Pacific Crest Trail: Southern California: From the Mexican Border to Tuolumne Meadows

PACIFIC CREST TRAIL: SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

FROM THE MEXICAN BORDER TO TUOLUMNE MEADOWS

First edition 1973

Second edition 1977

Third edition 1982

Fourth edition 1989

Fifth edition 1995

Sixth edition 2003

Seventh edition 2020

Copyright © 1973, 1977, 1982, 1989, 1995, 2003, 2020 by Wilderness Press

Cover design: Scott McGrew

Book design: Travis Bryant

Maps: Scott McGrew

Cover photo: © Tandem Ride Photography/Shutterstock. A hiker overlooks the desert floor of Mount Laguna while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.

Frontispiece photo: The PCT follows the bouldery granite and marble beds of the Whitewater River in Section C.

Opposite page: A plaque above a rest spot commemorates author and naturalist Jim Jenkins.

Interior photos: Laura Randall, unless otherwise noted on page; photos on pages 40–43 by Dan R. Lynch

Index: Potomac Indexing LLC

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Randall, Laura, 1967-

Title: Pacific Crest Trail : Southern California, from the Mexican border to Tuolumne Meadows / Laura Randall, Ben Schifrin, Ruby Johnson Jenkins, Thomas Winnett, Jeffrey P. Schaffer.

Description: Seventh edition. | Birmingham, Alabama : Wilderness Press, [2020] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017051196| ISBN 9780899978406 (paperback) | ISBN 9780899978413 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Hiking—Pacific Crest Trail—Guidebooks. | Hiking—California, Southern—Guidebooks. | Walking—Pacific Crest Trail—Guidebooks. | Walking—California—Guidebooks. | Backpacking—Pacific Crest Trail—Guidebooks. | Backpacking—California, Southern—Guidebooks. | Pacific Crest Trail—Guidebooks. | California, Southern—Guidebooks.

Classification: LCC GV199.42.P3 R36 2018 | DDC 796.5109794—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017051196

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Visit wildernesspress.com for a complete listing of our books and for ordering information. Contact us at our website, at facebook.com/wildernesspress1967, or at twitter.com/wilderness1967 with questions or comments. To find out more about who we are and what we’re doing, visit blog.wildernesspress.com.

DISCLAIMER

Although Wilderness Press and the author have made every attempt to ensure that the information in this book is accurate at press time, they are not responsible for any loss, damage, injury, or inconvenience that may occur to anyone while using this book. You are responsible for your own safety and health while in the wilderness. The fact that a trail is described in this book does not mean that it will be safe for you. Be aware that trail conditions can change from day to day. Always check local conditions, know your own limitations, and consult a map.

As any hiker knows, nature and our pathways into it are ever-changing; wildfires reshape whole forests and open up views, floods and landslides obliterate long-established routes, roads and trails change as new routes are built and old trails are abandoned, and businesses close. Your comments on recent developments or changes for future editions are always welcome.

While this guidebook revision has been under development for more than four years, at press time in the summer of 2020, COVID-19 is widely spread at critical levels in California, Oregon, and Washington. The Pacific Crest Trail Association is currently only recommending local, fully self-supported trips on the PCT that don’t include travel to communities along the trail. Follow local regulations and maintain physical distance between non-family members. Explore the PCT locally or visit other beautiful trails near your home until it’s safe to travel more fully. For the latest information on PCT restrictions, visit pcta.org/covid-19.

DEDICATION

To James Charles Jenkins, 1952–1979

Coauthor of the first three editions of this book

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

About This Book

Foreword

Pacific Crest Trail Overview Map and Section Mileage Table

Southern California Overview Map

CHAPTER 1: The PCT: Its History and Use

Conception of the PCT

Some Who Walked and Rode

The PCT in the 21st Century

CHAPTER 2: Planning Your PCT Hike

Trekking Days or Weeks Versus Trekking Months

Physical Fitness

Permits

Internet Research and Apps

Trail Advice

Leave No Trace

Weather

High-Altitude Problems

Trail Registers

Mailing Tips

Federal Government Agencies

Organizations Relevant to the Pacific Crest Trail

Animal and Plant Concerns

CHAPTER 3: PCT Natural History

Geology

Biology

Plant Communities of Southern California’s Pacific Crest Trail

CHAPTER 4: Using This Guide

Our Route Description

Following the Trail

The Maps

Map Legend

SECTION A: Mexican Border to Warner Springs

SECTION B: Warner Springs to San Gorgonio Pass

SECTION C: San Gorgonio Pass to I-15 near Cajon Pass

SECTION D: I-15 near Cajon Pass to Agua Dulce

SECTION E: Agua Dulce to CA 58 near Mojave

SECTION F: CA 58 near Tehachapi Pass to CA 178 at Walker Pass

SECTION G: CA 178 to John Muir Trail Junction

SECTION H: John Muir Trail Junction to Tuolumne Meadows

Recommended Reading and Source Books

About the Authors

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In late 2015 I was approached by the editors at Wilderness Press about updating the 2003 edition of Pacific Crest Trail: Southern California. I had hiked sections of the trail near my home in Los Angeles but was humbled and awed by the task being handed to me: helping a new generation of PCT hikers prepare for and understand more than 900 miles of one of the world’s most famous trails. The Pacific Crest Trail, Volume 1: California, has been an essential resource for anyone planning a PCT trek since it was first published in 1973. The guide was last updated in 2003 by a quartet of writers with impressive backgrounds in outdoor adventure: Wilderness Press founder Thomas Winnett, who died in 2011 at the age of 89; Ben Schifrin and Jeffrey Schaffer; and Ruby Johnson Jenkins, who assumed the fieldwork for her son, James C. Jenkins, after he died in a freeway accident before completing work on the book’s fourth edition.

Their dedication and obvious love for the PCT inspired me and stayed with me throughout my hikes and research. There are many, many others to thank for making the 2020 edition of this book possible: Jordan Summers, author of the 2020 editions of Pacific Crest Trail: Northern California and Pacific Crest Trail: Oregon & Washington; mapping legend Lon Halfmile Cooper; the entire staff of the Pacific Crest Trail Association; trail angels Jeff and Donna Saufley, Mike Herrera, Terrie and Joe Anderson, and many other unnamed folks who provided lifts, unexpected food, and kind words between Campo and Tuolumne Meadows; and Kevin Corcoran and all the volunteer Southern California Trail Gorillas, who have spent countless hours clearing, weed whacking, and doing whatever else it takes to keep the trail clear and safe for all hikers.

A special thanks must go to all those who accompanied me on long and short stretches or offered words and gestures of encouragement during the most challenging times: Ayleen Gontz, Maria Sammis, Anita Vonderheid, Amy Schad, Kit Ross, Donna Marovish, Laura Witten, Elana Verbin, and especially my family: John, Jack, and Theo Kimble for their love and support.

Finally, to the folks at Wilderness Press and AdventureKEEN, for giving me this incredible, life-changing opportunity and whose hard work, dedication, and enthusiasm were instrumental in getting this new edition on bookshelves.

—Laura Randall

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Wilderness Press published its first book on the Pacific Crest Trail, The Pacific Crest Trail, Volume 1: California, in June 1973, more than 47 years ago. Since then, our PCT guidebook series has earned the reputation as the most essential resources available to anyone who is planning a PCT trek.

That first book is now covered by two books: Pacific Crest Trail: Southern California (From the Mexican Border to Yosemite’s Tuolumne Meadows) and Pacific Crest Trail: Northern California (From Tuolumne Meadows to the Oregon Border). A third book, Pacific Crest Trail: Oregon & Washington, first published in 1974, covers the Northwestern part of the PCT. Because only a few users of the Pacific Crest Trail are complete thru-hikers, the division of these texts makes it easier for planning the kind of shorter two- to three-week treks that most hikers do. These new editions feature all new photos and maps. Our detailed maps are based on the most current data available.

We would love to hear your comments or suggestions on how our books can be improved. Contact us at pct.wildernesspress.com, at facebook.com/wildernesspress1967, or at twitter.com/wilderness1967.

Thank you for buying and using this book. We hope it serves you well as you prepare for and set off on an incredible trip along the Pacific Crest Trail.

—Bob Sehlinger, Publisher, Wilderness Press

Pine grosbeak (photographed by David Walker)

FOREWORD

One of the reasons I love outdoor adventures is because they are largely unscripted. Sure, you plan your precious days off and where you’ll go. You meticulously pick your gear, food, and watering holes, and, hopefully, you get in and out of the wilderness without mishap. Life is good.

But the wilderness often throws you a curve, mostly because the backcountry is organized chaos. There may be a trail, even a great one like the Pacific Crest Trail, but it’s often the case that Mother Nature tosses obstructions, such as downed trees, a landslide, a swollen river, a lightning storm, or even a wildfire, in your way. Seasoned veterans of the backcountry have come to expect such obstacles.

Working for the Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA), the nonprofit that protects, preserves, and promotes the Pacific Crest Trail, I regularly see firsthand the amazing work that dedicated volunteers do to keep the trail open and passable for hikers and horseback riders. PCTA staff and volunteers often go to the same places year after year to reopen the trail. Imagine what the trail would be like without this gargantuan effort.

All that says nothing of the risks that are still out there. Rattlesnakes, bears, and mountain lions can change things in a hurry. A simple shift in weather can bring snow at higher elevations, making that planned cowboy campout a little uncomfortable to say the least. We’ve all heard—or lived—stories about someone breaking an ankle or bears stealing food 15 miles from the trailhead. Suddenly, a weekend backpacking trip becomes a survival mission.

This risk comes with the territory. The more we get outside and away from our modern conveniences, the more we become comfortable facing the unknown. I love the anticipation of a backcountry trip. For me, this element of wilderness travel is essential. Rising to meet challenges makes us feel alive. This guidebook will help show you the way and work out the logistics, but you never know what the day will bring. That’s a good thing.

Torreys lupine (photographed by Jordan Summers)

I can tell you it’s always interesting. Personal contact with nature can push us to our limits and challenge our mental capacity to endure and survive. Most times it’s tough but still safe and peaceful. But even experts sometimes find themselves in situations so dangerous it’s foolish. The thing is, you never see it coming. You can be prepared, but each time out is a roll of the dice. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

In testing ourselves outside, we live larger than is possible within the confines of our real world existence. Making good decisions about the weather and when to turn back is part of the challenge and the joy. Outside, I learned how to push my limits and when to back off.

It may be dangerous to, say, dodge a car flying though a downtown crosswalk, but that doesn’t feed my soul. I want to do more than exist. I want to really feel alive. I do this on the trail, slowing down my awareness of time passing, turning minutes into hours, speeding up my heart rate, and sharpening my senses.

Contact with the natural world, wildflowers, flowing streams, wildlife, towering trees, and mountains—large, wild landscapes in general—reveals as much about who we are as it does about the natural world. Outside, we have space and time to look deep inside and reflect. We can put our worldly troubles into perspective and work through whatever it is we need to work through. We spend time in our own heads and realize how little we need to truly live large. On the trail we have time without distraction. We find enlightenment and we emerge stronger.

We build bonds with family and friends over our shared experiences and physical challenges in the wilderness. The friendships I have formed while hiking or climbing mountains are the most meaningful.

It all boils down to this: the trip you are about to take will be life changing. Whether you are going out for 26 miles or 2,650, what you will find on the Pacific Crest Trail will be nothing short of amazing. Most of the people I encounter who’ve hiked on the PCT—whether they’ve day-hiked, section-hiked, or thru-hiked—find rewards. They come away with an understanding about what’s important in life. They have focus and grit. They learn determination out there. It’s worth the price of admission.

The trail can teach us all of these things and more. I have never met anyone who completed a long trip on a trail or river who could not offer some kind of evidence of personal growth. Sure, we complain about the heat, the bugs, the sweat, the stench of our clothes, the dirt under our nails, and the blisters. Oh, the daily suffering! But then we launch with greater passion into the beauty and the grandeur and how small we felt out there. Have you ever seen a mountain lake so blue? A meadow so wonderfully inviting? Has a burger and a beer after a long day’s walk ever tasted better? Ask any of them, even in the middle of whining about the switchbacks, and they’ll tell you instantly how they would do it all again tomorrow.

This is who we are. This is how we live. We suffer, we grow, we feel alive. Then we rinse and repeat. Life is good. Definitely.

—Mark Larabee

PCTA Associate Director of Communications and Marketing

The trail enters the Angeles National Forest above Wrightwood in Section D.

CHAPTER 1

The PCT:

Its History and Use

During the 1800s Americans traveling west toward the Pacific States were confronted with mountain barriers, such as the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada. The idea of making a recreational trek along the crest of these ranges probably never entered anyone’s mind and most likely did not occur until the 1880s. However, relatively early in the 1900s, a party did make a recreational, multiday crest traverse of a part of the Sierra Nevada. From July 8 to July 25, 1913, Charles Booth, accompanied by his wife, Nora, and two friends, Howard Bliss and Elmer Roberts, made a pack trip from Tuolumne Meadows north to Lake Tahoe. Today’s Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) closely follows much of their trek. (Note: For brevity in this book, we refer to the Pacific Crest Trail as the PCT. The official name is the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, abbreviated PCNST. However, that abbreviation is more cumbersome, and essentially no one uses it.)

CONCEPTION OF THE PCT

One of the earliest proposals for the creation of a Pacific Crest Trail is contained in the book Pacific Crest Trails by Joseph T. Hazard (Superior Publishing Co., 1946). He writes that, in 1926, Catherine Montgomery, an avid outdoorswoman and teacher at the Western Washington College of Education in Bellingham, suggested to him that there should be:

A high winding trail down the heights of our western mountains with mile markers and shelter huts—like these pictures I’ll show you of the Long Trail of the Appalachians—from the Canadian Border to the Mexican Boundary Line!

Hazard writes that, on that very night, he conveyed Montgomery’s suggestion to the Mount Baker Club of Bellingham, which was enthusiastic about it. He says that soon a number of other mountain clubs and outdoors organizations in the Pacific Northwest adopted the idea and set about promoting it.

More recent research has unearthed evidence that the first written record of the idea for the PCT occurred even earlier than Montgomery’s plea. In 1918 a U.S. Forest Service ranger in Oregon named Fred W. Cleator led a six-man crew in routing and posting a road from Mount Hood to Crater Lake. However, the budget was cut and so the road was left as a trail. Named the Oregon Skyline Trail, it was one of the early links of the PCT. Cleator’s pencil-scrawled field diary, discovered by academic researchers in 2014, includes an August 20, 1918, entry in which he speculates that a Skyline Trail the full length of the Cascades in Washington and Oregon, joining a similar trail in the Sierras of California, would be a great tourist advertisement and fine to plan upon. In 1928 Cleator became supervisor of recreation for Region 6 (Oregon and Washington) of the U.S. Forest Service. He established and began to develop the Cascade Crest Trail, a route down the spine of Washington from Canada to the Columbia River. Later, he extended the Oregon Skyline Trail at both ends so that it, too, traversed a whole state. In 1937 Region 6 of the U.S. Forest Service developed a design for PCT markers and posted them from the Canadian border to the California border.

But the U.S. Forest Service’s Region 5, which includes California, did not follow this lead. Eventually, a private citizen provided the real spark, not only for a California segment of the PCT but indeed for the PCT itself. In the early 1930s the idea of a Pacific Crest Trail entered the mind of Clinton C. Clarke of Pasadena, California, who was then chairman of the executive committee of the Mountain League of Los Angeles County. A graduate of Harvard who moved west and spent summers trekking the high Sierras, Clarke launched a passionate one-man letter-writing campaign, urging the heads of the U.S. Forest Service, Sierra Club, and other outdoors clubs to consider a supertrail from Mexico to Canada.

A plaque commemorates the completion of the Pacific Crest Trail in 1993.

In March, 1932, writes Clarke in The Pacific Crest Trailway (The Pacific Crest Trail System Conference, 1945), he proposed to the United States Forest and National Park Services the project of a continuous wilderness trail across the United States from Canada to Mexico. . . . The plan was to build a trail along the summit divides of the mountain ranges of these states, traversing the best scenic areas and maintaining an absolute wilderness character. For years, Clarke insisted on calling his proposed wilderness corridor the John Muir Trail, but eventually relented to protests that the name belonged exclusively to the High Sierras area where Muir’s legacy is so distinguished. When Harold C. Bryant, acting director of the National Park Service, wrote to Clarke in 1934 with several other name suggestions, Clarke gave in and embraced one of them, the Pacific Crest Trail.

The proposal included the formation of additional Mountain Leagues in Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco by representatives of youth organizations and hiking and mountaineering clubs, similar to the one in Los Angeles. These Mountain Leagues would then take the lead in promoting the extension of the John Muir Trail northward and southward to complete a pathway from border to border. When it became evident that more than Mountain Leagues were needed for such a major undertaking, Clarke led the formation of the Pacific Crest Trail System Conference, with representatives from the three Pacific Coast states. He served as its president for 25 years.

As early as January 1935, Clarke published a handbook/guide to the PCT, giving the route in rather sketchy terms: The Trail goes east of Heart Lake, then south across granite fields to the junction of Piute and Evolution Creeks. This covers about 9 miles.

In the summer of 1935—and again the next three summers—groups of boys under the sponsorship of the YMCA explored the PCT route in relays, proceeding from Mexico on June 15, 1935, to Canada on August 12, 1938. This exploration was under the guidance of a YMCA secretary, Warren L. Rogers, who served as executive secretary of the Pacific Crest Trail System Conference from 1932 to 1957, when Clarke died (at age 84) and the conference dissolved. (Rogers was an enthusiastic hiker—and mountaineer—despite a bout with polio as a child that left him with a limp.) On his own, Rogers more or less kept the idea of the PCT alive until hiking and trails began receiving national attention in the 1960s. He launched a determined campaign to take possession of Clarke’s papers after his death and continued to promote the trail and its joys through correspondence, camping magazines, and radio shows almost to the time of his death in 1992 at age 83.

National Trails System

In 1965 the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, a federal agency, appointed a commission to conduct a nationwide trails study. The commission, noting that walking for pleasure was second only to driving for pleasure as the most popular recreational activity in America, recommended establishing a national system of trails of two kinds—long National Scenic Trails in the hinterlands and shorter National Recreation Trails in and near metropolitan areas. The commission recommended that Congress establish four scenic trails—the already existing Appalachian Trail, the partly existing Pacific Crest Trail, the Potomac Heritage Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail. Congress responded by passing, in 1968, the National Trails System Act, which set the framework for a system of trails and specifically made the Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trails the first two National Scenic Trails.

Today, there are 11 National Scenic Trails, totaling more than 18,000 miles, within the National Trails System. They are long-distance trails (more than 100 miles long) and are recreational in nature. Just as wonderful for a short day visit as a long-distance backpacking adventure, these trails call to all who want to explore America’s natural landscapes.

The Proposed Route

Meanwhile, in California, the U.S. Forest Service in 1965 had held a series of meetings about a route for the PCT in the state. These meetings involved people from the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, the State Division of Parks and Beaches, and other government bodies charged with responsibility over areas where the trail might go. These people decided that so much time had elapsed since Clarke had drawn his route that they should essentially start all over. Of course, it was pretty obvious that segments like the John Muir Trail would not be overlooked in choosing a new route through California. By the end of 1965 a proposed route had been drawn onto maps. (We don’t say mapped because that would imply that someone had actually covered the route in the field.)

When Congress, in the 1968 law, created a citizens’ advisory council for the PCT, it was the route devised in 1965 that the U.S. Forest Service presented to the council as a first draft of the final PCT. This body of citizens was to decide all the details of the final route; the U.S. Forest Service said it would adopt whatever the citizens wanted. The advisory council was also to concern itself with standards for the physical nature of the trail, markers to be erected along the trail, and the administration of the trail and its use.

In 1972 the council agreed on a route, and the U.S. Forest Service put it onto maps for internal use. Because much of the agreed-upon route was cross-country, these maps were sent to the various national forests along the route, for them to mark a temporary route in the places where no trail existed along the final PCT. This they did—but not always after fieldwork. The result was that the maps made available to the public in June 1972 showing the final proposed route and the temporary detours did not correspond to what was on the ground in many places. A common flaw was that the U.S. Forest Service would base a segment on a preexisting U.S. Forest Service map that was incorrect, showing a trail where there was none.

Perfect or not, the final proposed route was sent to Washington for publication in the Federal Register, the next step toward its becoming official. A verbal description of the route was also published in the Federal Register on January 30, 1973. But the material in the register did not give a precise route that could be unambiguously followed; it was only a general outline, and the details in many places remained to be settled.

Private Property Glitches

As construction on PCT segments began, many hikers were optimistic that the entire trail could be completed within a decade. Perhaps it could have, if it weren’t for private property located along the proposed route. While some owners readily allowed rights-of-way, many others did not, at least initially, and years of negotiations passed before some rights were finally secured. While negotiations were in progress, the U.S. Forest Service sometimes built new trail segments on both sides of a parcel of private land, expecting to extend a trail segment through it soon after. At times this approach backfired, such as in the northern Sierra Nevada in the Gibraltar environs (Section M, Pacific Crest Trail: Northern California). The owners of some property never gave up a right-of-way, and so a new stretch of trail on Gibraltar’s south slopes was abandoned for a snowier, costlier stretch on its north slopes, completed in fall 1985. But at least the stretch was built.

The major obstacle to the trail’s completion had been the mammoth Tejon Ranch, which began in Civil War days as a sheep ranch, then later became a cattle ranch, and in 1936 became a public corporation that diversified its land use and increased its acreage. This ranch, about the size of Sequoia National Park, straddles most of the Tehachapi Mountains. An agreement between the ranch’s owners and government representatives was finally reached, and in 1993 this section of the PCT was completed. However, rather than traversing the length of the Tehachapi Mountains as intended by Congress, the PCT for the most part follows miles of roads along the west side of the high desert area of Antelope Valley before ascending to the edge of ranch property in the north part of the range. This part of the trail is described in Section E.

In 2008 Tejon Ranch Company unveiled a landmark conservation and land-use agreement providing the framework for conserving up to 90% of Tejon Ranch—about 240,000 acres. In keeping with the original vision for the PCT, a significant part of the plan includes a set of easements that will protect the trail corridor and allow the PCT to be relocated from the floor of the Mojave Desert to the crest of the Tehachapi Mountains, following the route agreed upon by the U.S. Forest Service, the Pacific Crest Trail Association (PCTA), and the Tejon Ranch Company.

In May 2014, The Tejon Ranch Conservancy received the final paperwork for a 10,000-acre conservation easement from the Tejon Ranch Company, protecting habitat for the endangered California condor and other threatened, endangered, and sensitive plant and animal species and associated habitats, as well as vistas visible from a proposed new section of trail. This is the first tangible act in relocating 37 miles of the PCT from the Mojave Desert to the Tehachapi Mountains, the largest relocation project since the trail’s official completion in 1993. The PCT easement still needs to be finalized, setting the route for the trail through Tejon Ranch and identifying off-trail campsites and access to critical water sources. The actual trail construction and realignment is still years away.

In 2016 an opportunity arose allowing the PCTA to acquire 245-acre Landers Meadow in Kern County, California, which was transferred into public ownership and incorporated into the Sequoia National Forest in 2018. Through member and community donations, the PCTA was able to protect this wet meadow and keep the trail uninterrupted along the route.

Finally, there is another stretch in Northern California, covered in Pacific Crest Trail: Northern California, where the route uses existing roads. To get the trail off a dangerous road walk, a new footbridge would need to be built across the Klamath River, an expensive and time-consuming project with little energy behind it. The lack of the bridge means that PCT travelers must tread 7.3 miles along the road. While a new bridge would cross the Klamath River just downstream of Seiad Valley, the town would remain an important resupply point for PCT hikers and horseback riders regardless.

Golden Spike Dedication

The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail was officially dedicated on National Trails Day, June 5, 1993, a lengthy 25 years after Congress passed the National Trails System Act that had mandated it. The dedication was touted as the Golden Spike Completion Ceremony, in which a golden spike was driven into the trail, a reenactment of the 1869 ceremony at Promontory Point near Ogden, Utah, where the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroad companies converged to complete the transcontinental railroad. For the PCT, there were no competing trail crews, so a PCT site close to metropolitan Southern California was chosen because it was the final easement acquired: a flat at the mouth of a small valley on the north side of Soledad Canyon (Section D, map 6). Protected under a canopy to shelter them from the unseasonably cold, windy, drizzly weather, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt and others spoke to an unsheltered audience of about 300 hearty souls (and a dozen or so others protesting various unrelated environmental issues). The trail was proclaimed to be 2,638 miles long officially, though the accuracy of this mileage is questionable because this number existed as early as 1990, before the completion of several stretches in Southern California and in the southern Sierra Nevada, and before the major relocation of the Hat Creek Rim stretch north of Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Future relocations are likely, and so the authors of the Pacific Crest Trail books, following the lead of our fellow hikers, have used the 2020 version of Lon Halfmile Cooper’s trail mileage for all locations.

SOME WHO WALKED AND RODE

No doubt hikers in the 19th century did parts of the PCT, though that name didn’t exist back then. It may be that someone walked along the crest from Mexico to Canada or vice versa many years ago. The first documented hiker to complete the entire three-state trek was Martin Papendick (1922–2000), who did so in 1952, when a tristate trail was still a dream and the PCT was decades away. It was his second attempt, and it took him 149 days to backpack from Manning Park south to Campo. The first person to receive official acknowledgment from the U.S. Forest Service for hiking the actual PCT route in one continuous journey (that is, a thru-hike)—in 1970—was Eric Ryback, who described his north-to-south trek in The High Adventure of Eric Ryback. This was quite a feat for anyone, much less a 130-pound 18-year-old, hiking solo in the more difficult north-to-south direction without a guidebook or detailed maps. His 1971 book focused attention on the PCT, and other people began to plan end-to-end treks. In 2009 Ryback became a PCTA board member and designed and funded the PCT completion medal.

As mentioned earlier, in June 1972, the U.S. Forest Service maps of the PCT route