The start of this trip has been tumultuous to say the least. After driving 7 hours on I 5 to reach the border we started our way down the rocky, remote National Forest roads. It soon became apparent that we were going to be unable to drive to the border and start our hike as planned, as a large snow drift blocked the road south. Reluctantly, we got out of the car and prepared our gear, deciding to hike south to the border then retrace our steps northward.
We sped along the slightly snow covered trail, mostly unimpeded for about an hour or so. Immediately we hit a ridge covered in snow pack and dense trees and watched in dismay as the trail was slowly swallowed by it. Step by step we travelled through the trackless forest, finding our way with PCT markers and blazes left on trees, occasionally referencing our TOPO maps to check our position. We hiked the first day for around 10 miles with 65% of the trail being snowbound. We made camp at Wrangle Gap, a fantastic camp considering the circumstances. The camp was a short distance off trail and we had doubts of its habitability as we descended the snowbound side road. The first break we had all day was arriving at the camp to find two shelters, one with a fire pit with dry wood, and fresh water flowing nearby.
The second day we left camp determined to make the Oregon border. As we continued south, the snow drifts became more frequent, deeper, and more treacherous. We came to a snowbound ridge at about the middle of the day and checked our TOPO map to verify our position. Hiking the ridge was slow going as the we had to move slowly to avoid slipping down the ridge which was at an almost impossible grade. We reached a sheer cliff of snow which impeded our path to glory. Having remembered that the TOPO map said that the trail traversed the ridge around to the other side, we decided our only option was to go straight over the ridge, no small task considering the grade and we were forced to cut steps with our boots every inch of the way. All this snow hiking brought to mind last year's through hike through the Sierras and I cursed myself for not bringing my ice axe having to rely on my hiking poles for slip protection. Once we reached the top of the ridge we discovered that it was mostly devoid of snow and started zigzagging our way down. We could see the California mountains as we began to taste sweet victory. Travelling a short distance on bare trail we hit another snow covered ridge. We had 1.6 miles left to the border and in the heavy snow and sheer ridges we were only able to progress one mile every three hours. We decided to turn back because the rest of the day would have been spent inching our way along and any progress we made would have to be retraced the next day. We scaled the ridge at an earlier point and came down the rocky cliffs of Observation Peak. Afterwards we started our return trek on forest roads and found a nice watered roadside campsite.
The next day we awoke and spent the first half returning to our drop off location. We arrived at the spot and saw several day hikers. We knew our troubles were over as we glided down the well maintained and snow free trail 13 miles down to Ashland. Dad (aka Captain Obvious) immediately checked into the Ashland Hostel while I quickly scouted a stealth camping spot in town. My spot was near the raging Ashland creek. During the night a police officer awoke me and told me a teenager had recently been camping by the river and had rolled into the river while sleeping and drowned. He said I could stay, as I told him I was a PCT hiker, I just had to leave at daybreak. Unfortunately, I didn't get much sleep because my thoughts were clinging to the thought of falling into the river and being swept away, never to be heard from again...
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