View Full Version : Obama creates Pacific Northwest Trail - Seattle Post Intelligencer
WhiteBlaze
06-13-2009, 03:20
<table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7><tr><td valign=top class=j><font style="font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serif"><br><div style="padding-top:0.8em;"><img alt="" height="1" width="1"></div><div class=lh><a href="http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=T&ct=us/2-0&fd=R&url=http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_pacific_northwest_trail.html%3Fsource%3D mypi&cid=0&ei=LFMzSpbQOIauMo2W1ZMI&usg=AFQjCNEu6H6n_ze4VJ5KRfN8O1XjjElFSg">Obama creates Pacific Northwest <b>Trail</b></a><br><font size=-1><font color=#6f6f6f>Seattle Post Intelligencer</font></font><br><font size=-1>The <b>Appalachian Trail</b> is the best known. While the <b>trail</b> is well-marked and well-used in portions of western Washington state, mostly in state parks, for most of its route it is primitive. At Northport, seven miles south of the Canadian border, <b>...</b></font></div></font></td></tr></table>
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Shadowmoss
06-13-2009, 10:16
I hiked out to Cape Alva, the Western terminus mentioned, a couple of weeks ago. I was told that the trail there is one of the most used parts of the Olympic National Park. You have to get permits to camp on the coast there, and they go a month early in the summer. I'm going to try to camp there soon by calling and asking for the next available spot. The last 3 miles of the trail are mostly boardwalk, and the coast is really nice. I'll have to figure out where the rest of the trail is.
A friend of mine, Roni From Israel, hiked the whole PNT three years ago, after doing 800 miles of the AT and the whole CT that year. He said the PNT was a little difficult. Roni has a real way with words (http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=4829).
Shadowmoss
06-13-2009, 17:20
I talked to the ranger at the Wilderness Information Center over there this morning on t he phone while I made my reservations for July 4th weekend on the coast. He was reluctant to discuss it much, and said that the parts in the central Olympics don't thaw out from the snows until sometime in August, and that the gap between the coastal National Park lands and the main park are mostly road walks in industrial (forget if that was the actual word) forests - where the logging takes place anyway - and that the logging companies don't like folks around while actual logging is going on.
I'm currently in Port Angeles WA to get my hiking permits for an Olympic NP coast hike from Rialto beach to Shi Shi Beach and, if possible, a High Divide Trail Loop hike. There is still a lot of snowpack atop the ridges in the Olympics 3500 ft and above and my guess that goes for some parts of the PNT as well. I would expect snowfields on the PNT until mid July early Aug on some sections. If I do get out on the High Divide Loop I'm taking my ice axe and planning for considerate snow travel.