[pct-l] SoCal closures

[enyapjr at comcast.net]

> The PCT through most of the southern San Jacintos appears to be closed for

> the duration of the hiking season. Are most people just planning to hitch
to 
> Idyllwild from Hwy. 74?


> 
> The closure from the Powerhouse Fire appears to have ended on the last day

> of February. Does anyone have more info on that?


> 
> What other current re-routes/closures are affecting this stretch?

Regarding the Mountain Fire (Desert Divide) closure from Cedar Springs Trail to
Tahquitz Valley Trail - personally, since I am "thru-hiking", I will walk around the 
closure...  There are some phone/power line roads plus some 'trails' mostly used
by MTBers that might be utilized to be off the highways as much as possible -
hopefully an alternate route will be scouted out before thru season (I've heard that
Halfmle might be doing that soon - per 'rumor').  It's 'your' hike, therefore your
decision whether to hitch or not.  ;-)

Re. the Powerhouse Fire, per Anitra Kass (PCTA SoCal rep) on Feb. 6th: "The
 
closure order is going to get extended.  We haven’t even been granted 
access to 
assess the trail yet because the danger of soil moving is 
pretty high.  Also without 
rain, we
 don’t know yet what the soils will do without plants to keep it in 
place.  It will 
not be open for 2014."
But, there still might be a 'slim' chance that Angeles NF will reconsider(?) and open 
'part' of it - but I doubt there is any way that all of it will be opened.
Not to offend any FS individuals, but the USFS bureaucracy is notorious for being
'late' in updating fire & fire closure statuses, plus they go overboard in protecting the
general public in those areas, too.

Keep checking the PCTA trail conditions and closures web page for updates as thru
season approaches, 
<http://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/trail-conditions-and-closures/sections/southern-california/>.

Happy trails!!!
Jim (PITA)