Dodging Fires

Wildfire season had officially started in California. It was the last week of July, and we were a few days out from the half-way point of the PCT. The half-way point is located just before the town of Chester in Northern California. We stopped to resupply in Sierra City, a misleading name for a “city” that was one store, a motel, and a restaurant. It was a hot day, but we were in high spirits to purchase our bottle of champagne to pop at the half-way point.

It was still over 100 miles to the halfway point, but this was the last resupply that would be a reliable champagne source. Our genius idea was to simply switch off each day who would carry the bottle. In the words a triple-crown ultalighter, we “packed out something stupid.”

While in Sierra City we heard mumblings that a large fire had just started over by a city named Chico about 100 miles west of us. This is indeed foreshadowing. Cue two days later as we are about ~22 miles from our next resupply point at Bucks Lake. We haven’t had cell service since we left town and every hiker we have passed as asked us for news on the fire. This morning, we in turn received news from a fellow hiker that a 120-mile section of trail had closed that morning, starting from where we were going to resupply.

With any word-of-mouth on trail, you are always unsure if these new developments were just fear mongering or an actual closure. You would be surprised how confidently someone will say “you cannot do that” when they are only referring to the fact that they themselves are not comfortable hiking there. Our cell signal had been in-and-out all morning and none of us carried an SOS device that would receive updates.

We were making good time that and by lunch we had hiked 20 miles. The four of us (us + Jedi and Jinx) ate lunch in a ravine while we contemplated information we had received early this morning. Since there was nothing we could do here there in that moment we stayed on course to Buck’s Lake to make a plan.

A few miles later, we saw a huge plumb of smoke rising in the distance. We came to learn that was the Park Fire. Not directly on trail, but spreading from 45,000 acres to 350,000 acres within two days. At Buck’s Lake (a campground with a general store) we were able to purchase wifi to confirm two things (1) the trail was in fact closed, Lassen National Park shut down and many neighboring towns issued evacuation orders and (2) Quincy (the nearest actual town) was at capacity.

We were going to stay put for the night. In the morning light we hitched into Quincy. Our plan was to catch a bus to an even larger neighboring town that was on the same highway as where the trail opened. The hope was that a one road hitch would be easy compared to where we currently were.

It felt like all the forces were working against us as we tried troubleshooting. It was not until we were at the bus stop that we saw a sign that buses do not run at all on weekends - it was a Sunday. That’s fine, we can spilt an Uber… until 10 minutes later when the major highway is closed and no Ubers are now available. Our hopes to leave Quincy that afternoon were smothered within our first hour of being there.

Finding lodging was chaotic at best. Not only were hundreds of hikers fleeing to town, but nearby towns were evacuating to Quincy. Any plans we made changed immediately as the fire grew and the wind shifted. We were (thankfully) able to find a hotel room which we stayed in while we made our escape plan. 

The master plan ultimately involved 1 bus ride, 3 hitches, and a 2.5 mile road walk. After 48 hours we rejoined the trail in a town named Burney, located 147 miles north of the southern closure. While the actual closure was just over 100 miles, the smoke was so thick that hiking was hazardous even in some of the “open” sections. We were sad to have missed this section of trail, especially as it marked the half-way point, but proud of ourselves for navigating such a large closure. 

So what about the champagne?! We popped bottles to celebrate getting back on trail after the detour. This did mean that we can carried an entire bottle of champagne for 60+ miles needlessly…

Over the course of our trek, we came across multiple fire closures, including those around: Etna, Crater Lake, Cascade Locks, and glacier wilderness area. We were able to hike around some of these closures using forest roads or blue blazes. The Park fire was the largest and most chaotic for us as it happened so rapidly. It quickly taught us to be flexible.

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