
On Friday 20th I started to set up the shuttle.

On Saturday 21st I was planning to finish the shuttle, 
but learned that Toiyabe NF
had closed the PCT from Sonora Pass north - in combination with other closures,
that means all the way to a couple miles east of Mt Ashland where the PCT
finally leaves Klamath NF and Region 5.

What to do?   Parts of the PCT are on the west side of the crest, in
Stanislaus NF, which is not (yet) closed.   So I thought about hiking from
Iceberg Meadow up Disaster Creek to the PCT near Disaster Peak, then south
as far as the trail to Boulder Lake, where I'd reached on my previous hike
in this area.     (These places might be somewhat familiar to persons who've 
tried to hike the Tahoe-Yosemite Trail, which I've been working on piecemeal
for 50 years).     That didn't work since these side trails are a LOT steeper
and rougher than the newer parts of the PCT.    So I got as far as 
Paradise Valley, which isn't a bad place to view Disaster Peak and appreciate
bovine beauty and equine trail mementos
(pretty much the same everywhere between Sonora Pass and Ebbetts Pass).

On other days I covered a bit of the TYT from Sand Flat Campground on the
Clark Fork up to Woods Gulch, and then from Kennedy Meadows North up to
the junction with the Kennedy Creek trail.   LOTS of hiker and equestrian
traffic on the trails out of Kennedy Meadows North.    In contrast, it was
possible to find a campsite in the Clark Fork region even on Saturday night.
I'd been up Kennedy Creek to Sharon Lake about 40 years ago but seismic 
activity must have made the trail steeper and rougher since then.

What about through hikers, assuming there might be some in future years?
Yogi's book recommends Walker/Coleville over Bridgeport as being cheaper, 
which they are, but it's all a very tough hitch from Sonora Pass.
And while Walker and Coleville have some advantages for section hikers and
others with cars, they are not as hiker-friendly as Bridgeport - spread out
further and fewer facilities.    The Post Office in Coleville is a mile
out of town.    So is the nice lodging at Meadowcliff KOA, but in the 
opposite direction.   Otherwise a nice place to stay.   They light up the
cliffs at night.

As for fine dining, the Walker Burger closed at 7pm, leaving the remaining
choice a 10 mile drive to the Topaz Lake Casino, just over the state line
of course.   (If you haven't done the whole 395 trip, you might not know that
Topaz Lake, like Tahoe, was accidentally divided between CA and NV.)
The casino dining room was open until 10pm, and the food was just OK.
They were understaffed like everybody else.

The TYT used to be a road walk from Kennedy Meadows North to St Marys Pass,
just west of Sonora Pass.    Nobody recommends that - it's steep, winding,
and narrow, but lots of people drive as if it weren't.    
So what's a through hiker to do?    Sonora Pass is probably
two days away from Kennedy if you go back the way you came to Bond Pass so
as not to miss a single exciting PCT mile.    You'll probably want to hitch
instead.    Getting from Kennedy Meadows up to Sonora Pass is probably vastly
easier than getting from Sonora Pass to anywhere else.
But Sonora Pass is where your PCT hike ends this year.   Good luck!

If you opt to exit via Sonora, the Alladin Motel is nice and next to a
nice restaurant, and close to an Enterprise Car Rental (important for 
one-way section hikers).    But Sonora itself is very spread out, too much 
to be a good trail town, although you can probably find everything you
need eventually.    There's a nice brewpub on S Washington street in the
old downtown.

There were some good points - a few flowers still blooming here
and there, and no water worries on these rough access trails - water is
running often enough that you don't need to think about it - quite unlike
crest trails.