[pct-l] Crescent Junction vs. Shelter Cove

[nstrauss@xxxxxxxxxxx (Nathaniel Strauss)]

Hi, I don't frequent this list often, but I promised myself over the
summer I would put in a little plug for Crescent Junction. This is a GREAT
trail town out of Willamette Pass (Oregon) that has somehow gone
completely unnoticed by the thru-hiking community. I stumbled onto it by
accident.

Crescent Junction (also called Crescent Lake) is 7 miles east of the PCT
on Highway 58. The owners of the local hotel will pick you up for free if
you give them your business, but it's a fairly easy hitch. (There is a pay
phone at the Willamette Pass Ski Area, 0.2mi W.) The town has a post
office (zip 97425), two small, cheap gracery stores suitable for resupply,
a cheap hotel, an RV park with laundry and showers, a restaurant, and a
bar. In other words, this place has everything a thru-hiker needs.

Shelter Cove is the current most popular resupply point in that area. The
following info comes from what I have read and heard; I've never been
there. It's a 1-2 mile hike off the PCT. They take UPS packages only, and
you have to mail them well in advance. They have a very limited supply of
food and it is quite expensive; not suitable for resupply by anyone's
account. I believe there is only a snack bar and a somewhat expensive
resort hotel. I was told that Shelter Cove was once owned by some very
trail-friendly folks, but no more. It was their friendliness that put the
place on the map for thru-hikers. The new ownership is not UNfriendly, but
there's no particular reason to go to Shelter Cove now, beyond that it's
in the Town Guide.

You make your own decision.

Nate "Fleischman" Strauss