Trail trivia: Annie's Junction?

General Palm Springs area.

Trail trivia: Annie's Junction?

Postby bcrowell » Tue May 26, 2020 1:36 pm

People refer to a certain junction near San Jacinto Peak as Annie's Junction. This is the junction about a mile north of Saddle Junction, where the Wellman Trail splits off from the PCT.

Does anyone know who Annie was or why it's called that? Was she some colorful or beloved local character?
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Re: Trail trivia: Annie's Junction?

Postby Florian » Wed May 27, 2020 7:32 pm

From Jon King (SanJacJon.com) ..

When I first got involved with RMRU years ago, I was astonished to find that they referred to that junction as "Strawberry Junction". Tactfully pointing out that another junction of exactly the same name was only 2.3 miles away, I was assured that there was no confusion; it quickly became clear that that was patently false. Alternatively, some of my fellow Forest Service volunteers referred to it as "Wellman Junction". Not a bad name in theory, but with Wellman Divide being a major trail junction, many hikers, especially Tram users, understandably often refer to that as Wellman Junction, so again confusion was inevitable.

It seemed remarkable to me that such a crucial trail junction, important for PCT hiker safety, and also right at the State Park-USFS boundary, had no distinctive name. The Terwilligers were one of the earliest and most famous families to settle in the area, initially on the north side of the mountain (around 1875), then later moving to just south of Anza, in the valley that now bears their name. Their daughter Annie subsequently married Frank Clark and settled in Durazno Valley. Frank and his brother Fred are memorialised in the names of Clark Dry Lake, Clark Well, and Clark Valley, among other places.

The name Annie's Junction is distinctive and seems to have been widely adopted by SAR teams, State Park, Cal Fire, Sheriff's Department, and at least some folk at Forest Service. By astonishing and fortuitous coincidence, Annie is also the name of my wife.
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Re: Trail trivia: Annie's Junction?

Postby Ed » Thu May 28, 2020 7:59 am

Thanks to bcrowell for the question, and Florian and SanJacJon for the answer. I simply thought of it as a junction with no name, which was awkward.
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Re: Trail trivia: Annie's Junction?

Postby bcrowell » Thu May 28, 2020 3:01 pm

Aha, cool to know about the history. Thanks, Florian and Jon!
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