Every year’s PCT is different. The path routinely changes, mostly as fresh trail is built to replace substandard trail (or no trail at all, if the prior trail was a road walk). But the reason for an ever-shifting PCT, even within hiking seasons, should be obvious to any California resident: fires.

The 2013 Mountain Fire near Idyllwild substantially impacted the nearby trail. A ten-mile stretch of trail is closed to hikers even today, apparently (per someone I talked to at the outfitter in Idyllwild) because the fire burned so hot that essentially all organic matter was destroyed, so they have to rebuild the entire trail to have even a usable tread. (The entire section is expected to open midsummer next year – too late for northbound thru-hikers, but maybe not for southbounders.)

These circumstances lead to an alternate route for hikers to use. Not all do: many hikers simply hitchhike past the ten closed miles and the remote fifteen miles before them.

But technically, there’s an official reroute, and I’ve nearly completed it. Mostly it involves lots of walking on the side of roads. The forest service dirt roads are rough but generally empty, so not the worst. The walking on a well-traveled highway with no usable shoulder, however, was the least enjoyable hiking I’ve ever done. (I mean ever.) I really can’t disagree with the people who just hitchhiked to Idyllwild and skipped it all.

I’ll be very glad to get back on the real trail several miles from now.