[pct-l] Section I information you may need
Diane Soini
diane at santabarbarahikes.com
Mon Jun 22 10:27:28 CDT 2009
I understand many people are southbounding right now. I have
northbounded some of Section I and have some information you may need.
If you are southbounding, you need to cross Falls Creek BEFORE the
confluence of the outflow of Tilden Lake. There is a safe crossing of
the creek on a log that you may or may not see, but as long as you
find a safe crossing before the outflow, you will be ok.
Then you need to hike up the outflow of Tilden Lake to find a safe
crossing. You can come down the Tilden Lake trail, but then you will
have to hike cross-country down Falls Creek until Wilmer Lake for
several miles. The outflow of Wilmer Lake is easily crossed on an
I-beam bridge.
If you don't do this, Falls Creek is extremely dangerous for many
miles and where the trail expects you to cross near Wilmer Lake
requires a ferry boat at the least.
If you're going north, just reverse these instructions. Good luck.
Futher south, there is a log over Stubblefield Canyon creek, however I
was afraid of the log because it had a lot of tangled branches and
ended up swimming part way across, hanging on to my hiking partner's
pack part of the way.
I do not know the conditions of the trail between Kerrick Canyon and
Tuolumne Meadows.
If you are northbounding, there is a detour for the end of Section I
to Leavitt Lake to avoid dangerous conditions descending to Sonora
Pass. The detour also is a little sketchy from what I have heard. I
did a cross-country detour over Emigrant Pass to Kennedy Meadows
Resort instead. It was cross-country for only a short bit and then
there was a trail to Kennedy Lake. I lost the trail at Kennedy Lake
but hiked cross-country through the marshy meadow until I found it
again. The trail down to Kennedy Meadows Resort is wide and very long,
but they have food and ice cream at the store and dining room. There
was almost no snow the entire descent, so if you are sick and tired of
snow, this may be a route you would prefer. You could avoid a resupply
in Bridgeport this way, too, if you're not in need of lots of
supplies. I didn't get a good look at the selection in the store, but
it is a large store with lots of food, but probably not very
hiker-oriented.
I completed Section I by hiking down the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne
and then up to Pleasant Valley and Bear Valley. The Grand Canyon of
the Tuolumne was spectacular. The river does run over the trail in one
spot and you have to climb up rocks to get around. There is a deep
river about 20 feet wide at the bottom of Pleasant Valley that I had
to swim. There were logs over a scary, whitewater portion of the river
downstream, but I didn't want to try this. Swimming was silly, but
strapped in to my pack, the bear can allowed me to float on my back
and I could row myself frantically to the other side. I'm glad I did
not do all this alone. Because of this river, I can't really recommend
our route as a good detour, but if you are up for a 20 foot swim
across a placid river, I say go for it because hiking down the
Tuolumne was absolutely beautiful.
It's nuts out there. Good luck to everyone!
Piper/Diane
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