Oregon Hikers

In the rules of the new permit system it states, "Travel between wilderness areas is only allowed at Pacific Crest Trail trailheads." Does this mean:

1. If I want to hike from Jefferson Park to South Sister then I need to begin at a PCT trail head.

or

2. If I want to go to No Name Lake on Broken Top then I can't begin my hike at Tam McArthur rim.

My unofficial interpretation of that sentence is that, if your entry permit is for any trailhead in Three Sisters wilderness and you wish to continue from Three Sisters into Mt Washington wilderness and then onward to Mt Jefferson wilderness, that your exit from Three Sisters wilderness and entry into Mt Washington wilderness and onward into Mt Jefferson must be accomplished via the PCT trailheads in each case. Same thing if you started at any Mt. Jefferson TH and went south to Three Sisters.

emoon wrote: ↑

April 27th, 2020, 12:27 pm

In the rules of the new permit system it states, "Travel between wilderness areas is only allowed at Pacific Crest Trail trailheads." Does this mean:
...

It means you can ignore the requirement because it's ambiguous and, hence, not enforceable.

They're postponing because of covid19. Maybe they'll never bother to implement it. It could be like this never happened.

retired jerry wrote: ↑

April 27th, 2020, 2:18 pm

They're postponing because of covid19. Maybe they'll never bother to implement it. It could be like this never happened.

Jerry, don't get my hopes up. That is my dream.

Aimless's answer is correct.

You mean you're not taking this opportunity to just let this all pass? You can save face and don't have to admit it was a bad idea

retired jerry wrote: ↑

April 28th, 2020, 3:25 pm

You mean you're not taking this opportunity to just let this all pass? You can save face and don't have to admit it was a bad idea

Jerry, that would require common sense on the part of the FS. Good luck with that.

johnspeth wrote: ↑

April 27th, 2020, 1:54 pm

emoon wrote: ↑

April 27th, 2020, 12:27 pm

In the rules of the new permit system it states, "Travel between wilderness areas is only allowed at Pacific Crest Trail trailheads." Does this mean:
...

It means you can ignore the requirement because it's ambiguous and, hence, not enforceable.

Even better, ignore the entire ridiculous scheme.

Most multi-wilderness itineraries would require transit via a PCT trailhead. There are only two that I think are plausible (off-trail travel not included), and only one that I know of that could be done fully on-trail. That one would be to start in the Three Sisters Wilderness, exit via the Park Meadow trail and connect with the Metolius-Windigo trail north past Black Butte and Camp Sherman, and then into the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness via the Rockpile Lake trail (once volunteers finish the 2019 brushing effort, that is). The short road connection would be to exit Three Sisters at the Scott TH (adjacent to Obsidian) and enter Mt. Washington at the Benson/Tenas TH (less than 1 mile).

99%+ of people are going to connect via the PCT. And it seems like the spirit of the rule is to keep people from driving long distances between different wilderness' trailheads and claiming it under the same permit. And for the <1% that are doing one of the two routes listed above, or an off-trail thing, I'm sure a ranger (if you even get stopped) will find leniency.