[pct-l] Belden to ~Chester walk-around and related

[Halfmile]

Gadget,
When I hiked through Etna Summit in July I noticed several hiker's
cars parked there, including Yeti's Subaru with two windows smashed
out. They do have a small parking area and I am sure break-ins are
rare, but I would be nervous about parking my car there. I would check
with either the RV park in Seiad Valley or the Hiker Hut in Etna to
see if some kind of parking arrangements could be worked out.

Bus service was available between Etna and Seiad Valley, but it did
not run on the weekends. I found it a somewhat difficult (4 hour)
hitch around the fire closure on a Saturday.

-Halfmile

http://www.alderbrookmanor.com/hikershut.htm

On Sat, Sep 20, 2008 at 7:22 PM, Brian Lewis <brianle8 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Though I had almost sworn I wouldn't go south to pick up missing pieces this
> year unless all of the fire-closed trail opened up, some other thru's are
> thinking of doing this (soon), and a friend might help me (and maybe
> them) with transportation, so maybe I'll deal with a bit more road walk and
> go down to truly finish this year (still TBD, depends on my friend's
> schedule).
>
> I've got a few questions in case anyone has any solid data to help.
>
> pcta.org says: "The PCT is CLOSED approximately 5 miles from Belden to the
> Plumas and Lassen National Forest boundary. NO reroutes available! Pick up
> the trail at Highway 36"
> I'm not sure what they mean when they say no reroutes are available.  My
> somewhat dated copy of Streets & Trips software suggests about a 36 mile
> roadwalk from Belden.  The route it suggests starts by going just under 2
> miles east on SR-70, then taking Caribou Road north for 12 miles and then
> transitioning on that to the Prattville Butt Reservoir road for 9 miles,
> then taking SR-36 to the PCT (and yes, then walking or hitching back maybe 8
> miles to get to Chester for transport out).
> Question (1) Can anyone with local knowledge comment on whether this is a
> credible route or not?  It doesn't have to be super super safe, so long as
> it isn't (actually, not just rumored to be) suicidal or otherwise
> impractical.
> And of course, if you're aware of a better alternative, that would be great
> particularly if enough data is provided both to find the route and engender
> confidence that it actually exists and works.
>
> Also, the options to get home from Chester afterwards appear to be (a) local
> bus to Quincy, or (b) hitch somewhere.  From Quincy it seems like the
> options are (a) very infrequent buses to Chico (1 per week) or Reno (2 per
> week), or (b) hitch somewhere.
> Question (2) If anyone has any other ideas in that regard, it would be
> appreciated.  ?
>
> Question (3) While I did walk to the Etna-Summit road on the PCT in mid-July
> and hitched from Etna to Seiad Valley, I don't have a super strong recall of
> whether there's a good place to park a car at either end; if I go, my friend
> would park and hike in a ways north from Etna Summit, then park again later
> at Seiad Valley and walk south until he met up with me on trail.    I think
> that just after coming off trail from the south to Etna Summit road there's
> an area where one could park, and I saw cars parked at least temporarily
> near the trailhead going north, so I think this would be okay and legal
> ? (yes, I recognize the risk of break-in if the car is left there --- but
> what else is a fella to do?)
>
> Question (4) Similar question about parking at Seiad Valley; when I was
> there earlier this summer I didn't have a car to worry about.  Maybe the RV
> place would allow parking for a small fee or something, or perhaps somewhere
> near the store/post office?
>
> Thanks in advance for any insights on the above (both for me, and for up to
> three other thru-hikers currently at ALDA West but very soon about to try to
> get down to NorCal).
>
>
>
>               Gadget '08,  http://postholer.com/brianle
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-l mailing list
> Pct-l at backcountry.net
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>