The Scott River Road route from Seiad back to Etna would have been too mucvh for my weak lungs though it would have made an exhilarating bicycle ride northbound. But the southbound climb on the PCT from the Klamath River valley at Seiad back up to 7000ft did not appeal to me when a much less energetic option was available: waiting a day for the STAGE bus that leaves Seiad at 8:20am MWF for Yreka, then the daily midday STAGE bus from Yreka to Etna. Wouldn't even bother bringing my bicycle along.
So, I had today to kill. (Overnighted at the Grider Ridge FS Campground a few miles south of town up the ridge where the PCT joins the (dirt) road for those few miles into Seiad. My sleep was interrupted a bit by several Coyotes singing (got me a bit tense for a while, ready to dash from my "bug-tent" to my car...)
Stopped at the Seiad General Store for a too-filling breakfast of eggs & hash browns & coffee, arranged to leave my bicycle tomorrow morning with the store proprietor couple living behind the store, then off to check out the next traditional "0-day" destination on the trail: the Callahan's Lodge at Mt Ashland, Oregon. Driving the steady uphill eastward along the Klamath River towards I-5 as the mountains tapered off into the Yreka/Shasta "valley" to the east was a bit disorienting, but suggested to me that a bicycle return route from Ashland was possible. (There does not seem to be a very feasible public transit option - the only option I found involves a $28 shuttle from Ashland to the Amtrak station in Klamath Falls, then the same Coast Starlighter midnight train run to Dunsmuir that I was considering to get to Redding a month ago (but declined for the bike ride directly from McCloud to Burney Falls.)
Was greeted at Callahan's by a very practiced spiel of how they catered to PCT hikers, with various package or a la carte deals involving a shower, laundry, a free first beer, an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast, a tent site on the lawn overlooked by the porch of their restaurant (I guess it must also be billed as a destination for their more cultured guests to gawk at the summer horde of thru-hikers.) $60 for the whole package, or somewhat steep but not totally ridiculous a la carte prices. They gave me a card for a shuttle service that I haven't yet investigated the pricing for, but only other option they mentioned was the Amtrak one.
So I drove south up NF-20 that the PCT weaves back & forth with between the border and I-5, to investigate a third option, sort of an "out&back" to the border from each end, and a series of short day-hike-bike-loops along the road. This is a paved road up to the Mt Ashland Ski area, then gravel south of there. I took the spur up to the top of Mt Ashland, for some plane's eye views in all directions, topped by a huge white soccer-ball-patterned sphere (radio telescope?) and the usual microwave transcievers.
Continued south on NF20 which gradually became a rougher cobbly road still well short of the border. I decided to retreat instead of abusing my shocks unnecessarily. The out&back might be an overnight from the north side.
With plenty of afternoon left, I drove north then east along route 66 to where the trail crosses that road, and took a gravel road south from there signed "Siskiyou Munument" which piqued my interest because in the Deiad area there were a lot of signs that said "No Monument". The Seiad Store owner had becun explaining what that meant to another customer bu t I was heading out and didn't hear the story, so I'll need to google what the issue is. Looking at the map, the trail in southern Oregon does pass through some areas labeled "Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument", and I think there's a movement afoot to extend that into California, but that's all I know at the moment. (And I don't want to take the time now to look it up.)
Drove on 66 back west to Ashland just to verify that it might be a future bike route from trail to a yet to be researched bus from Ashland and points north. I got gas just before the I-5 interchange - odd to have someone pump my gas for me - noticed another customer give a tip, so I did too (especially after having to ask him to make a second trip to the store to go fetch me a receipt.) Not realizing I was already in Ashland, I continued west on I-5, but decided I didn't want to drive further on I-5 today, so turned around at the next exit, and only then realized I had already passed Ashland. Drove south all the way to Yreka, just to use this McD's to blog this.
OK, done. heading back to Seiad, be back in Yreka tomorrow probably with some dead time mid-day waiting for the bus to Etna, might peck a few lines from my cell phone then.
No comments:
Post a Comment