[pct-l] quincy to burney falls trip report

[judson at jeffnet.org (Judson)]

Howdy, y'all-

I just returned from completing the Quincy to Burney Falls section of 
the PCT. What a wonderful trip! I could easily write a book about my 
experiences, but let me winnow it down to the important stuff.

Areas of difficult trail conditions:
1. Ascending from the Middle Fork Feather River canyon- the first bit up 
to Deadman Saddle is ridiculous, as bad as anything I've ever seen, 
including Section O. Not markedly better than if there had been no 
trail. Better from the saddle to Bear Cr. The ascent past Lookout Rock 
was brushy, but not in a way that made things difficult, just a bit 
annoying. Perplexingly, there was one 2-mile chunk going up to Lookout 
Rock that had been freshly, and very nicely, maintained. The trail both 
north and south of this, however, was notably unmaintained. Quite odd. 
*IMPORTANT NOTE!* There have been reports of crazed raptors attacking 
hikers south of Sierra City and in the Bucks Lake Wilderness. You can 
add the Middle Fork to that list. Perhaps 0.5 mi. past Bear Cr., the 
trail passes directly under an active hawks' nest, about 40' up in a 
tree. There were 2 adults in attendance, and I could hear the young 
ones. I hot-footed it up the trail, but one of the adults followed me, 
diving every 10 seconds or so, for a freakin' mile! It just would not 
let it go. I defended myself by waving my trekking poles above my head, 
but it was still an unpleasant experience. Perhaps "Hawkbait" should be 
my trail name?

2. Ascending Chips Cr. from Belden: The first bit to Indian Cr. was 
covered in brush to the point where I was wading chest-deep and feeling 
with my feet. ("Brushbuster" wouldn't be a bad trailname, either) After 
that, it was better until the trail levels out at the top of the 4 
switchbacks. VERY brushy from there to near the site of Williams Cabins, 
when you re-enter forest. Slowed progress to about 1 mph.  Throughout 
the rest of Chips Cr., water was a big issue- having too much of it, 
that is. There were 3 crossings where I was forced to wade, 2 of them 
the reroute which crosses Chips Cr. twice. Nothing difficult, just wet. 
This reroute is horribly marked- well, actually, it's not marked at all- 
and the trail was quite faint in places. In the meadows at the top of 
the canyon, before you switchback up to Poison Spring, the trail is 
almost non-existent in places and is marked poorly with widely-spaced 
cairns.

3. Descending from Butt Mtn. jct.: there is a section of perhaps 1/2 mi. 
where the chapparal completely obscures the trail. Not a good day for 
shorts. In places I had to lean forward with all my body weight just to 
force a way through the stiff manzanita.

4. Hat Cr. Rim: in burned area, brushy but actually not bad, and easy to 
follow. After Cache 22, things change. The trail becomes a stock 
driveway, with tons of cow trails leading off which look every bit as 
established as the PCT. There are pink ribbons, but these are not trail 
markers. There are no PCT markers anywhere in this section until after 
you begin to descend from the rim. At the bottom of the descent to the 
small reservoir 1.9 mi. N of Cache 22, it gets really confusing. Right 
when it levels off, there is a very well-beaten trail forking off to the 
left, marked with pink ribbons. This is NOT the PCT. An unmarked trail 
continues along a fenceline to the scummy little reservoir. This is the 
PCT, though there is nothing to indicate that's the case. Upon reaching 
the bovine-besmirched cesspool, head left across its earthen dam and 
through a gate. For the next mile and a half, until the trail reaches 
the rim again, cairns are the only indication that you're on the trail, 
which is very faint in places.

Water situation: there was plenty. Virtually everthing mentioned in the 
guidebook has water. In Chips Cr. canyon, I crossed 15-20 running 
streams of various sizes! The grassy swale (Soldier Cr.) south of Hwy. 
36, which the book mentions as always dry, had enough water to go 
canoeing. On Hat Cr. Rim, there are now 2 caches. Cache 22 had at least 
20 gallons. Between the new Hat Cr. Rim Viewpoint and the trailhead off 
Hwy. 44, there was another one of perhaps 6 gallons.

Oh, yes, I forgot. In Lassen, there was a significant trail closure when 
I was there. They were doing a planned burn on Prospect Peak (in 
July???) and had closed the PCT from just past Lower Twin Lake to Badger 
Flat. Hikers were supposed to take the alternate through the Cluster 
Lakes area. Well, no surprise, the fire got out of control and they 
closed the alternate, too. From Corral Meadow, I headed up to Summit 
Lake- one wet ford involved, and kind of a sketchy one- and walked the 
road north for 2.4 mi. Here I descended the Nobles Trail- actually a 
gated jeep road- down Hat Cr. 4.1 mi. to rejoin the PCT. This was 
actually 4 mi. shorter than the official PCT, so I didn't mind it too much.

If you have any specific questions on things I didn't mention, feel free 
to ask.

Judson
Ashland