Fran was all set up in a great campground next to a 220-year-old Sugar Pine. Hot showers! Chilled watermelon! Iced tea!
We spent the afternoon re-planning the hike. I reviewed all of the maps through the end at Crescent City. There are still plenty of opportunities for the trail to bog us down, including climbs and descents through the most overgrown stretch of trail just a few days from the end.
We face a detour a few miles up the trail. The Island Fire has been burning for a couple of weeks, and while it is not a threat, the Bigfoot Trail is closed for a section ahead. The detour is to cut over to the PCT just before the fire. In fact, the Bigfoot Trail joins the PCT about 21 miles farther ahead anyway and follows it for 42 miles past Seiad Valley. As we study the maps, the detour on Right Hand Fork trail looks dubious. It may be yet another faint, unmaintained trail, and the PCT and Bigfoot are rather far apart where it connects them. We start looking for alternatives.
The irony is that the closed section of the Bigfoot Trail is said to be well maintained and follows a gentle river valley. Arg! We're skipping some of the few easy miles on this blasted trail!
A new plan emerges. The Bigfoot Trail momentarily touches the PCT just three miles past the campsite. Jumping on at that point raises our total on the PCT to about 71 miles instead of the 63 for the detour route, and eliminates the uncertain Right Hand Trail. That also might gain back a half day which would allow us to reduce the incessant push for miles.
The bonus is that this section of the PCT was one of my favorites along the entire PCT in 2004. I'm jazzed!
We set off on the climb in the evening, trying to get most of it out of the way. We toss our sleeping bags on the ground and cowboy camp about two-thirds of the way up, by a stream.
8 miles to Trail Creek Junction, to mile 163
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