[pct-l] Trip Report -Hwy 1 - Onyx

[maurer at earthlink.net (maurer@earthlink.net)]

Over the weekend of March 13 and 14 Robert Burroughs, Glen Van Peski and 
I made the trip from The Pink Motel (near hwy 10) to Onyx - section ?C?. 
Here is the report.

Overall - The trip was beautiful, adventurous, with breathtaking views 
and scenery. Climbing from around 1500? to 8750? was an adventure in 
itself. The trail was in fair to good condition overall. We hiked 25 
miles on day 1 up to creekside camp (237.4), then roughly 15 miles to 
one of the jeep roads just south of Onyx summit. There was no snow on 
day one, to creekside camp. On day 2 roughly 30-40% of the trail was 
covered in snow and lots of postholing ensued.

Pink Motel - Owned and run by Don and Helen Middleton, you shouldn?t 
miss this place. It?s a cool haven for hikers. The Pink motel is roughly 
4 miles north of the spigot at snow creek. To find it, follow the trail 
north under hwy 10. As you pass under a bunch of power lines you will 
see some houses along a road on your right. None of these are the Pink 
Motel, but is where the middletons live. Please note they do not live at 
the pink motel. The pink motel is on the trail, not on the road, it is 
not really pink, and it?s not a motel. From the power lines hike another 
? mile or so and you?ll come to a junkyard. You have found the pink 
motel. The trail has a hikers register at this point. As you look up the 
grade that has all the used cars and assorted junk in it there will be a 
series of small buildings and trailers up this hill a bit. Go up and 
take a load off. You?ve found it.

Trail conditions:

The trail was a bit overgrown north from the Pink Motel through to about 
Whitewater, but could still be found. The trail is washed out in three 
places over this 40 mile stretch: 1) Immediately north of Red Dome/two 
good camps (222.7) on the west flank of Whitewater canyon the trail is 
not easily discernible. Look for 2 PCT posts due north of red dome, 
roughly 100 yds. away. From there you will see PCT posts leading you WNW 
to the east side of the canyon. There is no tread through the riverbed 
at this point. 2) On map C3 there is a sort of an ?S? bend in the trail 
at a point in the middle of the map, along the boundary of square 
section 9 and 16. As you complete the final bend and head north again 
you will be on the east side of the canyon. Many small trees, brush and 
washed down limbs make route finding a bit tough here. To find the trail 
look towards the west side of the canyon after turning north. There is a 
small flat bench that runs parallel to the canyon. You will find the 
trail there. CAUTION - A PCT post has been washed down the canyon and is 
currently positioned on the east side of the canyon just north of the 
?S? bend - this is not a true trail marker, as best as we could figure. 
3) On map C3 in section 9 where it says ?fork springs? the trail turns 
ENE slightly, then roughly north again and then crosses water. At the 
point where it crosses the water the trail is pretty washed out and 
there is no real path. To find the trail, once you reach the wash, look 
up slightly and to the right, say about 2 o?clock. Up on an embankment 
there will be a string of 3 ducks/cairns that will show you where the 
trail is.

The trail has 2 blowdowns in this section. About 10 minutes after 
leaving campside creek there is a blowdown across the trail. We cleared 
a path over it to the right, but it needs to be cut out. The second 
blowdown is north of Coon Creek Junction. As you near the crest of the 
highest saddle (near 8750?) a very large tree is down, parallel with the 
trail. This can be passed to the right. Please note that accurate trail 
conditions north of campside creek are incomplete because we were in 
moderate to deep snow at many points and therefore could not see any 
actual trail. Finally, the trail north of Creekside Camp has a few small 
washouts (in and around ravines) and has lots of washed down medium 
sized rocks on the trail. Kick a few off as you go.

Snow - As of this writing the snow is still moderate to deep on all the 
north facing slopes - north of creekside camp (we were all in trail 
runners or running shoes, btw). There is also patches of snow in 
canyons, gullies, forested areas and shady areas on parts of the trail 
not facing north. Much of this snow is deep and difficult, it is not the 
?oh look, some cute snow on the trail? kind of snow. We all made the 25 
mile hike on Saturday without too much trouble in 11 hours, plus a lunch 
break and rest stops. Through the snow on Sunday we took no breaks 
except lunch and only made 15 miles in the same 11 hours. The snow 
tended to be mid-calf to mid-thigh high in most places.

Water summary:

- There was no water in any of the small creeks between Hwy 10 and 
Whiterwater canyon.
- At the mouth of Whitewater canyon where you meet an old jeep road 
(221.1 - Whitewater creek) there was no water flowing.
- Just north of Red Dome /two good camps along the west side of 
Whitewater canyon, Whitewater creek showed itself for the first time. 
The water was VERY gray and silty. One could gather water here and let 
the sediment settle then filter it, in an emergency.
- East Fork Mission Creek - good flow. As soon as you descend into the 
valley you can access water, but hold off for ? mile north where you 
cross the creek - nice lunch/break spot. Mission creek was flowing well 
all the way up the canyon. The water is very clear.
- Creekside camp - Moderate to good flow. Not as much water as Mission 
creek but still plenty to draw from. Very clear water.
- Forested flats (240.4) - good flow. This is a forested area noted in 
Yogi?s notes, and was the last water source we found on our section hike.
- Junction with CHRT - Heart Bar - No water detected because it was 
largely snow covered.
- Coon creek Junction - No water detected - snow covered.


Hope this helps. Let me know if there are any other questions.

Mike Maurer