[pct-l 59] Mt Williamson

[David Hough reading PCT-L]

When I first hiked section D in May 2006,

https://pcnst.oakapple.net/photo/sc-pct/d/2006-05-26-d08
https://pcnst.oakapple.net/photo/sc-pct/d/2006-05-27-d07
https://pcnst.oakapple.net/photo/sc-pct/d/2006-05-27-d06

I wondered why, after following the highway so much,
the trail chose to go up and over Mt Williamson.
After all I'd climbed the real Mt Williamson in March 1972, albeit by
the easiest George Creek route.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/inyo/recarea/?recid=70844

No permit required in those days.

Matters were clarified this week when I drove Hwy 2 along the south
side of section D's Mt Williamson.    
The terrain is so steep and rugged that the highway has 
two tunnels, but none of that is readily visible from most of the PCT.

I might have forgotten that, since it
might have been the first time I drove through those tunnels since
1968 or 1969, when I drove from one end of Angeles Crest Highway 2 to
the other.     There's hardly been a year since when the highway was open
to two-lane traffic all the way through.    Its construction was an
engineering marvel, but its maintenance is a nightmare.

But frequent road closures make PCT road walks safer.    Driving Hwy 2
as fast as possible is a SoCal tradition, as you will see and hear 
from the bikers, Porsches, Corvettes, ... on the weekends.

At Islip Saddle you can view the abandoned northern end of Hwy 39, which
also was a working highway back then.    Now it stops at Crystal Lake.