Author: mmbowden60

Flipped to Walker Pass and hiking south toward Hikertown. Hiked 23.9
PCT miles. At mile 604.4.

Today I felt much better. I had an early start shortly before sunrise. I took a couple of Ibuprofen with the idea it could help prevent left shoulder pain. I was also made comfortable with the thought that thanks to my stomach my pack weight was decreasing. I took care to do a series of shoulder stretches as I hiked and believe it or not, this was the first day in weeks that I was free of shoulder pain.

Here is a mountain that appears to have stains of yellow. Those are actually thousands of yellow flowers.

 

Here is a snake.

Here is another snake.

Here is a rattlesnake. That makes 3 snakes today, 4 Rattlesnakes so far, and 12 snakes in all on this hike. I thought I had good video of the rattler, but I was not recording, AGAIN! The second time I messed up trying to video a rattlesnake.

Here is a photo from the top of a long climb. I felt like I had to show I did it. After all, it was so much work. Overall, the trail was easy and I had a great deal of level and descent.

Hiking south, I should eventually see people I know that are headed north. Not yet, though, I am seeing a lot of people heading north for their reckoning with an early entry in the snowy cold Sierras. A few of these people will be there before the end of April. The last couple of days have turned cooler. How cold would that be in the Sierras at over 10,000 feet.

Here are some trees I love They turn and twist and branch out. I need to find out the name for these trees. If you know these trees, post a comment.

I had thought that the rest of the way to Hikertown wouldn’t involve large trees. I’m actually camping in trees tonight. Here is a photo of tall pines.

Here are flowers along the trail. I can’t express the variety and mixes of flowers. There are violet, white, blue, red, and multiple shades of yellow. There are tiny flowers that accent the arrangement of larger flowers and everything is set in a landscape of stones, boulders, and rock outcroppings. It is better experienced, than photographed.

Day 31

Flipped to Walker Pass and hiking south toward Hikertown. Hiked south 15.3 PCT miles. At mile 628.5.

At Mcgiver Cabin the annual one week outting of Kenny Majors and friends was taking place. Kenny’s family had built the cabin on land that it had mineral rights for. His family has been visiting for generations. The group is very welcoming to PCT hikers and offered myself and others to share their breakfast. Even though I already had my morning oatmeal, I joined the group for 2 plates of scrambled eggs, French toast, bacon, sausage, milk, and orange juice. Thank you!

Here is the group at the cabin. Followed by the serving line, then Wendy and the Lost Boys eating with Uphill.

 

Another attempt at lizard portraiture.

Some of the landscape.

Sunset at my camp.

 

 

 

Flipped to Walker Pass and hiking south toward Hikertown. Hiked 8.3 PCT miles. At mile 643.8.

I decided to flip, or skip forward and hike back. This means that starting today at mile 651.3 (Walker Pass), I will walk the next 133.5 miles in the south direction until mile 517.8 (Hikertown, Hwy 138).

The reason I’ve flipped is that I plan to fly back to Atlanta for a few weeks and with cousin Margaret’s help, it is more convenient and predictable to get to LAX airport from Hikertown, than Walker Pass. I’ll take the train from Metrolink station in Lancaster to Union Station in LA.

The bus (395 Eastern Sierra Transit) only runs once per day from Lancaster to Inoykern. I caught it at 2pm, then waited in Inoykern for several hours for the Kern Transit 227 which leaves at 7:05 pm. It was 7:45 pm by the time I was in the trail at Walker Pass. Since it quickly became dark, I only have one photo, other than the snapshots in my mind. I hiked until I arrived at Mcgiver cabin at 10:45pm.

Here I am enjoying the large turkey omelette at Crazy Ottos. I’m sorry to say that I couldn’t eat the whole thing.

Hiked 15.4 miles today.  At mile 517.6

Early this morning I hiked into Hikertown where I met my cousin Margaret of Lancaster, CA who arrived with loads of trail magic for me and the other lucky hikers who happened to be at Hikertown. After devouring the 2 Burger King whoppers she brought me (credit to Cousin Ed for the hamburger idea) and saving apples and veggies with hummus dip for afternoon snack (credit to Cousin Kate for that trail magic idea), we drove to Lancaster for shower, laundry, more food, and more than I could name here.

I have changed the hike plan a bit to take better advantage of Cousin Margaret’s local support. Tomorrow, she will drop me off at Metrolink where I will ride the 395 South bus to Inoykern from which Kern transit will take me to Walker Pass at around mile 650. I will hike south on the PCT to Hikertown where I will get off the trail for a few weeks to go back home. In later May, I will resume my hike north from Walker pass, but loaded down with ice axe and bear vault. Thanks to all of the O’Neal cousins for your support!

My daughter, Rebecca, has friends that thru-hiked the PCT last year. They had something called 10 by 10, where they would hike 10 miles by 10 am. With my early start, I finally managed a 10 by 10, actually completing 13.2 miles by 10 am. In the desert I’m going to need make 10 by 10’s routine with early starts every day and rest from the heat in the middle of the day.

The morning walk through newly pruned oak trees on mountainside grassy fields felt like walking through a park, but  the lower branches had been pruned for fire control, not to create a pleasant open space. 

 

Here a a few light yellow daisies that I liked. The trail on the lower slopes above the desert were covered with flowers of many types and colors. I was surprised when’s cousin Margaret told me that the dryness has made it a bad year for the yellow/orange California poppies. If so, I’d like to see a good flower year.

 

The landscape changes.

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Here I’m walking the ling straight line for the first time. 

Here is Hikertown, another refuge for hikers.

Today I hiked 20 miles.At mile 502.4.

The PCT is always surprising me. Nearing th Mojave valley, I expect to walk through desert and I did for a short while in the morning, but everything quickly changed as I began to move into trees. I saw a greater diversity of plant life here on the edge of the Mojave. Here is so sort of weeping pine Inhad not seen until now.

Here is an arid view in the morning.

As I drew closer to the Mojave desert, everyuaround me greened  up and I was soon seeing trees. Some tops of mountain outcrops looked like puttknygreens from a distance.

I sat under a lone tall pine for rest and a snack. After a while some type of biting ant was attacking.I moved on, but carried some ants with me. One www inside my sock and I could feel it gnawing my toe so I stopped, took off boot and sock and found the culprit.

I also had my first experience on the trail with gnats that flew in a cloud around my face when they weren’t landing on my face.

Saw two more snakes so now I am up to 9 snakes, three of which are poisonous. Here is the shorter of the 2 snakes I saw today. The orhyr appeared to be at least 4 feet long.

Campsite

 

Sunssr

Here is where I reached 500 miles.

 

Heee is a view of the Mojave.

 

Herenis poison Oak.

Hiked 21.8 miles today. At mile 482.4.

It was a day for the critters. Got stung by 2 bees and saw my 3rd Rattlesnake. The snake was hiding in a bush beside the trail and rattled when I passed. I l also saw the largest lizard so far, 12 inches; it seems the hotter it gets, THe larger the lizards grow.

The morning started with the most beautiful green mountain meadows I had  seen on this hike. Upon crossing a mountain ridge, the landscape changed to a hot dry landscape of chalky and sandy mountains. As the morning passed the heat increased. Having an early start I didn’t mind taking a long break from the heat. I picked out a spot where the trail turned into a cleft between slopes. I knew there would be shade there, but was surprised to see a large overhang rock formation that provided refreshing refuge from the heat. The stones were actually cold. A  sign was posted that a Boy Scoit Troop had improved the spot. I also noticed a swarm of bees buzzing in and out of a nest deep inside an opening in the rock. I chose a spot as far away from the bees as possible and made myself comfortable in the shade..I rested my bare feet on smooth cold rocks as I laid back on my pad and drank water. It was so cool that I used my down jacket as a cover and took a nap. Full Sail and Wit came up and I awoke. Fit stepped into the shade and as I warned him about the bees he was stung. Another bee chases Full Sail down the trail. Both long gone, I tried to settle back to my nap, but I wasn’t the only one to have been awakened. First one bee attacked. I stayed where I was and defended my territory, but the bee would not give up. Eventually, I had to gather all my stuff and move out of harms way. Score, (Me) 2 stings, one on toe and one on nose, (Bees)!1 dead bee.

Here I am relaxing in the cool spot before other hikers stirred up the bees.

Here is the cool refuge from a very safe distance. It is In the rocks.

Here is the green of the early day.

On top of the mountain in the green area was a lot of wildflowers.

A cool rock that I had to photograph.

More flowers. I think these were fireweed. The humming birds (another critter) were working on these flowers. This made me realize something about what happened yesterday. I was taking a beak when I heard something fly by very fast. The whir had a Doppler effect. I wondered at the time that nothing in nature would move that fast. Now I realize that it must have been the straight line flight of a hummingbird.

Here is a photo from Casa De Luna, a kind of free hostel similar to Hiker Heaven, but much less organized, very laid back, and hippyish. People paint rocks and place them in the Manzanita forest where guests camp. They cook for you and feed you. I didn’t stay since I wanted to hike in the cool evening.

I came over the last mountain of the day and had a view of the Mojave desert I will soon be walking through.

 

Here is the view from the start of the day when I woke up Fromm my trailside cowboy camp.

 

Here is a view of the trail I had hiked with headlamp the night before.