#or section d

Photo credit: Lyn Topinka (USGS)

I have this and several more posts of photographs from "Cheeseburger's" 2014 thru-hike.  You can connect with his blog at www.cheeseburgerhikes.blogspot.com

When I was reviewing countless accounts of PCT thru hikes to find material for The Pacific Crest Trailside Readers, a pattern emerged.  Since most accounts begin in the south and finish in the north, topics predictably unfolded like this:

Preparation for the trail

Arrival at Campo and the starting the trail

Adjustment to the rigors of the trail (feet, dirt, heat, lack of water)

Trail culture (trail names, trail magic, trail angels, trail towns, etc.)

Getting through the desert

Entering the High Sierra (the account is three quarters done and yet the trail has yet to reach the half way mark)

Between I - 80 (Donner Pass) to crossing the Columbia River on the Bridge of the Gods. . . a distance of 1000 miles . . . gets reduced to a story or two mostly about making big miles through endless forests; perhaps a tale about a fire re-route

Once Washington is reached, there tend to be stories of rain or snow

Anticipation of the end of the trail

Reaching Manning Park

Northern California and Oregon often receive a disproportionate lack of attention despite being stunningly beautiful.  Cheeseburger's photos of some of the Oregon volcanoes help to remind us of what a glorious string of pearls those peaks are.

Several stories included in The Pacific Crest Trailside Reader touch on the history of the trail. Barney Mann's "Where the Pacific Crest Trail Begins: Is It Campo? Manning Park? No, It's Montgomery -- The Search for Montgomery" and Bob Cox's "Blazes on the Skyline" both touch on some of the history of the trail.  Mann's story about Catherine Montgomery has a different spin on the origin of the idea of a crest trail.

The early diamond-shaped signs Gerald Williams mentions are increasingly rare and seldom seen on the PCT.  

By Gerald W. Williams

The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail extends along the crest of the Cascade Range in Washington, Oregon, and along the Sierra Nevada in California.  The trail is 2,650 miles long, extending from the Canadian border on the north to the Mexican border on the south. 

The first suggestion for a route along the crest of the Cascade Range in Oregon was apparently made by Lewis A. McArthur in an article appearing in the Portland Oregon Journal on December 27, 1915.  He stated, in part:  "The time is not far distant when serious thought will be given to the proposition of constructing a passable wagon road on or near the summit of the Cascade range from the Columbia river to the California line.  Such a road will open an almost incomparable storehouse of magnificent scenery of the most varied type.  The most important feature of the plan is that the road is feasible from an engineering standpoint and it can be built and used, section at a time. It will require effort to bring the plan to its accomplishment but it can be done in time. Such a road as outlined above would have considerable value from other than scenic features.  It would be of tremendous value to the forest service in fire fighting, for at the present time men and material have to be taken into most of the territory by pack horses, when fires are off the main roads.  It has been suggested that the road also would have a military value." 

By 1920, a ten-foot wide road was proposed in the Oregon Cascades to connect Crater Lake and Mt. Hood.  The south portion of the road, from Crater Lake northward to the Minto Trail near Three Fingered Jack, was field examined between July 10 and October 10, 1920, by F.W. Cleator, F.B. Lenzie, and E.R. Johnson from the Forest Service, while the north portion was examined by the Bureau of Public Roads.  On the south end, the road line was blazed for the first 40 miles, using the "Skyline blaze" which is a long tree blaze with a notch in the center.  The cost estimate for the entire skyline road was around $1.5 million dollars, which at the time effectively killed the project, because in 1920 it was a very expensive cost for a road over 300 miles long!  However, certain portions of the proposed road were constructed by 1930, including a section from Crater Lake to Crescent Lake, part of Century Drive along the eastern side of the crest, and a portion between Mt. Hood and Lost Lake on the northern end of the proposed road.  If such a road, before it became a trail, had been constructed down the crest of the Cascade Range it would have dramatically changed the wilderness and roadless area debates and battles from the late 1960s until today.  A “skyline trail” was authorized over much of the same route as blazed by the road team.  

The Skyline Trail in Oregon and Cascade Crest Trail in Washington proved to be increasingly popular.  In 1934 William L. Boyer made a reconnaissance of the trails and issued a detailed report.  This included recommendations on relocation of hazardous or inconvenient stream fords; alternative routes over portions of the trail, evaluation of campsites and stock feed, and recommendations for building of shelters, latrines, and garbage pits; and recommendations on trail signs and maps.  Much of the work recommended was carried out with CCC help.  The Oregon portion of the trail was essentially complete by the middle 1930s, but there were still areas that were not connected.

Work on the Cascade Crest Trail along the crest of the Cascade Range in Washington State was carried on during the mid-1930s.  The location for the Washington portion of the trail began at Monument 78 on the Canadian border on July 15, 1935, and was completed on October 10 on the Columbia River at Sepsecan.  Five field parties undertook the task.  Historian Craig Holstine, in his 1994 book about the history of the Wenatchee National Forest, noted that the field parties were instructed to “to lay out the trail so that it passed through scenic country, kept as close to the summit as practicable, and provided a wide, easy grade.  The groups were also directed to note wildlife, check hunting grounds, and test the fishing in streams and lakes.”  Work on the Washington portion of the Cascade Crest Trail started soon afterwards by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  The Forest Service desired to continue the trail to the south in Region 5 (California), where the John Muir Trail had been built in the central Sierra Nevada.  

In the USFS Regional Office recreation designer Fred Cleator favored the building of shelters for hikers and those on horseback along the trails.  The availability of CCC labor helped to implement this program.  With relief labor, there were scores of trail shelters built along the Skyline and Cascade Crest Trails.  These were small, simple, open-front shelters called the Adirondack-style, built of whatever wood was available and roofed and sided with shakes.  They were to be located about one day’s hike apart.  Other shelters of a similar type were built on the other forest trails for the convenience of Forest Service fire-fighters, packers, and others engaged in the business of managing the national forests.

The designer of the diamond shaped Skyline Trail sign which appeared in 1939 to replace the skyline tree blaze is unknown.  Today the signs marking the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail are distinctively shaped "pregnant triangles" which is the trademark for all National Scenic Trails. 

I left well before light on Monday, November 7th to drive north to Portland for the first of a series of events featuring The Pacific Crest Trailside Reader.  My first stop was to deliver two copies of the Oregon/Washington volume to contributor, Dave Kolb, a forest ranger whose responsibilities included the Oregon Skyline Trail between Diamond Peak - Windigo Pass - Mt. Thielsen back in the 1950s.  Dave worked with me to craft some of his memories into "Lost Horses and Mules on the PCT and Other Forest Service Stories".

The evening, at Powell's Hawthorne store, contributors Mark Larabee, Lynn Wunische, and Carolyn "Sweet Goat Mama" joined me for a reading.  Thanks to the support of the Mt. Hood Chapter of the PCTA (Tammy, John, and Dana), we had some 100 people cramming the stacks of the store listening to our stories.  It couldn't have been a better kick-off to the week.  

From Portland, I headed north to Olympia where contributor Dennis Larsen joined me and about 40 people at the magnificent LOTT Center, a LEED Gold state-of-the-art facility, for Tuesday evening.  Dennis authored "The 1853-54 Naches Pass Wagon Road" story which talks about some of the history of the area that the contemporary PCT passes through north of Mt. Rainier.  A special thank you to Gail Wootan who was instrumental in making the event happen.

(Photo credit - Dennis Larsen) - The old Naches Pass Trail

The Ravenna Third Place Books in Seattle also was filled beyond capacity.  Contributors Tom "Bullfrog" Griffin, Linda "Blue Butterfly" Bakkar, Bob Birkby, and I read our stories. As with virtually all stops on this trip the audience included a cross-section of thru-hikers, section hikers, day hikers, and armchair hikers.