52 Hike Challenge 2016 Adventure Series
6.25 miles | +600'
I came out to check out the new monument at the PCT Southern
Terminus and hike a little ways past Highway 94 to the old San Diego & Eastern Arizona railroad tracks.
It was a sight not seen in almost 30 years. For three hours
on January 9th 2016, there was no monument marking the southern end of the PCT
on the desert rise south of Campo. The familiar silhouette made by five fir
pillars was gone.
In a long-planned and well-choreographed action, PCTA
volunteers erected the trail’s new southern terminus monument. The old one had
been showing its age. Campo weather, including harsh summer sun and winter rain
and snow, had changed the foot-thick wooden posts into cavity-ridden teeth.
There were deep cracks and pervasive wood rot. Once as rigid as stone
monoliths, two of the posts could be rocked back and forth by hand.
Originally erected in 1988, the monument and its northern
twin were built to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the National Trails
System Act. That act designated the first two national scenic trails, the PCT
and its eastern cousin, the Appalachian Trail.
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