Final Link of Mexico-to-Canada Trail Opens

The rugged Pacific Crest Trail is not for the faint-hearted, and neither was Saturday’s water-logged ceremony to celebrate its completion.

In a cottonwood grove in the Santa Clarita Valley east of this small town, about 200 spectators and a raft of government officials weathered frequent cloudbursts to mark the long-awaited completion of the 2,638-mile trail between Canada and Mexico. The event was timed to coincide with National Trails Day.

“Only hikers and bureaucrats would come out on a day like this,” said John Skelley, 72, a Sierra Club member and Canyon Country resident, who arrived with a walking stick, but no umbrella.

Sheltered under a makeshift canopy, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt opened the 90-minute ceremony with a brief statement commending volunteers and government officials who worked together for 25 years to carve a path through snake-infested deserts and snow-capped mountains.

Hikers have used the trail since its founding in 1968, but it wasn’t until now that they had an unbroken path to follow.

“What this trail has really brought together is people,” Babbitt said. “(It) ought to be a reminder to all of us that open spaces can’t be separated or fenced off . . . to live a little bit more lightly on the land.

“Take good care of it.”

The idea for the trail was conceived in the 1920s, but it wasn’t until Congress passed the National Trails System Act of 1968 that a concerted effort was made to piece together a continuous path. The act tied together various existing trails to form the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail and also established the Appalachian Trail, a system that runs from Georgia to Maine.

About a fifth of the Pacific Crest Trail traverses private property and the rest is on public lands. The final link of the trail fell into place late last year when Tejon Ranch Co., which is 25% owned by The Times Mirror Co., owner of the Los Angeles Times, sold the rights of way to a 7.5-mile segment east of Gorman to the federal government for $35,000.

Prior to that, hikers had to use roadways to bypass Tejon Ranch.

“This truly is a dream come true,” said F. Dale Robertson, chief of the U.S. Forest Service.

Flanked by signs that said “Mexico--413 miles” and “Canada--2,225 miles,” Robertson and other officials, including menbers of the Bureau of Land Management and the Pacific Crest Trail Assn., took turns hammering a golden spike into the ground to symbolize connecting the final link in the trail system.

About a dozen protesters stood by quietly, carrying signs that called for halting logging on public lands and the rejection of a proposed radioactive waste dump at Ward Valley in the Mojave Desert.

The trail crosses 19 major canyons, passes 1,000 lakes and climbs 57 mountain passes.

“What’s unique about the Pacific Crest Trail is its variety,” said Alice Krueper, 66, local coordinator for Pacific Crest Trail Assn. and an “end-to-ender” who finished hiking the trail in September after several trips beginning in 1986. “You start out baking your brains out in the desert, and in two days you’re in the pines, and you then end up in Washington in a fantastic wilderness. There’s nothing else like it.”