PCT Map Miles 401.5
Miles Hiked 274.3
Elevation 4,759 feet
Miles Hiked Today 7.2
I woke up this morning with making some miles on my mind, so I can get into Trout Lake by Thursday. Little did I know.
I was making good time on the trail and decided to stop for breakfast at 8:30 AM. While sitting on a log eating a breakfast bar, two northbound hikers came up and stopped. They told me about a fire that had just closed the trail south of me. I finished breakfast and continue down the trail to find the evacuation point.
At 11:30 a.m. I came out to a trailhead and there were other hikers there. They were trying to figure out how to get to Trout Lake. A third person had a car and he was waiting for his wife. When she showed or if she didn’t show, he was going to take three of us down to Trout Lake and that included me. After about an hour, a northbound hiker came up and gave him a message saying that his wife was okay and in Trout Lake.
Kell, the car owner, gave us a go, and we piled into his car. The way to Trout Lake was also the forest service work around for hikers who wanted to walk out of the fire area. Well, let me tell you, it was a long way. It took an hour and a half in the car to get from the trailhead into Trout Lake. I didn’t keep track of total miles but the last section was 20 miles. The preceding sections were at least that or more. Had I tried to walk out, I would have run out of food for sure.
At the last section of the road to Trout Lake, there was a workman putting up a sign to close that road. We asked to be let through and he did. Had he not let us through, there was no clear road to get to Trout Lake.
When we got into town, Kell saw his wife right away. I recognized her, too. We had met on the trail a couple of days before. That was a really strange coincidence.
In town, I had a huge lunch at the local café. Then I went over to the general store and pitched my tent. Hopefully I can catch a ride back to the trail tomorrow and get past the fire closure.
Update: The town of Trout Lake is on a level 1 fire alert. That means the residents should be ready to evacuate. This happened in the late afternoon.
