PCT Day 82

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PCT Day 82, 02 August 2022 (Tuesday)

“Moving Day Part 1”

Start Location:	Mt. Shasta City	Destination:	Ashland, OR
PCT Miles Day 82:	0	Cum PCT Miles:	1,501.2
Non-PCT Miles Day 82:	0	Cum All Miles:	1602.9
PCT Miles Remaining:	1,151.4
Elevation Gain Day 82:	0	Cum Elevation Gain:	256,619

After getting more information on the various fires, the plan has changed.  Because of the fires near Crater Lake, it no longer makes sense to hike north to there from Ashland.  It seems there would be a high probability of getting stuck there, or having to hike back to Ashland.  There are limited transportation options from Crater Lake, and I would only have limited food left to hike back to Ashland.

I could try to get to somewhere further north of Crater Lake and start hiking from there, but it’s very difficult to get to the trail in central Oregon.  And there is already another pre-existing closure in central Oregon that is very hard to get around.  So, hiking north almost anywhere in Oregon at this time is a bit futile.

In my assessment, it seems like the best thing to do right now is to skip up to Washington, hike to the Canadian border, then reassess where to hike next based on current conditions and closures.  I was really hoping to finish the hike at the Canadian border, and it will be a bit anti-climactic to not do that, but it’s just not in the cards for that to happen.

Regardless of plans, the first step is leaving Mount Shasta, and going to Ashland Oregon still seems like a logical first step. I shared a ride to Ashland with a couple other hikers that I met on trail in the last week or so.  But from here, our plans are a little divergent for various reasons.

There are a lot of other PCT hikers here in Ashland, all trying to figure out where to go from here and how to get there.  My guess is that many will do what I am doing, go to Portland Oregon, and then to Cascade Locks Oregon, which is right on the border of Oregon and Washington.  Then hike north from there.  The negative to this plan is that it seems there will be another over-sized bubble of hikers heading into Washington.  But there are really no other good options right now.

 

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