Hiker Heaven

May 31 - Day 30

Wingit and I made it to Agua Dulce last night. Hiker heaven is everything it was made out to be! There is free laundry, internet, camping, and more. Here's a quick day by day recap of the last couple of days:

May 30 -Last 21 miles to Agua Dulce. Made 10 miles by 10 AM to achieve a "10x10". Thanks to Monty for hooking us up with use of the swimming pool at Robin's RV park (fully lived up to it's reputation as the "dumpiest place on the PCT"). Fried chicken for dinner didn't end up being as good as it sounded.

May 29 - Woke up at Sulfur Springs with significant frost on both sides of the tarp tent. It was so cold I was unable to get the tarp in it's stuff sack. Hiked with Sparky most of the day. Decided to push for 26+ miles to get within reach of Agua Dulce.

May 28 - My 30th birthday! Descended from the snow early in the morning. Wingit brought a birthday cupcake for me. Walked a re-rout to stear clear of an endangered frog. Ran into Sparky towards the end of the day and camped with him that night. Covered 22 miles on the day.

May 27 - Hiked up and over Mt Baden-Powell. Some fellow hikers had a birthday party on the top of the Mt. Lot's of snow, trail was hard to follow at times. On the far side of the Mt, no more than a dozen hikers had pushed through the snow before us... often all of them lost the trail all together for long periods, but the snow had melted enough by the time we got there that I was able to follow the trail well enough. Camped at Little Jimmy Campground - mostly cold and snowed over with only a handful of bare sites to pitch tents. Cold night!

May 26 - Long hard climb up above Wrightwood. Pretty much uphill all day to Guffy Campground. First campfire of the trail!

May 25 - Hitched back to the trail from where we left off. Easy stretch of trail of mild ups and downs. Went by Lake Silverwood. Hit McDonalds at around 4:30 to fuel up for another couple of miles. Boy Scout Troop 849 carried water for us to a dry point up the trail.

Cajon Pass

May 24 - Day 23

3:00 PM - On Wednesday, after several days in Big Bear to deal with Wingit's tooth (she ended up needing a root canal), we hit the trail again. After nine miles in we met up with our friend "Boots" at Van Dusen Canyon Road who had hitched a ride with a couple hotties who were on their way to belay Tommy Lee and Ludacris for some reality TV show.

We decided to hike across a section of trail that had been closed due to a recent fire, and found the trail in superb condition. Down by a river bank the bushes had already grown back, so despite fierce winds, we were able to have a relatively sheltered camp. The next morning, it actually started snowing! In all, close to 2 inches of snow collected on the ground, and subsequently melted over the course of about 3 hours. Hiking with 9-Lives, who I had met on the very first day, we managed to cover significant ground and made it to Deep Creek Hot Springs by night. We camped right by the creek under the cover of trees.

The next day, after a soak in the hot springs, we headed down the trail under ominous skies. I told Wingit, "my gut tells me it's going to pour" and sure enough within the hour the rain started. For the next 6 hours there was steady rain and temperatures in the 50's. Most of the hikers we ran into on the trail were only prepared for warmer weather. By 5 PM, there was no sign of the rain letting up, so we helped a fellow hiker who was very wet and cold hitch a ride to the motel at Cajon Pass.

At the motel, we ran into a whole crew of other hikers who had been rained off the trail, or had just decided not to leave again while the rain was still falling. That night, I decided to eat at McDonalds for the first time in 5 years. I had a double quarter pounder with cheese and a 10 piece McNugget, and loved every bit of it. The grease had never tasted so good!

We decided to take a day off the trail to dry out our gear but plan on leaving tomorrow. We're going to skip the resupply in Wrightwood and go the full 140 miles to Agua Dulce.

Trail Party!

May 17 - day 16

6:45 AM - I'm sitting in the "hiker room" at Nature's Inn in Big Bear City.  After the trout farm 2 nights ago, we (Wingit and I) regained all of the altitude that we lost coming down from San Jacinto.  From roughly 2,000 feet to almost 9,000 in 2 days.  Needless to say, we took it slow.  We were able to get an early start and reached a high ridge over looking Palm Desert, where we saw Warner Springs Monty and Rizzo (a fellow hiker we've been hiking on and off with) talking on their cell phones!  In these early California sections there seems to be good coverage, which is nice to know in case of emergency.

Because it was a hot day, we holed up under a tree by the east fork of Mission Creek for close to 3 hours - during the hottest section of the day.  At times there were up to 7 hikers hiding from the sun under the same tree.  I carried some of the frozen food that Marcus had given us at the Sanctuary, so we were able to cook up some good food.  Another 7.5 miles took us to a small fork of the same stream, where we made camp and had dinner with a couple other hikers.

Yesterday we again got an early start (before 6:00 AM) and were able push hard to make it too  Big Bear.  As our elevation increased, the vegetation changed from desert scrub brush to pine and cedar forests.  We had lunch in the Coon Creek Cabin which looked like a old fire lookout station, but had no information about it's origin.  At around 3:45 PM with 2 miles to go we realized that we still had a chance to make it to town before the Post Office closed at 4:30.  Practically running, we were able to finish the day strong, and average 4 mph for the last stretch (compared to our usual 2-2.5 mph).  Now at 4:20 we had a 10 mile hitch to make it to town.  Luckily the 2nd car to pass picked us up (the first one was a 2 seater with 2 people already in it).  Our driver was a young fellow in a brand new 2008 super duty Chevy pickup.  He drove fast, and got us to the Post Office just in time to see it close.  Luckily the workers there were nice, and gave us our packages anyways.

There were 3 other hikers hanging out by the post office who clued us in to a party at the trail head that was happening in just a few hours.  We had time to get to our room (a cheap hostel style room that holds 5 hikers), shower and change, and it was off to the party.  One of the other hikers' father had brought burgers and beer to the trail head, and around 30 other hikers partied down until around midnight.

Don't Panic

On to Big Bear

May 14 - day 13

6:20 PM - It's been several days since I've last written so I'll try a quick recap. Wingit and I made it to paradise cafe for an early breakfast. I had the chicken fried steak, which was exactly what I needed. The trail to the North was still closed, so I decided to road walk the detour while Wingit hitched to Idyllwild. The detour wasn't very nice, but I had a group of guys to hike with which made it tolerable.

I stayed 2 nights in Idyllwild which marks my first zero mile day. It was a rest well deserved. I had pizza and bbq, a shower and laundry, and was able to pick up some new gear (tyvek for a ground sheet and thicker socks). All said, Idyllwild was my favorite town so far.

On May 12, we set off on the trail again. First a road walk, then the Devil's Slide Trail, just to get back on the PCT. In all a 4,000 foot elevation gain to spend the night at close to 9,000 feet for the coldest night yet (in the mid 20's), by the North Fork of the San Jacinto.

The task for the morning of the 13th was the infamous Fuller Ridge. One of the rangers in town said to not attempt it without an ice axe and 12 point crampons (for the snow). It ended up being one of the prettiest sections, with views back up to Mt San Jacinto and down thousands of feet to the desert floor. The snow ended up being a trivial obstacle, I had to pay attention, but never felt unsafe in just my running shoes. The aforementioned desert floor was our next target. Over 15 miles the trail lost over 6,000 feet of elevation to the San Gregonio Pass. At the cost of some sore joints and with some curses at the poorly planned switch backs we made it to the valley floor.

First thing this morning we crossed under "The 10" and in to the next Mountain range. The kind folks at the wind power station had refrigerated water and AC for hikers, which helped a hard climb on the hottest day so far.

After a long 5 miles we made it to the Whitewater Preserve. Formerly a trout farm, it is now a natural sanctuary for migratory birds and hikers alike. A local man, Marcus (and his soon to be famous dog Blue), talked with us about our hike and offered us several Trader Joe's frozen meals for dinner, which were way better than anything we had in our packs. Thanks! We're planning on spending the night here at the preserve - with real bathrooms and water from the tap, what more could anyone ask for?

Don't Panic

Ups and Downs

May 9 - Day 8
7:40 PM - Wingit and I are camping about 4 miles short of Paradise Cafe on highway 74. We have spent the
last couple of days trying to pick up information about the Apache Canyon Fire. The PCT North of 74 has been closed for more than a week, and all of the hikers on the trail have been talking about when it might re-open.

We hiked for about 18 miles after finishing 14.5 yesterday. Although I'm not going as far as I did in the early going I am still tired at the nights.

May 8 - Days 7
2:30 PM - I'm sitting under a group of the last 3 oak tree in a burnt out valley about 12 miles North of Warner Springs. I'm hiking with Wingit (Katie) and Spiderwoman, and we stopped for a meal in the shade to skip the worst of the sun.

Yesterday we left Warner Springs at around 3:30 yesterday and put in an easy 4.5 miles before finding a sweet camping site by Agua Caliente Creek.

Before reaching camp we had run across another hiker, Nanuq, who had a ham radio with a 20 foot antenna set up across the trail. To the best of my understanding he was just trying to talk to his buddies.

Don't Panic

Relaxing at the springs

May 7 - day 6

8:30 AM - I've already put an hour in at the hot springs, so I'm feeling pretty good. My feet have been bothersome, but I added a 2nd pair of insoles to my shoes, at it feels a lot better. The arch support on my new shoes had already collapsed so badly, the a hiker behind could see that my feet were pronating.

It turns out that Katie (who's trail name is Wingit) was still here recovering from an infected toes. I'll be leaving with her sometime this afternoon when her friend's new tent arrives via UPS.

The day before yesterday I ended up night hiking another 6 miles before I finally stopped, putting my total for the day at 20 miles! I camped in a little nook of a dry river bed up on a high ridge. The wind was gusting extremely hard, but I was almost too warm in my bivy sack. At about 3:00 AM, it started to rain! I know it can rain in the desert, but I wasn't expecting it this soon. Of course since I'm from the Northwest I was prepared for rain. All of my gear was in my pack, and my electronics were in the dry sack. I wedged my pack against a rock and leaned up against it with my umbrella covering the pack and my upper body. Luckily it was only about a 5 minute cloud burst, so the bivy kept my sleeping bag nice and dry. I actually ended up being so comfortable the I slept the rest of the night propped up in a half sitting position.

The next morning I got a nice early start to ensure that I'd be able to get to Warner Springs by lunch time. Up to this point I had seen very few PCT hikers on the trail, but I saw 13 in that morning alone! It looks like I might have finally caught up with the tail end of the main group of hikers. The trail into Warner Springs was through flowing grass fields. Smooth mostly even trails made for a quick 17 miles into town.

Don't Panic

Damn the blisters, full speed ahead!

May 5 - Day 4

7:01 - I put in some good miles today I started in Chariot Canyon and ended about 10 miles past scissor crossing for a total of 22.3 miles (87.6 total).
I got my earliest start to date, a bit before 6. The first couple of miles before and during sunrise were cold, but pleasant. After about 5 miles I ran into my first other thru hiker on the trail since the first day. She was a nice woman from Santa Barbra. I ended up hilking with her the rest of the day.

We reached scissor crossing a bit before noon. Thanks to the trail angels who left more than a hundred gallons of water in an otherwise dry stretch! At the water cache was a 67 year old former marine, Viet Nam vet. He was back tracking to leave the trail but had a wealth of information about the trail ahead. We all waited out the hottest portion of the day under a highway overpass. Another hiker, from Kansas, joined us for a bit.
The day ended with a long slow climb with countless switchbacks up San Felipe hill.

May 4 - Day 3

7:30 PM - My plan to take it easy has failed... I ended up hiking from 10:00 AM to 7:15 PM without any significant stops. I was able to put in 20 miles depite my late start. As with yesterday, my legs are strong, but my feet are in some pain. I have a pretty major blister in the center of the bottom of my left foot, just behind the toes. Since it isn't caused by friction, I'm not sure how to address it.

Today was seriously windy. I spernt the majority of the day walking along a ridge, only dropping to a much lower elevation in the last couple of miles. It was nice to have some relief from the heat of the last two days, but at times I actually found myself cold.
At the very start of the day I caught a glimpse of a cyote, but he was to fast for me to catch his picture. The trees of Mt Laguna quickly gave way to a seriouslu burned area. The fire was several years ago so the bushes were already growing back, but the skeletal remains of the burnt trees stuck through.

Only after several miles did the terrain switch to a ledge just below the ridge line over a several thousand foot drop. Every time I thought that I was completly secluded, I would hear a car racing by on the road above.

As the sun set I decended into a canyon some 1500 feet below. A couple had already claimed the dry river bed as their campsite but there was room for me to pitch my tent too.

Don't Panic

My Restless legs

May 4 - Day 3
8:30 AM - I had a great night of sleep last night. I plan on taking it easy this morning and then leaving in the early afternoon to put in about 10 miles today.

May 3 - Day 2
8:30 PM - I made It to Mt Laguna tonight - 22.4 miles on the day, 43 total so far. My feet were hurting but my legs felt strong for the 2nd half of the day. I listened to my legs and talked myself out of all of the potential campsites I passed in the later part of the day. My feet blistered up a bit, but I've patched them up, and should be ready to go this afternoon. I rented a cabin last night and was able to get a hot bath and sleep in a bed - what luxury!
The trail climbed significantly to reach Mt Laguna, from 3000 to 6000 feet. Most of this elevation gain came in the last 10 miles. I went from walking among cactus and sage brush to a pine forest in an afternoon.

I did not make it to the cabins until 7:45 PM which was almost dark. It's remarkable how quickly it gets dark after the sun sets here. It goes from full daylight to pitch black in a little over an hour. I best be careful lest I get got in the dark without a campsite.

12:30 PM - I have learned from yesterday's mistake of hiking at the hottest point of the day and am sitting under a tree by Fred Canyon Creek. The creek is bone dry, but I saved a 1.5 L bottle of water in the middle of my pack so I have plenty of cool water.
The early going was rough today. My calves and feet both hurt, but on the bright side I've managed to avoid any serious blisters so far. Once I got into the rhythm of the trail the pain subsided to a manageable level.

I have seen an astounding number of lizards so far... at times it seems that every 3rd step sends one of the scaly critters darting for the bushes. I saw several birds today, including a mangy looking wild turkey whose nap I rudely disturbed.

6:30 AM - I slept out under a tree last night, and it was cold. One of the other hikers said that it was in the 30s. Deserts are always funny that way, you get cooked by the sun during the day and freeze at night. I had some aches before I went to bed, but feel refreshed this morning.
I'm planning on an easier day today, maybe 12-16 miles. I would then do the remaining miles to Mt laguna and have an almost rest day there on Sunday. Plans always change though.

Don't Panic

On the trail!

May 2 - Day 1
12:00 - I started today with high spirits. All of the stress and anxiety from preparation were gone almost the moment I hit the trail. As I left the start, 3 more hikers arrived, but I started alone. I have already seen 3 additional hikers, so despite my late start it appears I will have company on the trail. The first few miles were pretty easy. Everything is greener than I anticipated. The yucca are blooming and there are lots of flowering grasses.

Luckily today is not as hot as it could be, but the sun is still much more intense than I am used to. My poor city boy skin is taking a beating from the sun (even with the sun screen). Although I am starting to tire, I only have 5 more miles to Lake Morena, which is my first planned stop.

4:30 - it got hot... and for some foolish reason i continued hiking at the hottest point of the day. I'm beat but I made it. I just feel bad for those who had to do this section on a hotter day. The campsite at the lake is pretty nice. We have an oak tree that 3 of us are sprawled out under.

May 1 - Day 0
Today was my last day in civilization. I flew down to California a couple of days ago, and have been visiting family before my departure. With all of the visits finished, my dad and I drove out to the Jacumba hot springs to ensure that I am fully relaxed to start my trek. One thing that is clear upon loading my pack tonight is that I have too much stuff! It is not that it is to heavy, more that it is taking up too much space... I suppose it is a good thing I have nearly 5 months to get it straightened out.

Don't Panic