Trail Day 99: Prudence’s Place to the intersection of Highway 96 and Scott River Rd

25 miles road walk detour

Prudence was nice enough to get up at 5 am to drive me to the end of the driveway to where it intersects with Quartz Valley Rd. She also packed me some food to take with me for the day and asked me if I wanted ice cream for breakfast. It seemed that ice cream was a special treat for her and she was looking for any excuse to eat it.

She then drove me down to the road, trying to convince me to be driven to the next road I needed to take, about a mile ahead. It was getting hard to say no to all these rides, but I stuck to my resolve and started walking from where I left off yesterday.

I finished the last mile of Quartz Valley Road and turned onto Scott River Road, which I would be on the majority of the day. It followed the Scott River, so I figured I would have no problem getting water. However, I kept seeing “Private Property” and “No Trespassing” signs. From my perspective, it was really annoying that so much of the river was privately held and I could not get water from there.

Thr Scott River. 

Luckily, I soon entered the National Forest boundary. Not only could I legally access the river, but there were also picnic tables and pit toilets I could use. I passed the campground that I was thinking of trying to make it to last night, along with the road that would have taken me to Lovers Camp Trailhead, which was the route Songbeard had found to reconnect with the PCT. I hoped he and Phoenix were OK and didn't bump into the fire closure issues.

What would have been a welcome sign last night.

The turnoff to the campground and Lovers Camp trailhead. One sign says "Road Closed," the other says "Campground Open."

I continued down Scott River Road for a long time. The river had started to form a canyon, but there were still river access trails maintained by the forest service. I walked past them and was surprised to come upon a fancy resort overlooking the river. It also had very unwelcoming signs that said “Registered Guests Only” and “No Visitors.”

The Scott River. 

I got a little worried when I started to run into private property signs again. I was unsure of where I would be able to fill up on water, so I has carried a lot of it, but I didn't have enough to make it the whole way.

As I was walking, I heard the sound of water off the side of the road. There was water there and it looked like I could access it without too much trouble. I put my bag down at a pullout across the way and ate lunch.

Lunch felt like such a luxurious picnic. I was eating the food that Prudence had packed for me which included chicken strips, banana bread, and grapes. I had eaten the hard boiled eggs and drank the can of Coke earlier. The grapes, especially, were such a refreshing treat. It was so nice to stop walking and be eating real, whole foods instead of the freeze dried or processed foods that I usually eat.

Lunchtime deer and fawn sighting. Deer were all over this road.

After lunch I went to refill my water. As I was down near the stream looking for the best place to get the water from, a car came to a stop on the road above me. I decided to go back up and greet the car to explain what I was doing in a ditch on the side of the road. The man in the car explained that he had stopped because he had seen me when he came down the road earlier, but had not seen me on the way back and was concerned about what had happened to me.

Not bad for a roadside water source.

After chatting with the driver briefly, I filled up on water and continued down the road, now passing a lot of private homes. There were two boys playing outside of one of them and they stared at me as I walked by. I politely waved and them when I got closer. They waved back, but after a brief moment one of them blurted out, “Who are you?”

I explained that I was hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, but that the trail was closed and so I had to walk the roads instead. One of the boys agreed that, “Yeah, the highway is open.” The other boy then wanted to show me his collection of archery bows he had made with sticks and strings. He was clearly really proud of them and claimed that they worked. I told him they were cool and it was a neat hobby, but then said goodbye to them.  I had a lot of road walking to do and didn't really have time to marvel over handmade archery bows.

Most of the rest of the way I passed private homes overlooking the river. It looked as if this area had been hit by fire recently as well.

Scorched.

As I neared the junction with Highway 96, which would take me into Seiad Valley, I decided to take a break while I knew I would still have the room on the side of the road to do so. I took a look at my detour route around the fire after Seiad Valley and discovered something wonderful. To get to the forest roads that would take me back to the PCT, I would have to pass by the junction of Scott River Road and 96.

The reason everything in the area is named "Scott."

Local humor.

Seiad Valley was now a side trip instead of part of the route. I could get a ride into/out of town and still maintain my “continuous footpath” by picking it up at that intersection tomorrow. That saves me 11 miles of walking each way and will guarantee that not only will I reach town today, but I should do so with plenty of time to pick up my resupply package at the store.

I happily started making my way down the last of Scott River Road when a mini van pulled over a ways ahead of me. It was too soon for a ride as I was not at the end of the road. It waited there for a minute but then pulled out again before I could reach it.

I walked to the end of the road and saw the minivan again. This time she rolled down the window and offered me a ride. It was perfect timing. She was a resident of Scott River Road and said she had just given a ride to to stranded motorists when their bike had broken down. She had pulled over earlier, but then decided to drop them off at the town just ahead and come back to check on me. It was perfect timing.

She drove me down windy Highway 96, which followed the Klamath River and dropped me off at the town store, where my resupply package had been sent. She also explained that all the chaos at the nearby fire station was the Seiad Days festival. Why do I always seem to arrive in town on festival days?

At the store I picked up my package and a large Gatorade and went to the benches outside the store. As I sat down I had a young man with a beard approach me. It was a southbound thru-hiker. We were the only two hikers in a town that is usually full of them during the summer.

I went to join him on some picnic tables tucked away in the shade. He was waiting there because he had tried to check in for camping at the RV park, but no one was there. He was from Austria and his trail name was G-Funk. This was his second time hiking the PCT, but his first time doing it southbound. He had already completed the thru-hiking triple crown which includes the Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide Trail, and the Pacific Crest Trail.

I hung out with G-Funk while I unpacked my resupply package, then we went to try the RV park again. We ran the office doorbell and waited for a while before a man came by, astonished to see some hikers. Most people must be skipping the section from Etna to Ashland.

Replacement shoes came in my resupply. They don't even look like the same model.

We checked into the park and were given a towel, soap, and shampoo for a shower. This would be my third shower in as many days. I set up my tent, made dinner and joined G-Funk in the office that doubled as the hiker lounge. I thought about checking out Seiad Days for dinner, but apparently there was an entrance fee.  I didn't want to pay an entrance fee just to see if there was any place I wanted to eat dinner.

I then went back to my tent to go to bed, or at least try to. Seiad Days was running later than I had expected and they were blasting loud music.