Seiad Valley, on the Klamath River, is smack dab in the heart of the State of Jefferson. A state of mind. A state of grace. An inebriated state. Take your pick ...

You will see the distinctive ''XX'' state seal on everything from barns to highway cleanup signs. You will hear State of Jefferson radio. And see State of Jefferson bumper stickers on every other pickup. The Seiad Valley Post Office is signed "U.S. Post Office, State of Jefferson." The Jefferson flag flies proudly over the fire station. Somewhere between Castle Crags and Etna you entered a space that is not California. The State of Jefferson, comprising the northernmost counties of California and their immediate neighbors in Oregon, was the product of a secessionist movement that caught fire just before World War II. While the road maintainance issues that were the original flashpoint have long since been settled, the basic Jefferson State of Mind is alive and well today, fiercely and stubbornly separate from the affairs of Sacramento and points south.

Seiad is a classic wide-spot-in-the-road settlement, blessed with few buildings but just enough services and chutzpah to call itself a town. (And for the record, it's "SIGH-add," not "SAY-add." If you err on this point, you *will* be corrected by the locals.)

On its face, this is a beaten-down little settlement populated mainly by trailer-dwellers with no apparent means of support. Yet if one were to describe Seiad as Dogpatch-by-the-Klamath, that would be discounting the most important element in any town stop -- the human factor. Simply put, Seiad has a more hiker-friendly quotient than just about any other trail town, with the possible exceptions of Etna and Trout Lake. To a person, everyone at the store, the cafe and the trailer park -- pretty much everyone we encountered -- was kind, thoughtful and totally attuned to the PCT hiker culture. They seem to regard the PCT thru-hiker pageant as seasonal entertainment, rather than a civic affliction. Because Seiad Valley is so tiny, a greater proportion of local history is wrapped up in trail culture here than in other, larger towns. You may be hiker trash in Tahoe or Shasta, but you're a big deal here. The last time I came through, in 2007, a half-dozen people passing the blistering hot afternoon in lawn chairs in the middle of the trailer park stopped their conversation, took one look at me and said, "Oh, look! another hiker." And then they all waved. What is cooler than that?

In spirit, Seiad is the anti-Belden, a scruffy river encampment with a big heart. And all it really needs -- particularly in August when the temperature routinely hits the triple digits by noon -- is a bar.

The Seiad Valley Store and Cafe (44719 Hwy. 96, 530 496-3399) isn't the heart of town, it *is* the town, along with the neighboring Mid-River RV Park and post office. The store carries a small but significant amount of hardware for gear repairs, plus a variety of fuel and PCT-type trail staples such as ramen and Lipton's. Bear in mind that if you want to partake of the cafe's legendary pancake challenge -- five one-pound flapjacks in a stack about the size of a Douglas fir stump, a challenge met by only seven people in 18 years -- you better call ahead and double-check cafe hours -- 530 496-3340. If you roll into town after 4 p.m., you may well end up either grazing out of the store or firing up a cat stove. For people with more sense than to take the pancake challenge, the burgers and shakes are a good call at the cafe. The burgers, in particular, are downright cheap. (Two should hit the spot.)

Seiad has an on-again-off-again rooming house/B&B/restaurant/saloon, the Wildwood Lodge, (45200 Hwy 96, 530 496-3195). As of late 2007, the Web site seemed to indicate it was operating only as a white-tablecloth restaurant. Best to call to see what the current situation is. Your only other "lodging" choice in town -- and we use that term advisedly -- is a throw-down spot in the RV park adjacent to the store. As of 2007, the designated hiker tent space had moved from back by the dumpster to a spot between two long-term trailer tenants. The new space resembles nothing so much as, well, a fenced-in manger -- with some sort of mulch underfoot. One half-expects to see a handful of prize 4-H county fair sheep sharing your quarters. The front section of the trailer park is occupied exclusively by nine large RVs and trailers owned by gold miners. It's unclear where vocation starts and avocation ends in these parts. Everyone has a ton of serious equipment -- hydraulic pumps, vacuum dredges, sluice boxes, etc. -- crammed onto their little patch of lawn. Somehow it's cheering to know that in the year 2007 -- nearly 160 years after the gold rush -- there are still argonauts in all the hidden corners of the Golden State. Be aware this is not a restful place. Plenty of generator noise and plenty of foot traffic and trailer-park drama well into the night. As of 2007, the trailer park's coin-operated showers had been cleaned up a bit -- which is good, because they had nowhere to go but up.

The best option for Seiad may be to hold up as far down Grider Creek drainage as you can, do the roadwalk into town in the morning before it gets too hot, take care of all your town business (post office, store, cafe, beer) mid-day, water up at the trailer park -- and walk out around 4 or 5 in the afternoon. The climb north of here is one of the most difficult on the PCT, particularly on a hot day. If you've ever considered nightwalking, this is one place to seriously weigh the option. Given the limited range of town comforts, a full zero in Seiad can be a dismal choice.

One off-the-track lodging option we haven't tried is the Thompson Creek Lodge (no listed address, 530 496-3657) about 7 miles from the trailhead. The owners provide shuttle service from the store and back to the trailhead. The Klamath River Resort Inn (61700 Highway 96, Happy Camp, 530 493-2735) is a long 10 miles downriver from Seiad Valley.