Starting and side trips

[Stick]

Well I will be starting April 21st then hitching back to the kick off. I have to be done by Sept 24th. What side trips are worth it? So far I am looking at going over to Mt. Shasta.

[Ender]

Mt. Whitney for sure, since it's right next to the PCT.

[Dr Bob]

Side trips vs alternate routes...

Side trips:

Mt Whitney has been mentioned.

Minor point: 1 or 2 folks waltz right by Eagle Rock, 5 miles N of Barrel Spring. Be sure you go 200-300 yds up to the right to see it. Look for a thin Carsonite post waving in the breeze just to the right of the trail.

Many people go to the top of Mt San Jacinto, but I've usually been there early and the snow has convinced me not to mess with it.

A side trip that I plan to do, after reading of a few others that raved about it, is the 2 mile Mt. Tallac trail at the bottom of p. 124 (N CA guidebook). A hiker wrote that "You can see literally all of Lake Tahoe." The word "Tellec" meant "Great Mountain" in the Washoe Indian dialect. Thought I'd give it a try this time, esp. since it's been described as an easy climb.

Another side trip I will take this time is the Sierra Buttes firetower, p. 161 (N CA Guidebook). I chickened out last time and have charged myself with being a weenie ever since!

My final side trip will be to the Judge Waldo Tree in the Sky Lakes Wilderness in Oregon. The PCT goes close by. I believe the recently posted new corrections/revisions by Ben Schifrin and Wilderness Press give the directions. It's on Map C4. Take Tr 987, then left on Tr 982 to where a side tr leads north to the bottom of Island Lake. 19th century names are carved in the tree by the Judge Waldo expedition trying to save this area for posterity.

Alternate routes: (I totally discount the whines of the purists)

I plan to take the JMT from Reds Meadow (Devils Postpile) to Thousand Island Lake rather than the PCT section there. Much prettier, more water, beautiful lakes.

In the OR/WA Guidebook, I will take the alternate route laid out on Map 5. I've done both routes and the PCT is higher, drier, with no views here.

I will wait til the moment to decide on two alternate route possibiliteis on Maps C7 and C8. They both swing down for good water and camping, whereas I stayed on the higher, viewless, totally dry PCT last time.

Almost (but not quite) everyone takes the Eagle Creek Tr just before the Columbia River and Cascade Locks. Just the cliff walk BEHIND Tunnel Falls is worth it. A big yes from me.

Finally, what one does at the Glacier Peak Detour will depend on how much recent/current rain there is and whether one thinks they have to prove their manhood by risking life and limb wading the Suiattle. With the washouts of last fall it seems like a poor choice, but who knows? If I take the detour, I pray for good weather so I can take Jonathan Ley's alternate route up the Napeequa and up and over High Pass to Buck Creek Pass. That would be terrific. One hiker 2 years ago said the views were the best on the whole PCT.

FWIW, Dr Bob

[Ender]

Minor point: 1 or 2 folks waltz right by Eagle Rock, 5 miles N of Barrel Spring. Be sure you go 200-300 yds up to the right to see it. Look for a thin Carsonite post waving in the breeze just to the right of the trail.

Yes, check out Eagle Rock for sure. It's right next to the trail but you wouldn't know it unless you went up to it and looked at it. I actually camped there in '03... threw down my sleeping bag right in front of the eagle, him guarding over us in the night. It's not too far from a road, maybe a mile away, but once the sun goes down there's almost no traffic at all. That whole area is very pretty, reminded me a lot of some of the shots from Lord of the Rings.

[girlscout]

there's an alternate in lassen that i took because it was a bit shorter and had more water than the pct... can't recall the details now, but it's in the guidebook, maybe 10 miles or so north of drakesbad? anyway, i recommend it, though since i didn't take the pct through there i can't say for sure how much better the alternate is.

there's also the bucks lake alternate, about a day before belden. well, at least yogi describes it as an alternate, walking the road around to bucks summit, but i think if you're jonesing for restaurant food, it's better to just hitch into bucks lake, eat, and hitch back out. that way you get the town food without skipping any pct miles. whether or not you decide to hitch back to bucks summit and skip a few miles of pct in so doing is your own decision! :)

as for side trips, i didn't do alot of those, apart from hitching into town of course. i had done whitney before, so i skipped that. about the only side trip that i really wanted to do was the sierra buttes fire tower. i skipped it because i was feeling crappy that day. this is a much easier side trip for sobo's, because nobo's will have just climbed something like 3000 feet up from sierra city, and the fire tower is an additional 1400 feet or something like that.

[Dr Bob]

Hey, Girlscout. Greetings. You're right. I forgot about that short alternate route on Map N10 in the N CA Guidebook. I took that last time for the same reason: water. You pass 5 bodies of water in about 1.5 miles. I camped at the N end of Cluster Lake. Funny thing there. The lake was filled with tiny red dots, seemingly alive. I used a bandana and it cleared them all out. Good call, GS.

Just in case anyone is listening... on that same map, there is a terrific campsite just as you hit Lower Twin Lake, on a 30 yard (?) side tr to the left, right at the water. Unfortunately someone had grabbed it when I got there.

Walk well, Dr Bob

[chai guy]

My Favorite Side Trips:

1. Deep Creek Hot Springs- 30? Some miles past Big Bear, it's not really a "side trip" as it's right on the trail, but it's a place you'll want to take a zero. Unfortunately the hot springs gets a bad wrap in the Guide Book. The reality is that I've been going there for years and I've never known anyone who got sick from the water. So bring extra food and take a nice zero at one of the best natural hot springs in the U.S.

2. Kernville (city of) You get off at Walker Pass, Hitch into Onyx (a very small town with just a gas station and a P.O.) from there you can take a bus into the town of Kernville. Kernville is a quaint little town on the Kern River, with restaurants, hotels and several outfitters. You can go whitewater rafting on the Kern River, rent mountain or road bikes, or just chill out. It's a nice escape from the dry and desolate terrain you've been hiking on.

3. Fish Creek/Iva Bell Hot Springs
Once you get to Red's Meadow in the Sierra, you can take a Hot Springs Detour to Fish Creek aka Iva Bell. It's about a 12 mile detour off the PCT but well worth it. I was there on 4th of July Weekend and there were only 3 other people there. You can actually take a side trip before you get to Red's Meadow, but waiting till you get to Red's and then resupplying in Mammoth is going to be easier. There are several hot pools and an amazing view of the valley. Absolutely breathtaking, one of my favorite side trips.

4. Mt. Shasta- A must do, even better than Whitney in my opinion. Crampons and an Ice axe are a must, so is a HELMET! There is a lot of loose rock and chaucny especially late in the season. You can rent all of these things in Shasta City, don't forget the helmet, I'm serious!