The trail burned a few years ago and the scars of the event are everywhere on trail. The trees have fallen over, they’ve snapped in half, some remain standing only cleared of living branches, while others are sticking up like a giant burnt match. The ground bushes are gone in most places replaced with quick growing weeds or poison oak. The trail is covered with the fallen trees as they’ve not yet been cut away. As we move north on the trail we struggle to get over, under, or around the dead soot draped logs. It’s painfully slow to descend the 4,000’ into Seiad Valley. With six miles to go the trail gives way to a road which comes as a welcome surprise and relief. Usually road walks are burdensome but the trail today choked with poison oak and other hazards is not a fun place to be. Seiad Valley is the smallest town we’ve come across and we stayed the night at the RV park to shower and rest a weary knee.
Today we hiked out and up electing to use the service road as means back to the trail. The first few miles are again overrun with downed trees and poison oak. Once to the top the trail returns to its bountiful life and scenic views. We reached 1,000 miles hiking today. Incredible!!
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