Author: mmbowden60

Hiked 21.1 miles today. At mile 356.7

It was tough miles in the afternoon. I began a 27 mile stretch without water that also climbs from under 3000 feet to over 8000 feet.. Today I completed 3500 feet of that climb while carrying over 7 liters of water. It was down to 5 liters by day’s end. Here is my water layes out at the El Cajon McDonalds.

My left shoulder has been bothering me and I’ve tried a lot of different positions to get more comfort Today I figured out that it helped to hold the arm slightly bent across my front just like the famous Napoleon portrait. In this position I can’t use my poles to assist on the uphill. I focused on relaxing my arm and moving forward so much that I think I was in a trance while automatically climbing the trail.

When I finally reached the first tiny tent site in the side of mountain, I was really feeling the pain. Legs, shoulders, feet. Here is my campsite.

Here is the view in the other direction at my tentsite.

Here is the sunrise this morning. I started hiking at 6 AM and finished later than 6 PM. Long day even with a lot of time spent at McDonalds.

The trail this morning followed sandy washouts. It appeared that the trail could crumble down one of these deep sandy gorges at any time. Wouldn’t want to be there in an earthquake.

In the afternoon I begin climbing mountains shown in distance. Mt SAn Antonio is the one with snow.

Here  is the spooky tunnel under I-15 that the PCT uses.

 

 

Train on the PCT

More flowers 

 

 

Hiked 18.7 miles today, At mile 335.6

Most of the day was spent hiking above, below, and around Lake Silverwood. I hiked under the dam, then climbed up over the lake. This lake is actually the main feeder reservoir for other downstream reservoirs that supply Los Angeles with most of it’s water.

 

The highlight of the day was reaching the Cleghorn Picnic Shelter where there was running water and bathrooms and real civilized picnic tables to sit at and eat. To top it off, Pizza can be delivered here. I chipped in for a slice of pizza that Rocket and Lady had already ordered. Before long other PCT’ers started drifting in and by the time I left there appeared to be 5 hikers, each with their own large pizza.

Here is Rick with his hiking llamas on the PCT. He used to use horses, but switched to llamas 3 or 4 years ago. Llamas don’t deserve their reputation for bad behavior. Their spitting is usually directed at one another. All these years and Rick has only been spit on 2 or 3 times. While I was standing there, the brown llama spit on the white llama. It was more like a big spray than a spit. You don’t want to be spit upon because it is a smelly mix of digestive juices straight out of their ruminating stomachs.

One of the dams holding back Lake Silverwood. PCT passes right below dam.

 

 

 

Flowers

Lizzard buddies. I’m on mile 336 and at 100 lizards per mile, iI estimate that I have seen 33,600 lizards so far. Bet that I will see lizards tomorrow!

 

 

They are always telling us to turn off water faucets completely at PCT water tanks. Well, here is the California Water Authority that missed turning off the faucet at the Silverwood dam!

Hiked 22.1 miles today, At mile 318

I’m laying here under the stars in the California desert with the Big Dipper, handle down in front of me. It is a pleasant cool windless night. I’ve dropped 2000 feet since last night’s camp. Great place to type a blog.

The highlight of the day was hot springs and the hike down deep creek gorge. For miles I walked along the wall of the gorge gazing down at deep pools of water hundreds of feet below. It seemed like all hikers were looking forward to soaking tired feet and sore muscles in the hot spring. I managed to hike the 12 miles to the hot springs by 11:30 am.

There are actually several hot springs each with a catch basin that bathers could sit in. The hot water trickles out of the hillside where it combines with the cold water of Deep Creek. My first priority was to take off my boots and soak my sore feet, next I sat on the beach and ate lunch. Usually food comes first, but there isn’t always a hot spring. Only after I had eaten did I ease my sore body into the warm water. Next was a swim in the cold waters of Deep Creek followed by more warm water and a snooze in the warm sun on the beach. This place was hard to leave, but I had the PCT to hike.

Bridge over Deep Creek.

Popular spot for camping on the beach below. PCT thru-hikers camped

Deep Creek Gorge

Flowers along the gorge.

Hot Springs. This is just one of the hot baths. These springs are remote. Everyone has to hike in.

Trail at lower end of Deep Creek gorge.

Spillway of Mojave Dam. Designed to dam up Deep Creek, this’s dam isn’t farming anything. Is that ok to say?

Deep Creek passing through Mojave Dam

Flowers in the desert foothills

Hiked 20.9 miles today, at mile 295.9

My pack is heavier, but I am eating much better. With plenty of snacks, I munch when my energy gets low. This morning I had a no-cook breakfast, cold coffee and 2 pop tarts. Last night I had avocado on triscuits. I’ve added cooked turkey sausage to my pantry. Tonight I made Couscous with sausage gravy loaded with sausage. I ate some of it in a tortilla. Hikers will tell you that anything can be wrapped in a tortilla. Usually a PCT hiker will put whatever is available in a tortilla be it peanut butter, candy, or instant mashed potatoes or all 3 mixed together.

Today was the first time I ran into a hiker that I hadn’t seen in many days. Saw Cricket who I first met at Scissors Crossing with her boyfriend. We had shared Apple Pie trail magic. Cricket’s boyfriend had to get off the trail due to foot issues, but Cricket is still going strong. There was a pretty good hiker group around me today. Also saw Buckwheat, age 65, who I hadn’t seen since Mission Creek. Everyone stopped at the first crossing of Holcomb creek for water and to visit. At first it was just me eating lunch at the creek, but before long we had 6 or 7 people. It was a windy lunch and a cold day. I spent a most of the day hiking in fleece pants and a down vest.

Now here are the photos. I followed Holcomb creek with a ridge to my left and one to my right. The one to the left was North facing and covered with large trees. To my right, the south facing slope was desert with short brush. Similar ridges in all respects other than how the sun hit. See following 2 photos for this contrast.

View if Big Bear Lake

Holcomb Creek. I followed the gorge for this creek the entire 2nd half of the day.

Trail and other photos

Hiked 10 miles, at mile 266.1

I dropped in behind Google and Pusher and speed hiked the last 3 miles to Hwy 18. From there Papa Smurf  drove us to Big Bear. Thanks Mama and Papa Smurf for the coke on the trail and the 2 rides today. Also thanks to Matt for picking me up when I didn’t even have a thumb out. 

Tonight in Big Bear Hostel My legs are feeling the pain from hiking fast. We were doing a little better than 3 mph is my guess. Pusher’s normal pace is 3 mph.

I went grocery shopping and bought 6 day supply of food to get me the next 100 miles. I think I bought way too much and will have trouble fitting it all in my pack. I ate lunch at the grocery while organizing and repackaging food. My lunch was a whole rotisserie chicken, a pint (5 servings) of rice pudding, and a quart of Gatorade. I went out to dinner later and had 2 Spaghetti’s. (I ate the first and when the waiter asked how it was , I told him there wasn’t much and do I get 2nds?) He brought me a 2nd Spaghetti.

I returned to the hostel and weighed. My starting weight was 167. Now I am at 161.7. 

Now is a good time to see how my body is holding up. I have Nocturia, chronic back pain, and bursitis in the right hip. Even before the hike exercise improved these conditions, although I had setbacks. While hiking the Nocturia is much improved and back and bursa is still good. 

After a few days, I developed the beginning of shin splint in my right leg. I took 3 Ibuprofen, rested some, and slowed down a little. After a couple of days the pain in the muscle on the outside of my shin subsided. In all, I’ve had about 8 Ibuprofen during the hike.

A couple of nights I had weird pain while sleeping that I didn’t have while hiking. One night it was a knee and another night it was both feet. All strange because I thought I would have the pain while working, not while resting.

I never get blisters, but by Idyllwild, I was dealing with blisters on top of both toes. These were partly due to inside seams of my boots. I used moleskin and now they are a distant memory. Several toenails are bruised, but the little toe is suffering now. It is being pushed around by other toes when the trail is not horizontally level which is about half the time. My solution is to put on a 2nd sock so the other toes stay in place and don’t push on the little toe. Generally I feel good and my legs feel strong. There are a lot of people my age and older that are doing this hike. There are people with significant health obstacles such as spinal issues, surgeries, jour issues, etc that are taking this on. One 65 year old man lost 50 pounds and overcame a number of health issues to be out here. He had a steroid shot in each of his hips before the hike.

Here are the photos of the day.