Pacific Northwest Trail, Boundary Trail - Pasayten — Friday, Jul. 12, 2019

• Oroville to Chopaka Mountain Road: The Similkameen River valley is beautiful. Even though this is a road walk, I’d happily do it again.
• Chopaka Mountain Road to Cold Springs Campground: The dirt track west of mile 610P (Primary) to Ninemile Creek Road was a little hard to follow in a few places where it crossed pasture and forests, but it was easy enough to stick to the GPS route.
• Cold Springs Campground to Goodenough Trail: As the trail emerged from the forest/burn onto the higher meadows, I found it easier to follow a series of Forest Service posts and unofficial cairns rather than the official GPS route in the Guthook app. The former stayed lower down the ridge, so didn’t lose any elevation when it met up with the official route just before the Pasayten Wilderness boundary marker at 620P. The linked Gaia route reflects this lower trail.
• Around mile 621P, the trail ran alongside a fence, then came to a gate. The trail appeared to continue running outside the fence, but it seemed like the correct thing to do was head west through the gate.
• The Boundary Trail from Horseshoe Pass to Spanish Camp is in fantastic shape. Easy to follow, and almost entirely clear of trees and brush.
• West of Spanish Camp, things get uglier. The descent to the Ashnola River is heavy with brush, as is the climb back out on the western side of the valley. Since it had been raining, this all became non-stop carwash.
• The worst section of the PNT and Boundary Trail I encountered is between the summit of Bunker Hill and to the Pasayten River. The trail is almost impossible to follow. Some Forest Service angel has marked the route with little red tapes. If it hadn’t been for those red tapes and some cairns, it would have taken me twice as long to get through that section. There were countless blowdowns. I rarely walked 30 seconds before needing to scramble over another tree. [At the Pasayten airstrip, I met a crew of Backcountry Horsemen who were on their way in to work on the blowdowns in that very section. God bless them.]
• Approaching the Pasayten River, I did see evidence of recent work by WTA trail crews. Many thanks to all who have worked on the trail!
• Around mile 670P a new trail has been cut to a recommended ford across the Pasayten River. The water wasn’t more than knee-deep there.
• From the new ford, the trail continues on the west side of the Pasayten all the way down to the Pasayten airstrip. There were many blowdowns, but the trail was easy to follow.
• I can’t understand why the PNT continues to document up the “trail” that once ran up toward Monument 83 as the primary route. At the signed junction for that “trail”, I could see nothing but blowdowns, with no evidence a trail had ever existed. The recommended Soda Creek alternate seems like the only sane route.
• From the north end of the Pasayten airstrip, the trail is not in great shape: many blowdowns and lots of brush. This held true all the way up Soda Creek, past Dead Lake, down to Chuchuwanteen Creek, and up toward Frosty Pass. It wasn’t until the trail began climbing up out of the forest on the side of Mount Winthrop that the trail cleared up.
• The portion of the PNT that runs along the PCT is, as one might expect, extremely well-maintained.
• Leaving the PCT at 700P, the PNT immediately became difficult again. There were quite a few blowdowns all the way up to Sky Pilot Pass.
• After Sky Pilot Pass, the PNT became perfect again: few blowdowns, easy to follow. It stayed nice the rest of the trip, all the way to Ross Lake Dam.

Some notes on the linked Gaia route: I constructed the Gaia route by starting with the general PNT route and then, where possible, adjusting the track points to match the places where the trail was visible in satellite photos in Google Earth. As a result, this linked route differs in places from the official PNT Guthook route. In most places, I found my route to more accurately reflect the location of the actual trail; your mileage may vary. In the burned and destroyed trail between Bunker Hill and the Pasayten, neither my route nor the Guthook app were much use; instead, follow the red tapes and cairns. The linked route includes the new reroute and ford at the Pasayten River. The folder also includes some additional waypoints for water sources and trail camps that did not appear in Guthook or the PNT Trail Digest: 2019 Edition.