[pct-l] Mt. Baden Powell Bypass

[kevin at antelecom.net (Kevin Corcoran)]

Hi Marge,
My post last year recommended leaving the trail at Vincent Gap (VG), 
on either the Manzanita Trail heading down toward the desert, or if 
the MT is still buried, take the road down (8W04) which roughly 
parallels it, to South Fork CG. From there you'd take the South Fork 
Trail (marked 9W02 on Map D6) back up to the PCT at Islip Saddle 
(IS).  If you take the road (8W04), take it a few miles after it 
turns to pavement, and look for the sign to S Fk CG (left).
In 2005 many thrus said that Mt Williamson wasn't very achievable, 
and so they ended up staying on the Angeles Crest Hwy from Islip 
Saddle to Three Points.
Some hikers who took the Manzanita Trail in 05 said the South Fk 
Trail wasn't marked out of South Fork CG, but it's the trail that 
goes straight south, up into the canyon. No other trail does so.
The highway did collapse last yr, and it is still closed between VG 
and IS, and those hikers who hiked on the highway between VG and IS 
in 2005 complained of harassment from state highway workers, I 
remember. That section of the highway is subject to massive 
avalanches in the northwestern shutes of Mt B-P.
If the S Fk Trail, for whatever reason, is impassable, another route 
could be used but it involves hiking over a pass:   backtracking to S 
Fk CG, take the signed trail to Devil's Punchbowl; when nearly to DP, 
take the signed turnoff to Burkhardt Trail. Burkhardt ties into the 
PCT on Map D7 in the Rattlesnake / Cooper Canyon area. in 05 some 
hikers did take this route as well, if I remember right.
If you find Burkhardt Pass impassable, then backtrack to Devil's 
Punchbowl and use the phone there to get a ride out, because your 
next road access is at Mill Creek Summit (N2) on the Angeles Forest 
Hwy, map D9; That point is many miles of unsafe road-walking away.

Apart from walking the highway (and I can't speak for what that might 
be like) my best guess is that your optimal route would be to leave 
the PCT at Vincent Gap on the Manzanita Tr to S Fk CG; ascend the 
South Fork Trail to Hwy 2 at Islip Saddle; then walk the Angeles 
Crest highway to Eagle's Roost Picnic Area, where the PCT crosses 
(Mile 391.9, map D7) and regain it there down into Rattlesnake Cyn.

Kevin




>I would like to hear from those 2005 hikers who chose to by pass Mt. Baden
>Powell due to the snow levels last year.  Where did you leave the PCT and
>where did you come back on, possibly the elevations would help, as well as
>the approximate mileage for the reroute.  We are doing this section after
>the Kickoff and the way the snow is coming down in the higher elevations of
>Southern Calif .(and not just here in Idaho) I would like to have an
>alternate plan.  I am a little confused with the Angles Hiway #2, is some of
>it washed out?  Or what makes it unsafe to hike on, is there possible debris
>coming from up above? Can this hiway be walked entirely between points to
>bypass the elevations of Baden Powell?  I remember last year, Marion the
>Llamalady posted something about a trail detour at lower elevations and
>about a different set of maps.  Also Kevin Corcoran posted something.  So
>anything anyone knows from last years hiking will be greatly appreciated.