I Broke My Footpath

Day	130
Current Location	Bend, OR
Miles Hiked	2,001.9
Miles to Go	653.3
Percent of Trail Completed	75.4%

It was bound to happen sooner or later.

Multiple wildfires are devastating all three states on the PCT this summer. Despite these fires, my tramily was lucky to be able to walk through all of California without skipping any sections.

We had no fires whatsoever in Southern California. In NorCal, we were early enough to make it through the Lassen area before the Park Fire erupted. Approaching the Shelly Fire a few weeks later, the fire became contained enough for us to safely walk to the town of Etna. From Etna we were able to roadwalk around the PCT closure.

Oregon Fires

Currently there is a 23-mile closure in Crater Lake National Park due to the Middle Fork Fire. Just a hair north, a lightning storm in July ignited a complex of fires, and the PCT is closed again for an additional 50 miles.

Approaching this problem area, my group was optimistic that we would be able to find an alternate route, as we had done with the Shelly Fire. I mapped out a route that would take us from Crater Lake to the Shelter Cove Resort using roads and non-PCT trails.

With no cell service on trail, I couldn’t check the most up-to-date information on the fires, but on paper, the route looked good. “I’ll just double check in Crater Lake,” I told myself.

 

Confused at Crater Lake

When we arrived in Crater Lake, we tried to verify that our planned route was doable. This turned out to be harder than I expected.

We first stopped at the store in Mazama Village to pick up resupply packages. At the store there was an information desk with maps showing the current fire containment.

The first half of our intended route would take us on highway 138 by Diamond Lake. When we looked at Diamond Lake on the map, the store employee said that the fire nearby was mostly contained and “no big deal.” We’d be able to walk through the area no problem, she said.

Feeling good that the first half of our route was viable, we went across the parking lot to Annie Creek Restaurant for breakfast. Using their spotty wifi, we tried to continue our research. We wanted to be sure that the second half of the route, through the Diamond Peak Wilderness, was possible.

“Oh crap. Have you seen this?” Crumbs asked over breakfast and handed me their phone. They had found a link to a map on the PCT Closures app.

The PDF showed the entire Diamond Peak Wilderness area closed, rendering our route impossible. It was not clear, however, if the map was up-to-date or not.

After breakfast we ran into two park rangers who were giving impromptu talks to passing tourists about the fires. I told them where we were trying to go but they were not able to advise us. I guess it was outside of their area of expertise.

We needed more information before proceeding. Was Diamond Peak Wilderness still closed? Were there other closures/fires we didn’t know about?

I proposed that we walk to the park’s main ranger station. Surely speaking face-to-face with a ranger would give us the answers we sought. He would be able to tell us if our route was viable!

He wasn’t. He didn’t know. But, he did offer to Google it for us.

After a few minutes on his laptop, he pulled up the same map Crumbs had found earlier on their phone. His version had a line on the bottom that said “Effective until October 2024, unless rescinded.”

“Ah, ok,” I said. “So it’s definitely still closed.”

“Yeah,” he replied. “Wellll…. Maybe,” he continued. “The forest service is notorious for not updating their website. It’s possible that it has been rescinded.”

After some prompting, he gave me a phone number for the Crescent Ranger District, where I could call to confirm the closure.

I pulled out my phone. No service.

I was just about to ask to use the ranger’s landline when the building’s power went out.

To make a phone call, the ranger said, we would have to walk two miles up the road to the lodge where there was wifi.

After a long hot slog up the hill, we arrived at the lodge to discover that the power was out there too.

Defeated, we sat in the dark in the lodge lobby to regroup.

I checked my phone again and discovered that I now had just enough service to make a phone call. I called the Ranger District number and got a recorded message: their office was closed on Sundays. You guessed it – it was a Sunday.

Making the Call

The day was getting late and we had to make a decision. We weighed our options. We ruled out my original proposed route. Too risky. There were too many unanswered questions.

That left us with two options: 1) walk the long way around on busy highways (138, 97, and 58); or 2) skip.

The highway option also had unknowns. Was it safe? From my phone I looked at satellite images of the roads in question. It appeared that there was often little to no shoulder on these busy roads.

How bad would the smoke be? In the previous days, the air quality index had reached over 200. Over 200 is considered to be in the “Very Unhealthy” category.

Those considerations in mind, paired with the fact that we had a hard time getting reliable fire/closures updates, I realized I was ready to skip.

I voiced my opinion and the others reluctantly agreed. It was time. Time to face reality.

The next morning we hitched from Crater Lake to Shelter Cove, skipping 83 miles of PCT. It was a bummer, but we know that it is just part of the PCT experience. Safety is always more important than a continuous footpath.

What about Washington?

It’s probably good that we ripped off that bandaid now, because Washington is a mess.

There are currently 105 miles of PCT closures due to fires, but in reality it’s much much more. The closures are in remote areas, making traveling around them difficult. I wish you could walk right up to the closure, then teleport to where the trail reopens, but that’s not how it works. Access by car is limited. In order to get to a main road, we may have to get off/back on the trail before/after the closure area. Many other hikers have had to skip huge distances to get around the fires.

I’m starting to look into my options and brainstorm alternatives for Washington. I have no idea how it will play out for me and my tramily, but we are trying to stay both optimistic AND realistic. Stay tuned!