[pct-l] CA Section O trip report

["W Jeffrey" <wjj@earthlink.net>]

Last week Reader, Welder, and I hiked from Cassel-Fall River Mills Road
(N-17) north thru Section O to Castle Crags. Light to moderate rain on
Monday and Tuesday, with warm and dry weather after. Highs in 80s at lower
elevations, and lows around 35 on ridges.

We started hiking around 4 Monday afternoon. The trail was generally easy to
follow.

We reached awesome Burney Falls early the next morning. Leaving Burney Falls
the rain started harder. We had maybe a dozen downed trees between there and
Peavine Creek, none of which presented any real obstacle. The trail junction
west of the bridge at Burney Falls is not marked, but just follow directions
in the book. Camp the second night was on a knoll past Peavine Creek.

Although PCTA reports patchy snow above 6000', starting in O-3 we found much
snow starting at 5300 feet on the north slopes. While the trail could
usually be located, it took time to find, and we followed the summit road
here for about 3 or 4 miles as recommended in the book. Thankfully the rain
stopped.

On O-4 the trail tread is lost in a couple of new clear cuts near sections 7
and 6. Stay high if you lose the trail and look for it on the far side of
the clearcut. We found in some clearcuts they not only left logs and other
debris blocking the route but planted new seedlings ON the trail tread
itself.

There were many blowdowns in north end of section 7, but only a couple were
at all difficult. Still, surprising to see after all the work done there
last year.

From Bartle Gap we followed the road towards Mushroom Rock, still
encountering quite a bit of snow. Camp was on a small piece of snowless
road. The view from Mushroom Rock was spectacular, with Mt. Shasta
dominating the northern view.

Beyond this we simply walked crosscountry on the ridge line for some
distance, staying back from the crevasses threatening the steep snow slopes
on the north side of the ridge.

The trail west of Alder Creek trail in O-6 was overgrown and difficult to
locate - we first thought it was an old abandoned trail. This was still much
easier than the road on the north side which was snowbound.

We followed the trail on the south side of Grizzly Peak, where there were
several sidehill snow traverses, and a couple of snow-filled gullies,
including one we skirted near Devils Canyon because of rotted and collapsed
snow.

The snow continued into Deer Creek to about 4800 feet, beyond which no more
snow was encountered. Blowdowns were encountered only occassionally and were
usually not difficult for hikers. Camp was on the ridge between Deer and
Butcherknife Creeks.

The trail in the canyon which leads to Trough Creek was quite beautiful,
with very tall firs, Dogwood in full bloom, and lush vegetation which has
already overgrown the trail.

Water was generally available as per the book text. We found a few seasonal
streams reached higher than mapped, but suspect these will dry quickly. No
difficult water crossings were encountered.

Total time on the trail was 5 days (Monday evening until Saturday lunch) and
distance covered was 100 miles. We used trekking poles but not ice axes and
crampons, although I would recommend ice axes to those not comfortable or
experienced with high angle snow travel.

I left Reader and Welder at the lodge on Highway 36 and they should now be
on their way north to Burney. Reader hiked from Campo to Belden last year
and hopes to complete the trail this summer.

AsABat (Bill Jeffrey)
aa6j@amsat.org
www.qsl.net/aa6j/pct


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