[pct-l] Connecting both PCT's

[Deems]

I'd like to add a small correction to this excellent news post. This trail 
grant will be connecting the Coast Trail to Harrington Mtn at the Boundary 
Trail in the Siskiyou Wilderness; it won't connect to the PCT with this 
planned work grant.  Harrington Mtn is 30 air miles SW of the Red Buttes, 
and 25 air miles west of Paradise lake, where the old Kelsey Trail passed 
through.  It sounds like they will be rebuilding and adding new sections 
along the historic Kelsey trail from the 1850s which connected Crescent City 
and Yreka to supply the gold mining operations. I hiked a section of the 
Boundary Trail/Kelsey Trail past Harrington Mtn in 1991.

The missing section to reach the PCT could go from Harrington Mtn to the Red 
Buttes, and this route is here on my local USFS district. This would follow 
the old Boundary trail north from Harrington thru the Siskiyou Wilderness to 
the Oregon Border, then go east along the Siskiyou Crest to Rattlesnake mtn 
and then connect just north of Upper Devil's peak above Seiad. This missing 
section would add maybe 60-75 more miles, but some of these old trails are 
gone or poorly maintained. I've looked for the old Boundary trail from north 
of Poker Flat, but no luck. One could follow existing trails, some roads, 
some xc, and do the Harrington to Red Buttes today. I would only recommend 
this route (at this time) to a very experienced hiker that can deal with 
very difficult routes, difficult navigation, and crosscountry travel. This 
is some of the wildest country in the lower 48, with dense forests, rough 
country, where almost no one hikes today, and Bigfoot lives carefree.
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A grant has been approved to connect both the PCT's, the Pacific Coast Trail
and the Pacific Crest Trail.

The 50 mile connecting trail will run from Battery Point Lighthouse in
Crescent City to the Pacific Crest Trail in the Siskyous.

It will be completed in 3 years using mostly existing trails. This is just
too darn cool; I'll soon have a trail that connects my home and my heart!

Here's the article from the local paper:
http://www.triplicate.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=2128

Scott
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