Fires Challenge my Purism

Day	120
Current Location	Ashland, OR
Miles Hiked	1,718.7
Miles to Go	936.5
Percent of Trail Completed	64.7%

I’m in Oregon! It was a big moment when CamelDown, Analogue, and I crossed the border yesterday. The three of us had walked the entire length of California, maintaining a continuous footpath from the border of Mexico to the border of Oregon.

This was not a given. There have been many sections where having to skip miles was a real possibility. There have been trail closures, washed out bridges, and a historic heatwave. Most recently, dodging fires has been the name of the game. Multiple fires in California have required many hikers to skip sections of trail.  

Lucky Timing

My group has been incredibly lucky with our timing around these fires.

•  Currently there is a large section of the PCT closed due to the Park Fire, which has quickly become one of the largest fires in California history. The trail is closed from Belden to the northern boundary of Lassen National Park. When the Park Fire started at the end of July, we were fortunate to already be in Mount Shasta, just north of the affected area.
• Last month the Royal Fire near Truckee broke out just a day after we had safely arrived in town.
• The PCT was closed near the town of Etna due to the Shelly Fire. However just a few days before we approached, the closure was reduced, allowing us to safely hike to the town of Etna.
• Yet another fire, the Donomore Fire had the trail closed at the Oregon border, but reopened in time for us to arrive and safely cross the border.

Resolve

Our ability to maintain the continuous footpath through California has a lot to do with luck, but wouldn’t have happened without a degree of stubbornness. Most other hikers have had to compromise their path in one way or another. Though many were forced to skip ahead due to closures, others simply chose to jump several hundred miles to avoid the mess completely.

I don’t blame them. It avoids a logistical nightmare and potential safety concerns. We decided however, that we wanted to hike as much of the PCT as we safely could, even when it was inconvenient.

Most hikers found a ride to skip around the Shelly Fire closure for example, but when we arrived to Etna, we decided that we would road walk around the trail closure. Being so close to the Oregon border, it was the final piece of the puzzle to complete our footpath through California. To complete this objective we had to find a workaround for the trail closure. We walked 10 miles on the road into the town of Etna, then walked 55 miles to Seiad Valley, roughly paralleling the PCT on roads about ten miles to the east, passing through farmland, tiny towns of rural NorCal, and the Klamath River.

What is a thru-hike?

Thru-hiking means different things to different people. Unlike an organized sport, there is no overarching organization or committee to set the rules. So, we make up our own. It is up to each individual to decide how to define their thru-hike.

For example, some hikers are purists. To a purist, a thru-hike is strictly one continuous footpath from beginning to end. A purist does not allow skipping any sections of trail. The purist of the purists would also not allow for any alternate routes or shortcuts. Safety concerns and trail closures be damned!

On the other end of the spectrum, some hikers are very loose in how they define a thru-hike. They take shortcuts and may even skip large portions of the trail completely. They consider thru-hiking more of a mindset than an exact path, so they feel comfortable jumping around as they see fit. If a section is particularly difficult, dangerous, or boring, they can simply skip it. If they get behind their group or have a deadline to make, they can jump ahead. The trail is just a template, open to creative interpretation.

My Rules

Though I find myself somewhere between these two extremes, I definitely lean much more toward purism. Before beginning the PCT, I considered what a thru-hike would mean to me. I wanted to walk from Mexico to Canada, but it didn’t always have to be on the PCT. I decided that I cared more about a continuous footpath than the precise location of that footpath.

Though the vast majority of my miles have been directly on the PCT, I’ve taken shortcuts and alternate trails/roads when it made sense to do so. In my rules, alternate routes are ok, but skipping sections is not. So far this has been possible. However, I know that I may need to be lenient for the remainder of the hike.

Looking Ahead

Though my group has been lucky to make it all the way through California without breaking the chain, looking ahead to Oregon and Washington, the prospects look grim. Currently there are already three fire closures in Oregon and four in Washington.

This is somewhat typical. There are fires on the PCT every year. To all but the most extreme purists, having to skip sections of the PCT due to closures is inevitable and accepted. The problem with purism is that it’s not realistic, especially on a trail like the PCT. My group knows that the likelihood of maintaining a continuous footpath all the way to Canada is slim, but at the very least we can say we walked the entire state of California. We are proud of that.

Safety is obviously more important than the integrity of a thru-hike. I won’t intentionally put myself in a dangerous situation, nor do I want to be in the way of emergency services and/or the firefighters handling the fires.

We plan to stay safe and flexible and we are looking forward to the adventures that Oregon and Washington will bring, whether it’s on the PCT, an alternate trail, road walk, or even – sigh – skipping around a fire.