Category: PCT Thru Hike

Hiked 12.6 miles today. At mile 369.3

At Pines Cabins in Wrightwood. Resupply and hiking day.

I think it is funny when the weather forecast is variable winds. What is that supposed to mean? Should I go outside? Today on the PCT, varible winds varied from the two-step-sidestep to the “gravity defying, hey look at me, I can walk on a wall!”

Here is a link to a YouTube video of the wind I experienced.  Video opens in a new tab.

Winds on PCT near Wrightwood

In town resupplying and sharing a room with Nuts. Nuts actually got pretty chilled up on the windy trail. I called Carol the trail angel and she arrived in her pickup truck. After being blasted by cold wind all day we were a little surprised when she said that we would need to ride in the back. At that point we would have considered riding on the hood if it got USB’s into a warm town room. After the wind we had already endured, the pickup ride didn’t seem bad at all.

Nuts is interesting because he uses a blue tarp for shelter. He’s 24 years old and already seen much of the world. Two things we have in common is that we both use tarps and that we both worked at Copper Mountain Ski Resort. We went out to $1.50 taco night and a big PCT thru-hiker crowd was there. They were all getting into town with their wind stories to tell. U-turn sat at our table.

U-turn is a young guy from Belgium who got his name by hiking down the wrong trail for 5 miles before correcting his mistake by doing a U-turn to hike back to the PCT. As he pulls out an assortment of coins to spend on another taco,  He tells me that he learned about the PCT from the movie Wild. He has Euro coins along with dimes and nickels. I joked that he was carrying some unnecessary weight there and that maybe he could get the guy to take a Euro for a taco. He asks me how much of a dollar is his dime and asks the same about his nickle. He finds it strange that a nickel is worth less than a dime even though it is a bigger coin. Before the PCT, he had never hiked or camped a day in his life, yet here he is in a strange country and at mile 369.

Here are the few photos of the day.

 

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