Pacific Crest Trail Hwy 108 to Hwy 4

Andra and I had planned a trip to explore the Ostrander Lake area and loop through enjoying the fall conditions. Unfortunately fires nearby caused me to reassess those plans. Although I thought the trip may still have been possible, I didn't want to spend time breathing unnecessary smoke. A fallback plan to hike a section of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) was designed and is shown above. My trail book indicated that this route was 30.9 miles and ordinarily their mileages are fairly accurate. This time around however, the book was wrong. My mapping software suggested 29.6 miles but its low map resolution cuts switchbacks short and I know from past experience that it underestimates distance when climbing steep mountains. Fortunately we always build extra time into our trips for emergencies and flawed books.

We started our hike from HWY 108 near Sonora pass and planned to hike North to HWY 4 exiting at Ebbetts pass. The PCT is the grand daddy of hiking trails. Zealots often hike the entire route in one summer from Mexico to Canada. Our short ~35 mile section, although longer than we expected, was shorter than some of our 50+ mile routes and well under the foot crushing 2650 miles involved in completing the entire Mexico to Canada route. As it turned out, our plan's short segments between campsites and longer than necessary total trip days turned out to be a blessing as things didn't start well.

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