[pct-l] North from Belden

[pcnst2001 at covad.net (pcnst2001@covad.net)]

> In 2001 I missed the part of the trail from Poison Spring to Myrtle Flat
> due to the damage from the Storrie burn.   I went down the Indian Creek
> ORV trail instead, which seemed well maintained and easy hiking despite
> having been part of the burn (more so than the PCT).
> 
> If any of you were nostalgic to revisit the bypass, the executive summary
> is: don't.    Evidently the Indian Creek trail hasn't been maintained
> since the PCT was re-opened.    Trees killed or weakened by fire have been
> crashing down along the trail for some time, it appears, and dense brush
> has grown up around them, from about 3000' to 6000' more or less.    
Climbing
> 4000' in one late fall day is tough enough, but worse when the brush is
> saturated from rain the day before.    Oddly enough, above the snow line
> somewhere above 5000', the fire appears to have been therapeutic and has
> cleared out the brush and thinned out the trees so that cross country travel
> is very pleasant.   I ended up a couple miles east of the trail - I wasn't
> sure since that part is off the maps in the PCT guide book - but by heading
> west and north and taking care to keep going uphill I found it again,
> though I had a cold soggy dry camp, having not found any water all day
> except pools of melted snow at the top, which were frozen hard by dawn.
> 
> So after that, a descent via the PCT that I had missed in 2001 was bound
> to be an improvement.   And it was - the top part down to the damaged area
> is quite scenic at least in comparison to nearby sections, and features 
> a marker at the alleged boundary between the Sierra Nevada and the Cascades.
> I had thought that geological province boundaries were marked by double
> yellow lines (on hwy 70 in this case) but I was wrong here.
> 
> The two crossings of Chips Creek, a couple of miles upstream from Myrtle 
Flat,
> were uneventful and I kept my feet dry, which was good because I had nearly
> dried out from the saturation of the day before.     The reroute across the
> creek was necessitated by a major washout along the steep north side
> rather than by any fire damage in the immediate vicinity.
> 
> But starting there I
> noticed increasing numbers of small 6-8" trees across the trail, normal
> deadfall I supposed, and then for a couple of miles downstream of Williams
> cabin site I thought I was back on Indian Creek.    Frequent trees across
> the trail, thick brush around them over my head in spots, requiring hikers
> to step off the tread onto the steep downhill side and help erode away the
> tread, and probably impassible to stock.      This section was in much 
better
> shape when it was closed due to fire damage in 2001.
> 
> And the various (undamaged but unimproved)
> creek crossings around Myrtle Flat were sufficiently
> slippery that I kept getting my feet wet again.
> 
> Then at about 3700',
> the trouble stopped about as suddenly as it began and the last four
> miles down to Belden were easy hiking again.    And the one and only bridge,
> over the base of Indian Creek, still smelled newly built since the fire.
> 
> I don't know whether the difference is unfinished maintenance, different
> geology/soil, or what, but it was quite remarkable.
> 
> Unfortunately the below-snow belt of 3000-5000' is ideal for growing brush
> and like the chaparal of southern California, can completely grow over the
> trail in a couple of years.    Trail maintenance not being a priority in
> Washington, the burden falls on volunteer trail maintainers.
> 
> Of course the upside of tangled trees and brush is that no ORV's can use
> the trail.   No equestrians either, and I saw no other persons at all
> in two days, though I saw signs of other hikers passing around down trees
> and new 4WD tracks up high in the snow and mud of the road leading to the
> Indian Springs trail.
>