Pacific Crest Trail Hike
April 15th
Through June 19, 2005
Left home in the van about 6:30 AM for Fort Collins. Uneventful except for some rain, hail, and lightning in Nebraska. Arrived Ft. Collins around 7 PM. Andy made seafood tacos and spinach salad with strawberries. Great.
Mailed a food package, did a little shopping. Went to JeJu’s – a sushi place. Really good. Had odd ice cream desserts.
Nat drove us to the Denver airport. No problems. Got off the plane at LAX and walked down a couple of gates to ask where we’d find American Eagle. (to get us to San Diego). The lady said “wait here, a shuttle will pick you up”. We got on the shuttle and got to ride on the tarmac; almost got run over by a plane but we wound up at the correct gate. Boarded the noisiest plane ever, landed at the San Diego Commuter Terminal – without our luggage (backpacks). They said it would come on the next flight – it did. After getting our tiny Daewoo car we drove to the Holiday Inn.
Drove to Campo to check out the route to get to the start of the trail and see what it was like. Only got really lost once but we were only a couple miles off where we should have been. Getting to Campo is not easy. Windy roads, big trucks, it’s slow going.
Doug and Elaine dropped us off at Campo about 11 AM. They hiked about a half a mile with us. It was extremely tiring. The route was a lot of up and down, although not great distances. It was actually a little tricky to find the trail at times.
The place where we decided to stop had no flat area or place to stay. But John walked back into the brush so we were completely off the trail. He found a wonderful spot for our tent. We wanted to be off the trail because we were still so close to the border and we didn’t want to run into any illegal aliens.
My foot (the one I had sprained a couple weeks ago) was fine and no blisters!!!
Miles for the day:
8.94 Total miles: 8.94
We woke up on our own at 6:30 and got up and started hiking at 8:30. This was to be the 10-ish mile day and from the write-up in the guidebook, the hardest part of the whole trail because of a steep uphill after Hauser Creek. Before we got to that part we were doing OK. Some of the scenery is gorgeous. Yesterday we got to about 3000 feet. Today we got to about 3495 feet.
Before we got to Hauser Creek the PCT took us onto a jeep road. At the bottom of the jeep road we ran into a Border Patrol guy, plus there were two others just a little ways away. They had heard there were some illegals around and were checking to sure that we weren’t them.
We have seen so many beautiful flowers, and also beautiful rocks. We’ve seen lizards, squirrels, turkey vultures, humming birds, plus I’m sure I heard some coyotes. We saw some brilliantly red fuzzy spiders about ½ to ¾ inch long. And some toad that looks like a lizard.
After talking to the Border Patrol people we went on a horrendous down trail. At the bottom we started up on the “hardest part of the trail”. And it was. The first ¾ mile up wasn’t bad but all in all by the time we got to our destination – Lake Moreno County Park – I was dead. Well mostly my feet hurt. I had blisters on each foot, my sprain was sore, my claves hurt, the front, back and side of my thigh hurt. I just hurt. John’s feet hurt too – the bottom of his feet. He doesn’t complain nearly as much as I do. As we went uphill it wasn’t too bad, but then just the slightest down and my calves started screaming. If I turned my foot a certain way so that my calves didn’t hurt as much, then the outside of my thighs started hurting.
Just a short way before our destination (Moreno Campground) we sat on a rock to rest and met our first PCT hiker – Edmund; his computer name was Tangent. A very nice guy, an ultra light hiker. His pack alone weighed 13 oz., his 30 degree sleeping bag weighed under 2 pounds. He hikes many miles a day – 20ish. He basically flies along.
We got to the campground, dropped our packs and John went to register and got us a hiker site for $2.00!! Right before we were ready for bed another PCT hiker came over to share our site. Robert, a Chief in the Coast Guard; to retire in August when he’ll go to Oregon to go to school. Robert hiked all the way from Campo. He just does the trail on weekends and he pushed hard to get to Lake Moreno. He had blisters and leg pains too. But since Lake Moreno was his goal he thought he might not hike any more for the weekend.
Miles for the day: 11.2 Total miles: 20.14
Saturday morning dawned and we saw the sun and blue sky for 5 minutes. Then it looked overcast and we heard we might get rain. Too bad because at the other end of the campground a Mexican family was setting up chairs and getting ready for a wedding.
We planned on a short day – about 6 miles and we were eating breakfast when Don showed up. He was another PCT hiker, who had a regular campsite because he would be staying for the kickoff on Thurs. He had hiked past the burn (not sure where that is) and had gotten a terrible cold and hitchhiked back to recuperate. Also a veteran PCT hiker, but he carried about a 24 pound pack as compared to Tangent who carried about 12 pounds. He had a cool looking alcohol stove that he made from a pepsi can.
I forgot to mention when we got up this morning, I looked over and there was Robert sleeping on a tarp in his (apparently) heavy-duty sleeping bag, with his bald head sticking out. It was cold last night.
We took off through some really neat scenery and wound slowly up; then more sharply up and then as we looked around the weather looked like it could turn nasty. We were headed down now on some tough rocks and we went as quickly as we could (screaming calves, hurting blisters). John’s map showed that we would be going under a big highway bridge and we planned to eat lunch there. We did and as we were eating it started to rain. I have to back up. Shortly before the bridge we came upon 2 male adult backpackers and 2 kid backpackers. They were sitting on a big rock having lunch.
We ate our lunch and didn’t want to hike in the rain so we put on some warm clothes and sat on my foam cell pad, leaning against the cement wall of the bridge. We were almost asleep when we heard someone walking by – it was Robert. He had called his wife and she was going to pick him up a couple miles down the road. So he sat down with us to see if the rain would let up. Then 3 of the 4 hikers that we saw eating on the rock came (and stood) under the bridge. The other adult went to get the car. They were supposed to go to Lake Moreno but decided against it.
As the rain slowed, Robert, John and I left, Robert ahead of us. We were going to Boulder Campground. Of course it started raining more and we put our garbage bags over our packs. I had on my rain pants and jacket and wasn’t cold.
We walked through a large area that looked like prairie; lots of grass and some trees. The exciting part was when we got to a stream and there was a flat board across the stream. I didn’t fall in. When we got to the campground there was a sign that said it was closed because of that toad that looked like a lizard, that we had seen earlier on the trail. We used the bathrooms, took on water and set off up the mountain again. We got to about 3500 feet; we were walking right on the edge and so there was no place to camp. After a mile or so, John found a side trail and followed it a ways and found a perfect spot for us to camp. The rain hadn’t stopped, we were both getting cold and as we’re walking back to our “campsite” (John wearing his bright red rain jacket, mine bright yellow), this small, super noisy plane went right over the top of us. We were sure it was the Border Patrol. They circled around and come back. Luckily they must have figured that we were PCT hikers and they didn’t come back.
The rain let up for 2 minutes and we set that tent up so fast I can’t believe it and threw everything in there we needed (pads, sleeping bags and clothes bags). Then we ate dinner in the rain. John organized things outside and I got in the tent, took off my wet rain stuff and boots and put it on the floor in the vestibule, and took off my slightly wet clothes and then put on every dry piece of clothing in my clothes bag including heavy socks and mittens and a balaclava. I got in my sleeping bag and John came in and put his warm dry clothes on. It probably took about 2 hours before our hands warmed up. It was really cold sleeping that night, but our tent kept us dry.
Miles for the day: 7.2 Total miles: 27.34
We woke up and didn’t see any sun, but I looked out and it was just coming up over the mountain! So we got up and just stood in it – it was so warm. We hung up all our wet stuff and everything dried. We ate breakfast, got packed and left about 10:30 AM. We hiked in mostly mountainous type terrain; some really tricky footing on the little rocks and some bigger rocks. We walked through some grassy areas, and lots of trees. Saw more humming birds, loads of gorgeous flowers. And we saw spectacular views. We got as high as 4400 feet. My blisters are better, calves still hurt and John’s feet still hurt.
Today we were going to stay at Cibbitz campground. It was .8 mile off trail down a jeep road. It was soooo hard going down. But we got there and found a site, filled up on water and John went to register. It cost $10 to camp or just for day use. So we left. We started going back up the jeep road when this truck came up the road. The very nice people gave us a ride to the top of the hill. His name was Ray (and his wife, son and girlfriend). They are campers and hikers and outdoors people. We were so glad we didn’t have to walk up that hill.
Miles for the day:
6.8 Total miles: 34.14
Highest elevation for the day: 4400 feet
A cold night although I stayed much warmer than the night it rained. I got up once to go to the bathroom and it didn’t seem really cold but there was the start of ice on the outside of the tent from condensation.
We woke up just as the sun started to hit the tent. Good thing because as the ice turned to water it just dripped right into the tent so we had to scramble and get everything out. It was a sunny but very chilly morning. We thought that since we had to climb for 3 miles that we would warm up. But no – the wind was so cold and we were in the shade a lot.
My calves were much better today, but my foot hurt on and off. We saw such gorgeous flowers. Reds, orange, white, blue, purple, on bushes, trees, plants and cacti. The Yucca is so incredible. You can see them almost miles away. John called them the Guardians of the mountain. There are the green spikey leaves that grow upward on the yucca and are really sharp on the tips of each leaf. Then the stalk grows up and out of the leaves 3 to 5 feet high. The top foot or so has beautiful white flowers clustered all around and the tips of the flowers are shaded purple. There are also these blue flowered bushes. When the flowers drop the ground is covered with blue fairy dust.
We saw another brilliant red spider today, a really furry looking mouse, some blue jays and 2 single hikers and 1 couple.
We walked thorough a mountainous type setting today. Up those loose stones on the trail; they are so hard to walk on. We saw beautiful rocks. We got all the way to 6000 ft. today and yes! We saw remnants of snow. The views were breathtaking; to look back and see mountain ranges in the distance, each further one higher and higher.
After looking in the book it said that the campsite we planned to stay at might not have the water turned on. So there was a beautiful babbling brook before the site and John filtered about 2 qts of water. But we lucked out. There was water at the campground. We’re at Burnt Ranchera. Tomorrow it’s a mile plus to Laguna where we will resupply. We have too much food. We eat all the breakfast and dinner food, but the snack/lunch stuff is too much.
As we were walking today we got to a pine forest. We could have been walking in Minnesota. It was so neat. You could hear the wind through the pines and smell the pines.
Miles for the day:
8.7 Total miles: 42.84
Highest elevation for the day: 6000 feet
I found it to be exceptionally cold last night. When we stopped at our next campground further on, the guy said it got down to 28 this last night. We got up and hiked a short distance to the Laguna Store/Post Office and picked up our resupply stuff. We met Robert – the guy from England whom we had met at Long Creek. And I found out from him that the girl that passed us the previous day was from New Zealand.
Got back on the road to return to the trail and starting to hitchhike – looking for a ride to Julian. No luck at the Laguna Store or walking with a “To Julian” sign. Right before we got to the trail we ran into a couple of hikers – Kent and Cathy. It’s their 2nd time on the PCT. They were just married last August and will be on the trail for their anniversary. They only carry 13pounds and 14 pounds respectively plus water (Kent normally only carries a quart) plus their food. They buy quite a bit of their food.
On the trail we saw more incredible flowers, rocks, scenery. For lunch John found a perfect spot out on a bunch of rocks that looked down 4000 ft to the desert. You could look off in the distance and see mountain. range after mountain range the highest one having snow at the very tip.
Our camping spot was Laguna Campground ($14!!), but they did have water, picnic tables and pit toilets – the shower wasn’t on because it could still get down to freezing. Before we got to our site, we stood out on the highway with our “To Julian” sign – for about 2-3 hours. No luck. So we got to our site and spent some time with Kent and Cathy that we had just met previously. It was a very windy night, although not as cold.
Miles for the day:
7.2 Total miles: 50.0
We started on the highway with our sign out and barely got started when a car, going in the opposite direction (John shows our sign to people going in each direction) smiled, waved and turned around and picked us up! She was camping at Burnt Ranchera and like the sag wagon for her daughter and son in law who are doing the PCT. Her name is Jan Osborne and she lives in Colorado Springs and will be here a week, go back to Colorado and then come out for the month of June (or July?) and meet them at various odd places. How nice of her to pick us up.
Here at Julian we are staying at a sort of B + B. A guy’s house with 3 separate rooms and entrances. Our room has wooden ceilings, it’s an older place and quite beautiful. We step out of our room into a huge patio with a pool, chairs here and there and looking out onto the lower part of the mountains – all trees. He has some fabulous rose bushes and various odd lovely flowers.
Jan (the lady that picked us up) dropped us off at the visitor center and they had bathrooms that cost 25 cents. But the people at the visitor center did tell us about free internet at the bank (we used it) the post office (used that too) and they told us about another lady by the name of Jan, who lives in Julian, who would take us to Scissors Crossing (instead of us waiting til 5 PM to take the bus to Scissors Crossing). Jan (the one who lives in Julian) will meet us at 8 AM tomorrow to take us to Scissors Crossing.
Miles for the day: 0.7 Total miles: 50.7
Thursday
4/22/04
We walked to the place in Julian where Jan worked. She would drive us from there to Scissors Crossing so we could get back on the trail. She was a lovely lady in her 60’s, I think. Jan’s boyfriend is 95 years old and was hiking with the best of them until he was about 85 years old. She was telling us that he had been in an accident where every rib was broken. It took him 10 months to heal and then he and Jan walled down into the Grand Canyon. When they got down there he wasn’t sure if he would be able to climb back out. He found out that a mule would cost a huge amount, a helicopter even more at $1200, so he hiked out on his own. He still goes out hiking with a 3 wheel walker.
We started hiking at about 2400 feet and got as high as 3360. The trail was not steep trail but it went on forever. A million switchbacks. It was very windy but as we went from 1 mountain range to the next we were in and out of the wind. Sunny and hot, the wind helped to keep us cool.
John had a full load of water – 2 containers plus a quart (232oz). I had about 2 containers (200 ounces). Even before we were done for the day I was so tired plus I had the start of another blister, but I put a bandaid on it. John has been taking his socks off every couple hours and airing and drying his socks and his feet in the sun, and with good results.
We have seen such incredible flowers today. The barrel cacti have a light green flower, the prickly pear and beaver tail has bright red flowers, the ocotillo has reddish orange flowers. The cholla cacti have yellow flowers. There are also bushes with yellow flowers and white flowers. Then there are these tiny ground flowers that are white, some are burgundy, some yellow. And then an aloe looking plant that shoots up a stalk about 6-8 feet high that looks like a huge spear of asparagus. When it opens it has yellow flowers on it.
About 4 1/2 miles in, we saw on the trail what we thought was a single trekking pole. It turned out to be a 5 iron (golf club).
Met a guy today from Memphis- David, trail name Pine Needle.
We saw a snake today. We walked past it on the trail and then John saw it. It was about 2 feet long, thumb size diameter and pink and brown.
Miles for the day: 9.3 Total miles: 60
Highest elevation for the day: 3600 feet Lowest elevation for the day: 2400 feet
We were actually on the trail today at 8:05 AM. We hadn’t walked too far when I heard a noise; I thought it was a rattling, but later on we thought it was a hissing. I heard the noise and stopped. We both listened and when we heard it again, we quickly backed up. When we got about 3-4 feet back the hissing stopped. We just stood there. Then John bent down and got some small rocks and tossed them into the cholla where the noise came from. Then he tossed some more rocks in that area and nothing happened. He took my trekking pole and poked around and nothing happened. We walked by quickly.
We saw a lot of lizards today. Also a new cactus – a tall bush with big white flowers with a yellow center. We also saw what looked like a puffball mushroom.
We are still in the hot arid San Felipe mountains. We got up to 4200 feet today. We went by a huge cache of water and took some. John found us a wonderful campsite way on top of a ridge. It’s fairly windy and with the tent up with the fly partially covering it, it’s not too hot as the breeze blows through. The weather was perfect for sleeping. Instead of wearing every single thing we owned, we got by with 1 lifa top. It was great.
Miles for the day: 7.3 Total miles: 67.3
Highest elevation for the day: 4200 feet
Saturday 4/24/04
We got up and were on the trail by 7:56! A record! We got as high as 4400 feet today. There wasn’t much up and down. We saw a Baltimore oriole and a quail on the trail. We met a guy by the name of Joe – he’s from Huntington Beach and he is traveling up to Tuolume Meadows. We also saw a neat cave – like a one person cave; it was about 10 feet off the trail.
We went through a burn area (from 2 years ago) and the flowers are mainly what came up. Incredible fields of white and purple and some yellows poking up. Just solid flowers everywhere. So fantastic.
Near the end of our hike we met Kent and Cathy again. As we got to the end of the day, which was Barrow Springs, we saw Kent and Cathy and Joe. Joe will be leaving around 3 PM to head about 6 more miles down the trail.
The people we met at Barrow Springs were:
Gil, an older guy (67) from Victoria Canada. He’s been hiking for 4 weeks.
Cisily, (57 I think) from the Detroit area. She plans to go to the end of the trail. She hiked the Appalachian Trail before. She’s also canoed in the Boundary Waters.
We met Derek, Alex and Mike (the DAMnation boys) they all just graduated from college from Bellingham WA.
Mark and Penny, who are the daughter and son in law of Jan (the lady who picked us up)
Damien – he said we’re the first people he’s seen, not counting 5 illegal aliens.
Bill from Indiana.
Miles for the day: 7.3 Total miles: 74.6
Highest elevation for the day: 4400 feet
Sunday 4/25/04
It was freezing in our wash/site so we got up at 6:30 AM and didn’t take off till 8:30 AM. Started with our usual chapparel scenery and met Dennis the jogger. He lives in the Southern California area and knows the PCT (south) very well. Last weekend he ran a 50 miler in 9 hours and he set a record for his age group (over 60). There were about 150 participants. His wife was the director and he was the one who shot off the gun for the start of the race.
Shortly after talking to Dennis we came upon a flat grassy prairie and it was windy. In fact we probably crossed about 4 of those prairies for maybe 4 miles. We had some little mountains to cross in between; but it was so neat on these prairies. We saw some poppies (bright orange) growing in the grass.
We stopped for lunch in a grassy area and Scott Williamson came by – a PCT hiker (about his 6th time). He was wearing running shorts and shoes and socks and a hat. He said his calves were blistering from the sun, but he wanted to get his whole body tan. One time he had started at the Mexican border, went to the end in Canada and started back for Mexico. He got as far as either 400 or 800 miles to Mexico. We told him we were from Mpls and he said he missed the cold weather since he now lives in Santa Cruz. He said he lived in Maine once in a backwoods cabin and he went to bed one night without checking his wood burning stove. During the night it stopped; he woke up and it was 5 degrees inside.
After he left we noticed that there were a million little red ticks everywhere. So we moved and we are now very aware of red ticks.
We found a site about 1and ½ miles before Warner Springs. John walked in to get some fuel and I checked out the area for ticks. It seemed that the more in the shade we were, the more teeny tiny red ticks came out. They preferred cool, dark, damp places so the tent got set up in the blazing sun.
On our walk today there was a sign that said “go over behind these rocks and see the eagle rock” So we did and it was neat – a rock that looked just like an eagle. We also saw 2 ladies on horseback. The one lady said that some of her group were getting ready to take their horses and travel up to the Canadian border on the PCT. She said they would be taking mules too.
When John was walking to town for fuel, Jan saw him. She was going in the opposite direction, stopped and turned around and picked him up and gave him a ride to town.
Miles for the day: 7.9 Total miles: 82.5
Monday 4/26/04
We walked a short distance to our destination for the day. At about 9 AM we arrived at the lodge and they had a room ready for us. It was like a rustic cabin. Kent and Cathy are here for an extra day. We saw Gil and we saw one of the DAMnation boys. We took a shower, John got our box from the Post Office. We stopped at room 37 and got Kent and Cathy and went to the grill for lunch. After we were there a while, Bill, from Indiana joined us.
We sent a small box back to Nat and are now sitting at the hot springs. The water is 105 degrees. It’s in a huge pool, you can swim in it if you choose or you can swim in the other huge pool that had regular water in it.
This place has a huge lodge with a TV, small library, resting area, phones, internet use, a cantina and a restaurant. There are also about 12 tennis courts, paddle ball court, golf course, and volleyball courts. Rooms cost $120 but PCT hikers get them for $50.
Miles for the day:
2.1 Total miles: 84.6
Tuesday 4/27/04
We had dinner with Bill and Kent and Cathy last night. We got email addresses and then left this morning at 7:45. We saw a coyote today as we were walking through a camping area. We also saw a rattlesnake. I was walking ahead and saw it smack in the middle of the trail. I stopped and then he must have noticed us because he started to rattle. So we backed up about 6 feet until he quit rattling. Then he got reorganized and just laid down where he was before- in the middle of the trail. John rolled some small rocks its way but the snake just ignored it. Then he threw some sandy-dirt at it and hit it and the snake started rattling again, but he got off the trail. John poked around where he went into the bushes with my trekking pole, but nothing happened. So we quickly passed.
We hiked by and over Agua Calient Creek about 5 times. We didn’t take any water because there would be water at Lost Valley Spring. We did some horrendous up. It was tough. I think we went to about 4200 feet. We found the place to get off the trail to find water - around 1 PM. But we never found it. John hiked a couple hours as per the book’s directions and never found any. Then he tried with the waypoint of the GPS and never found any water.
He finally took off about 4 PM to hike back about 3 miles to Agua Caliente Creek to get water. He emptied his pack and left and I moved all of our stuff up the trail to our campsite for the night. John got back about 6:30 PM with lots of water; we ate and went to bed. John did see a little rattlesnake on his hike to get water.
Miles for the day:
19.2 total miles: 103.8
Highest elevation for the day: 4200 feet
Wednesday 4/28/04
We got up and headed up the trail but right before we left Larry and Leann came by. They are day hikers who each have a car. The park one at point A, one at point B and then hike from A to B (or vice versa, whichever way is easiest. Then they camp for the night in the truck.
At the top of the road/trail we turned left, walked 1.1 mile (like Yogi’s book said) and there was a sign for Lost Valley Spring. Our PCT guidebook, whose directions we were following, was really screwed up. John went down and got more water.
We eventually got up to 5600 feet. On the way we turned into an area that was burned. Perhaps for a total of 5 or 6 miles. Burned. Nothing there. A few flowers coming up and some grass. Everything was charred. Even some of the rocks were burned.
It started to get windy. WINDY!!! Like it was hard to walk in place. One time it almost blew me off the trail. And we were going up.
We ran into Richard today (a guy from England) and into a guy named Lindy. Lindy is an older guy from Fridley, MN who does big miles each day and is hoping to do a yo-yo, that is make it up to Canada and then back down to Mexico.
We passed a water cache and the wind was so incredible you could hardly pour the water from the bottles. I was so tired when we got to our stopping spot and the wind kept blowing. We put our mats down on the ground and covered our faces as the dust and ash and sand pelted us. Surely it would stop. It didn’t. We saw many dust devils at the top of our mountain. Some looked like actual tornadoes. We set up the tent when it was quiet for a moment, threw everything into it, go in and the wind picked up again. At times the tent collapsed right down onto us. Dust, sand, dirt, ash came into the tent like there was no barrier. I got up at 10:30 PM to go to the bathroom and it was still windy and cold.
Miles for the day:
10.7 Total miles: 114.5
Highest elevation for the day: 5600 feet
Thursday 4/29/04
The alarm rang at 6:30 AM, it was still windy, there was some fog and it was freezing. We dressed for winter and headed off without breakfast. It was a nicer day today. Once we warmed up, we ran into Larry and Leeann again. We stopped at Thule Spring and cleaned the tent and the fly and our socks. Then Bobby Comptom (trail name llama) came by and then Raru and Sisu. They are all going on another 5 miles tonight.
Miles for the day:
8.2 Total miles: 122.7
Friday 4/30/04
We got up and were ready to leave when we noticed some people filtering water – Grease Pot (female) and Garlic Man (male), both veteran hikers. They hiked 26 miles miles yesterday. She was wearing a skirt, ankle length that you could tie it up so it was about knee length. Then Yipee came along. His wife, Yapee was hiking in Idaho with their chocolate lab. Yipee would be flying back to Fairbanks in a couple weeks.
This was really a neat scenery day. The trail was more open and you could see stuff. Sometimes the brush, the grass, the trees are so close to the trail that you can’t see anything. Today it opened up, it was a nice change. We climbed a lot. We went through some rocky/boulder areas that was really cool.
We saw some new flowers. Larry and Leann passed us going south. We met a guy named Carl. Many more people passed us this day.
We stopped at the water cache supplied by the Anza Trail Angels. It was a very nice set-up.
I have to make a note about how dirty you can get and how filthy your clothes get.
There was a single crow on a very large boulder that scolded us today as we were hiking toward it. He started quite a ways before we got to him and then continued scolding as we past him.
By now it was 6.5 miles and I just got so tired and hot. At 8.3 miles John found a neat wash and we went back a ways into the wash. He hung a tarp there and there was an occasional breeze so we laid on our mats and rested until it cooled off enough to go to bed.
John pulled his back a little yesterday, but it seems to be OK.
Miles for the day: 8.3 Total miles: 131
Saturday 5/1/04
When we got up today and as the morning slowly progressed, there was a huge influx of these big mosquito-like bugs. They were around last night too. Very gentle bugs, almost awkward, pretty dumb – they liked to jump into the hot cooking food. John opened the lid to stir the food and suddenly 1, 2, 3 jumped in. It was like he could hardly throw their dead bodies out before more jumped in. However in the morning when it started to warm up, they came down into the ravine we were in by the droves. They’re not even bothersome, they’re just floating and flying around. It’s an awesome sight to see them everywhere around us; just floating.
We climbed maybe 500 to 700 feet today. It’s hard to describe the scenery because I don’t know what a lot of it is. Plus it changes so rapidly as we go from switchback to switchback, down into ravines, through valleys, up steep hillsides (one mis-step and you’d go over the edge). You walk through dirt, sand, red sand, gray sand, rotten granite, really loose sand, harder packed sand, more dirt, sand with small rocks everywhere, which makes for really tough footing. Sometimes you walk on big rocks. Sometimes there are lots of boulders, and then there are cacti scattered here and there – still blooming. Some shrubs that look like holly – very sharp leaves, grow right into the small path that we walk on and you have to plough right through them. Sometimes there are huge yuccas – the tips of which are like a needle. You only have to run into them once to remember.
But the whole point is that there is so much to see, not even counting the magnificent view. When you get up on the ridgeline you are frequently treated to wind, to cool you off. We see lots of hummingbirds, lizards and horny toads. I think we heard coyotes last night.
The evenings/nights are cool, maybe in the 50’s; very nice for sleeping. The sun comes up around 6 AM and depending where you are in relation to the mountains and ridges, you’ll get sun between 6 to 8 AM. It’s still possible to walk in shade sometimes but usually it’s just getting hot. The other day and most days I think, it’s in the 80’s. That’s way hot enough for me. I usually wear long pants (lightweight). Many people wear shorts. I have on a sleeveless lightweight shirt and a lightweight long sleeve shirt to keep the sun off of me. Many people do the same. John wears only his long sleeve light weight shirt. And 99% of the people wear hats with big brims, many having the kind where a brim or cloth or something keeps the sun off your neck and ears.
By maybe 4 or 5 PM the shadows are starting to be seen from the trees and rocks and when the sun sets at 7:30 or 8, or is hidden behind a mountain, it gets very cool very quickly.
The moon should be full on Monday or Tuesday and it is so bright now that I think a fair number of people hike in the moonlight.
Right now we are sitting in some shade from the tarp that John put up. We’re very near highway 78 and 1 mile from the Paradise Café where we will pick up our resupply box and get a Jose Burger (as recommended in Yogi’s book).
There were probably 10 people that passed us today, and all within 15 minutes. Two of then were an older lady (from Germany) and a guy (from Iowa). They both canoed the Mississippi from Itasca to Mpls.
We went into the Paradise Café and had dinner and got our resupply box and threw half of it away. Except there were 2 hikers there who said they would take it to Anza. They stopped at Hiker’s haven and the nice people drove them to the restaurant and will pick them up. The hikers’ names were Jessica (Buttercup) and Danny (Highlander), both from Connecticut.
Miles for the day: 8.7 Total miles: 139.7
We started at 8:30, it was chilly in our area. After a short while Cadence passed us – a woman from Ontario. We leapfrogged a little with her as she took a break.
We went through some fabulous areas today. Tons of boulders everywhere. And there were lots of pines, smelling wonderfully (like pine). We had lunch at this place where a huge rock was leaning up against a big rock and it formed a partial cave. There was a lot of shade and it was windy. While we were there Buttercup and Highlander passed us.
We had some for-real “ups” today; from 4919 to 5950. Then to get down to our spring for water, Live Oak Spring, we had to walk a mile off trail and down to 5500 feet. The place was beautiful though. The water came through a pipe into a large round container. We did some wash and filtered some water.
A couple of guys showed up for some water. One is named Wayne. His website is waynesue.com He and his wife have done a lot of adventure stuff. He lives in WA right near the Cascades on a lake that is 1 mile wide and 55 miles long. He will be leading a 1 week sea kayak trip on that lake. He has also row boated down some long river in Canada down to the US near the mainland. He said the whales sometimes got very close. He mentioned the Bahran (Bowran?) Circuit, a circuit of lakes to canoe in Canada.
I felt pretty good today, but maybe not tomorrow after climbing out a mile.
Around 7 PM one other guy came in; we camped here at the area of the spring. Around 7:30 about 12 people showed up.
Miles for the day:
7.7 Total miles: 147.4
Highest elevation for the day: 5950 feet Lowest
elevation for the day: 4919 feet
Nat’s birthday is today.
We stayed in our tent until everyone left. It was a very tough climb out from the spring plus we climbed another 700 feet. We got as high as 6800 feet.
We saw beautiful views of Palm Springs and the Salton Sea to the East. We were on the Desert Divide. While we were up there we called Nat to wish her a happy birthday.
We turned off for Cedar Springs and had to go down another 450 feet in a mile. At this Spring the water just trickled out, but it was good tasting. We always filter.
We met Mike from Orange County and Amy from Santa Rosa. We passed them while they were resting and they passed us while we were lunching. Also during lunch Keith from Southern Calif. Passed us and Radar from Connecticut went by. Keith’s first week out was good, but he’s had blisters the 2nd week. The 2 of them were going down to get water and so as they were coming back to the trail, we passed them again.
We usually stop fairly early in the day to camp; by mid afternoon. So we are alone here right now at our campsite as I write this. We are expecting many people to show up later as most of them hike many more miles than we do. We’ll see how many show up.
Miles for the day:
6.3 (grueling miles) Total
miles: 153.7
Highest elevation for the day: 6800 feet Lowest
elevation for the day: 6359 feet
Yes, many people came to camp last night. Generally right around 7 PM everyone shows up. There were about 9 altogether. And this is how our day went: We started at 6359 feet. We climbed to 7200 feet. We descended to 5900 feet. Then we climbed steeply (the guidebook said steeply and they weren’t kidding) to 7400 feet. That was all in about 7 miles. We’re at about 6900 feet now at our campsite.
Today we met Munch from Shaumburg IL, Easy from NY and Dave. We also met Manzanita from Portland OR and probably 4-6 people also passed us and are nameless.
When we got to the top of Apache Mountain (7400 feet), it was just a big wide open area with manzanitas growing. It was very windy and the scenery really cool. Then we walked down and were walking on the very edge of the cliff. It makes me nervous; the book said “like a sheer stone cliff” and they were right again. It was also really neat. We went through areas of huge evergreens; massive evergreens that look like redwoods but aren’t. I think they’re cedar and also coulter pines. The coulters have huge pinecones with really sharp edges on them. If one ever fell out of a tree and hit you, it would probably knock you out as they are very heavy.
Miles for the day:
9.1 Total miles: 162.8
Highest elevation for the day: 7400 feet Lowest elevation for the day: 5900 feet
Today we climbed to 8400 feet. We saw snow. We even had to walk through small areas of snow. The climb today wasn’t as steep as yesterday, but I was tired today. The scenery is getting to be awesome. Lots of rock, pine trees and fairly open areas (as opposed to walking on the trail and having the bushes immediately on either side of you and not being able to see anything but bushes).
John found a perfect spot for our campsite. No one will see us as we’re quite a ways off the trail and there are trees and a ridge hiding us. We should be alone tonight, although last night 3 guys showed up about 8:30. We were hidden down in the oak trees and they were up near the trail and they never knew we were there. I got up and said hi to them in the morning and they were surprised that anyone was around.
We saw 2 people today. Puddin’ from Belleview WA and Rebecca (Strut) from GA. The 2 of them met in Colorado and are hiking together with a 3rd person. However, Puddin was about 15 minutes ahead of Strut and Strut was concerned that she might not be on the right trail. We told her that she was on the right trail.
We filtered water today from beautiful Tahquitz stream. It was so cold and clear.
After we got the tent set up, we took a half mile side trip to Tahquitz Peak. We had to walk through quite a bit of snow to get there. At the top (8800 ft) there was a small fire watch tower that was only about 1 story high, but it was set up on these huge rocks, so you could see everywhere.
We saw a hawk today. Tons of lizards and we still frequently see (or hear) hummingbirds. We have heard, but not seen, a bird in the early morning that sometimes awakens us and John calls him the cell phone bird. We were somewhere camping with other PCT’ers and one guy said “has anybody heard that cell phone bird?” No one knows what the bird is.
Miles for the day:
7.9 Total miles: 170.7
Highest elevation for the day: 8400 feet
When we got up it was freezing, the temp in the 40’s with a 30-40 mph wind and clouds hiding the sun. We hiked a short distance to Devil’s Slide, the place where we would start walking down to get into town. At that point John hid some water for us at the Saddle Junction so we wouldn’t have to carry a lot of water back up when we returned from town. Town was Idylwild and we went from 8400 ft to about 6400 ft, possibly even as low as 5600 ft in the town itself. We met our friend Bill, who was going back up. He had blisters and stayed a couple days and got some new boots. We met 3 Forest Service People who were hiking to the top of the mountain.
At the parking lot at the bottom of Devil’s Slide, we met JJ (a hiker) who told us that Patti was driving a blue SUV and that she gave hikers rides and tours. We kept walking and she saw us after we had walked a short distance. She gave us a tour of the town and a ride to our motel – the Tahquitz Inn. We had a bedroom, living room, bathroom and full kitchen for $50 a night. There is even a small fireplace. Most rooms have many hikers.
We walked through most of the town, did the laundry, went to the library, post office, grocery store, hardware store, liquor store, café and Forest Service place.
There was a get together for all of the hikers that was held at our motel. Chef (from Baltimore) cooked a ton of chicken and a huge piece of beef. Crow (a woman who actually was next door to us) made a huge salad, tabouli, brownies, ice cream , baked beans and potatoes.
Easy was here with his sister Peggy. Easy uses a hammock when he sleeps and he went to put his sleeping bag on his hammock. His hammock was right by a deep ravine and when he threw it up there he missed hitting his hammock and the sleeping bag slid all the way to the bottom of the ravine. He spent a cold night, wearing every single piece of clothing that he owned. He has also bought a new sleeping bag here in Idylwild. Manzanitas was here too, he’s a biologist, retired and he just moved to Portland. He had been living in Las Cruces NM near El Paso.
We met Bald Eagle who was talking about baseball facts half the night with Easy. We met Robert (a smoker) from Europe. Munch was there playing firsbee with a bunch of people. Meadow Mary was there with her 14 year old dog, Sam. She has many many adventures she spoke of. She is also a massage therapist. We met so many people I can’t remember their names.
Miles for the day:
4.65 Total miles: 175.35
Highest elevation for the day: 8400 feet Lowest
elevation for the day: 5600 feet
Sunday 5/9/04
We had a nice Friday and Saturday going to town, shopping, going to the library, resting. We went up to the pool on Sat. and I sat in the hot tub. We met Tapeworm from around Tahoe. He built a log cabin house (as per a pattern; log A here, log B, log C, bolt next, etc etc.) We found out that there was a hiker by the name of Robert, a couple days ago that had to be med-evac’d from the trail. Tapeworm said that he looked terrible; I guess the guy had a bad infection.
We left the motel before 7 AM, the owner drove us to the trailhead. We got to the top of Devil’s Slide by shortly after 8:30!!. We picked up our stashed water and by this time Tapeworm was at the top along with 6 other meandering hikers. It’s a busy place up there; also day hikers out and about.
John went off to hike the San Juacito Peak and I stayed down at the base; back on a bunch of neat rocks and just rested. On his way to the top he passed many day hikers. He went through some snow and at the top it was like a free for all. There was no specific trail and there were caroms all over the place. He signed the book although there was hardly any room left to do so. There was a little hut (emergency) on top with bunks in it, should anyone need it. However no camping was allowed on top.
John met a guy up there by the name of Greg, who had gone up and down San Jacinto many times. He said that on a clear day you could see the sun shine off the ocean. On the day that John went up it was quite foggy, smoggy, hazy and the ocean (and other things) couldn’t be seen. But nevertheless the view from the top of 10834 ft was spectacular.
Miles for the day:
10.6 Total miles: 185.95
Highest elevation for the day: 10834 feet Lowest
elevation for the day: 5600 feet
Monday 5/10/04
Today was a very challenging day. As usual the wind howled all night, but we were in a good spot. As we took off we were in the wind but we moved in and out of wind all day long.
We saw incredible views today. Lots of rocks and boulders, tons of pine trees. We started at 9000 feet went down to 8200 feet, then went back up to 8800 feet. Right around that 8800 foot point we got to Fuller Ridge. That’s where the fun began. We walked the full length of the ridge – about 6 miles; that meant ups and downs. Some of the ups were practically vertical. Plus we wound up walking through small areas of snow fields which is so tricky to keep your footing. Once I even fell, but not snow. Because of the rotten granite, some large rocks that we were walking on was covered with that coarse sand and I couldn’t tell where the trail was. We were going downhill and my foot slipped on the rotten granite that was covering the boulders. It was OK. I mostly fell gently and then just on the palm of my left hand. The tricky part was trying to get up again, with the weight of that backpack on (about 35 pounds). It was harder than getting up with cross country skis on. John just sort of pulled me up from my backpack.
We got water from the San Jacinto River; but after we got the water we crossed the river 2 more times and each time there was more water flowing than the last time.
The last 2 miles of the day were fairly straightforward with little elevation change and we wound up at 7774 feet – where we camped for the night at the Fuller Ridge Campground – in the WIND! We can’t seem to get away from the wind.
Miles for the day:
10.2 Total miles: 196.15
Highest elevation for the day: 9000 feet Lowest elevation for the day: 7774 feet
If yesterday was challenging, today was easy. We started at 7774 feet and ended up at 4921 feet. It was a gradual down and we slowly entered another ecosystem – the high desert. We saw less and less of the evergreens and more desert plants and tons more lizards. They took us on some really long stupid switchbacks – back and forth, back and forth.
We met no one today and perhaps all of the through hikers are past us and on their way to Kennedy Meadows.
Miles for the day:
6.5 Total miles for the
day: 202.65
Highest elevation for the day: 7774 feet Lowest
elevation for the day: 4921 feet
Wednesday 5/12/04
The scenery today was spectacular. John had found a neat campsite back off the trail. As we left our campsite and entered the trail we ran right into 3 guys – Alex, Robert and Jaime. We were all surprised to see each other.
This was a day of descending; nice and gentle. We went from 4900 feet down to 1200 feet. We went through some gorgeous areas. Huge, huge boulder areas with wonderful views. During our lunch, 3 other hikers passed us.
We got down to the water fountain and had traveled about 10 miles. At that point we met Mulligan, who had passed us at lunch and shortly thereafter we met his traveling buddies – Crimson, Roosevelt and Biff (female).
We walked across the desert on soft sand (like at a beach). And then under the freeway and onward for 4 more miles to the Pink Motel, our stopping point for the night. The 3 guys we had met first thing in the day were there, but they left shortly thereafter. The 4 people at the waterfountain were there.
The Pink Motel is a place where hikers can stay for the night. Helen and Don Middleton have a sign up on the trail to welcome hikers. They had a cabin with 5 couches in it and some rollaway beds, another trailer with a refrigerator and freezer. The refrigerator had some food in it, plus the cupboards had food stocked in it for the hikers to use. There was a gas stove and a wood burning stove, a gas grill and huge bottles of water and a port a potty. They also had a wind generator and solar panels from which the lights got the electricity. Unfortunately there were also rats and mice out and about and something ate my beef jerky, pineapple chunks, and granola bar – the wrapper and part of the bag too. I was dumb enough to put it on the floor when I went to bed.
Biff organized dinner for all of us – spaghetti with special sauce, french bread and corn on the cob. Unfortunately I probably had heat exhaustion or something worse and only ate plain spaghetti with lots of salt. By the time I went to bed I was shivering like crazy and slept in the cabin in my clothes, jacket and sleeping bag. After a couple of hours I felt fine again.
Miles for the day:
14 Total miles: 216.65
Highest elevation for the day: 4900 feet Lowest elevation for the day: 1200 feet
Thursday 5/13/04
The group of 4 got up at 4:13 AM and hit the trail. We got around 7 or 8; said hi to the 2 brothers who came in late last night (Matt and Ben – they slept in the kitchen area). We took off and after 2 miles ran into the group of 4 that had left so early in the morning; they were heading toward us. They had gotten a couple miles out and ran into a fire. They said that there was ash coming down and as they sat on the ridge, they could see the flames shooting way up. We all headed back toward the Pink Motel. We later heard that the fire was probably started from hikers’ cooking. We stopped and talked to the firemen who said that they thought it was controlled but then the wind had picked up and now they thought it would be 2 days before it would be under control. We decided to hitch hike around the fire and continue our hike up the trail a ways.
We got on the frontage road and headed 4 miles to Cabezon trying to hitch a ride. A wonderful lady passed us up, but then turned around and picked us up. She was heading past Cabazon to Banning and left us off in Banning.
We ate and then went to the library to find out about the bus schedule. John figured out some plans for the bus. We decided to stay at a motel and while walking down the main St. we passed the Greyhound Station and got some better plans. We decided to take a Greyhound at noon the next day to San Bernadino and from there catch the MARTA bus to Big Bear City - where John reserved a room for us at a Motel 6.
We spent the night at Banning in a Travelodge Motel, did some laundry, ate at a nice restaurant and our cell phone works!!
Miles for the day: 9.5 Total miles: 226.15
Friday 5/14/04
We got up and ate at McDonalds, left the motel at 11 AM and went to catch the 12:15 Greyhound bus. It blasted us right into San Bernadino right around 1 PM. John walked around and found a library with lots of shade so we hung out there on their lawn. John went about 6 blocks away and got us some food. We went back to the bus station, this time to where the MARTA bus would pick us up and there were 4 other PCT’ers there plus 2 other people. It was a small bus and it was late. When he stopped to pick us up, before he opened the door, he had everyone in the bus get up and move to the back and had them all organize their stuff so that we would all fit. All of our packs went to the back. At the next stop 2 more people got on, so it was a full bus. The bus driver handed out bag for car sickness if anyone needed them. He stopped one more time for a potty stop but he told no one to eat anything and we were off to the mountains. What a ride! What views! We arrived at Big Bear City shortly after 7 PM; got on a Dial a Ride MARTA bus that took us to our final destination.
Miles for the day: 2 Total miles: 228.15
Saturday 5/18/04
John call the Dial a Ride and for $2 each we got a ride up to Deusen Road. We would have had to walk about 2 miles through the city to Deusen Road. It was about a 3 mile walk up Deusen Road and we were lucky enough to have someone pick us up after about a half mile.
Because of the fire and having to take a bus to Big Bear City, we missed a large section of the trail. Our plan was then to go south on the trail for a couple of days and see part of what we missed; then head back again to Big Bear City, pick up our resupply package, and get back on the trail and continue on our usual direction which is north.
We started on the trail (heading south) and immediately ran into Siesta, who was taking a siesta. He was born in Honduras, but is from DC. We walked on and passed about 4-5 more hikers, including Waterboy, and Sasquatch. Then we met Joe from Madison and we got his email address so we can visit him in Madison. He started in Idyllwild and will go until Aug. 30. We also found out that Patti was the person who inadvertently started the fire with her alcohol stove – she dropped her fuel bottle onto the burning stove and it ignited the stuff around it. And just at that time, the Black PCT hiker from Memphis came along and started taking pictures. After a couple pics, he realized that it was getting out of control and yelled “RUN”. Patti and her friend left their gear and ran one way (toward the Pink Motel) and the Black guy ran the other way. He had problems with smoke and was actually crawling on the trail and then he turned a corner, it was clear and he ran down to the trout farm.
We went as far as Doble Trail Camp, although we are camped uphill from the Camp area. There is water down there. I was just super tired today and hope to be more peppy tomorrow. We heard some coyotes and we passed 2 horsemen today. We hiked in some beautiful areas today. Lots of pines, open areas. We also walked through some of the strangest rocks. They were all different sizes, from small to the size of your hand to about a size you could just barely hold and these were all coming down the side of the mountain (not moving though). They were like at least a foot deep over the trail and they made funny noises when you walked on them. The footing really wasn’t too bad but you had to watch where you were stepping. We went over about 3-4 sections of the trail like that; the longest area being about 50 feet long.
We went into the tent right around dusk, were practically asleep when we heard someone on the trail yelling “Bob, Bob, Bob!!”. Her voice became more quiet as she walked away. Then her voice got stronger as she came back. So John got up to see what was going on and it turned out that she was one of the PCT hikers that rode the MARTA bus with us. She fell behind with her group (because of diahrrea). Her other 3 hikers were supposed to stop at the Doble Trail Camp, but obviously didn’t. So John got his jacket, flashlight and water and started walking North with her. After a mile or so, they met Bob her husband who was hiking back South to find her. They chatted for a minute. They continued North to their camp site and John hiked back south to our camp site and went to bed.
I forgot to write about Baldwin Lake. It’s dry. It’s very shallow and it’s not unusual for it to be dry. It just looks odd from up on the trail
Miles for the day: 8 Total miles: 236.15
Sunday 5/16/04
We got up and got water from the Doble Trail camp and set off. We saw a garter snake. We crossed 2 highways and it seems like about 40 jeep roads. Out here in the wilderness we saw cars, horses (with people on them), houses, and we heard motorcycles. On one side of the mountain we were in a pine forest and when we hit the other side it was like more desert-like with scrub type bushes. We could look down and see the Mojave Desert.
Miles for the day: 8.8 Total miles:244.95
It was a cloudy today; the sun didn’t wake us this morning. Except for the day it rained, we have not seen so many clouds before. We passed 4 Pct hikers and 3 day hikers. We stopped at Arastarre Camp and got water. This was after walking over the beautiful flowing creek 3 times. There was a great spigot at the camp and it didn’t say to boil the water, so we didn’t. We saw a big fat gray squirrel today.
Our wandering today took us to many different ecosystems again. I don’t know how to describe them but it’s like you’re walking from one country to another. The vegetation changes; sometimes it almost presses in on you; you turn a corner and there are wide open spaces. You walk on rocks and suddenly you’re on dirt and then you’re walking through grass. But my new favorite things are these giant cedar trees. Their girth is massive and they can get so gnarled. Like they can grow straight up for 12 feet and then decide to turn right and there is a huge growth again as the tree grows sideways awhile before growing straight up again. They are just neat to look at.
Our destination today was Onyx Summit. The highest point in section c was 8750, but we climbed the summit and got to 8856 feet. We camped part way up to the summit. It was pretty tricky and very steep getting up there. After we found a place to camp, John climbed to the top, saw fabulous views of the Mojave Desert and Grimdel Mountain looking the other way. After we set up camp, we both climbed to the top. John set a waypoint on the GPS so we would be able to find our camp again on the way down. The first time John went up there he saw a guy working on the radio tower. The guy was surprised to see John with nothing but water and a GPS.
Miles for the day: 9.7 Total miles: 254.65
Highest elevation for the day: 9113 feet
We walked down Onyx and it was cloudy again and very windy. I wore my jacket for about 4 miles. Today we would head back north again, back to Big Bear City. We stopped at Arrastre Trail camp again for water and to wash, shave and do a little laundry. We didn’t leave there until 11:30! What a great day.
There were 2 guys with us at Arrastre. Chad from San Diego and Josh from southern California. They were talking about all the roaring as they walked today/ Both said it was pretty scary. There is a game rehab or something like that and what they heard were Siberian Tigers in a cage. They both said it was way too loud to be mountain lions. All of the animals were in cages, but the cages weren’t apparent until you turned the corner. We had a great time talking to these guys. We also found out the trail is still closed from the fire, but both these guys walked through it. One of them was there at dark and said you could see flames in certain areas where there are still hot spots. They also said that some of the people fighting the fire were inmates.
John spotted something most unusual today. He noticed a rainbow by the sun. Upon looking closer you could see that it was a complete circle around the sun. There were clouds around when we saw that rainbow.
Miles for the day:
7.5 Total miles: 262.15
Highest elevation for the day: 8856 feet
We had quite a day starting at 3 AM. First let me say that since we are returning to Big Bear City, we decided we would camp at our same spot as when we went out. At that time, around 7 PM we heard coyotes howling and we heard them again last night. We also wandered around, looking at the area and we both noticed, in different spots, small hooved footprints. We know horses go through on the PCT, but these prints were smaller. We thought maybe they were ponies, or maybe burros.
Last night right around 3 AM some, apparently wild burros, came through our site because when they got near the tent, they made that unmistakable “hee haw, hee haw” and some other kind of noise. We were both instantly awakened and John poked his head out, but saw nothing. In the morning we looked around and saw the fresh hoof prints.
As we were walking on the trail, there was a beautiful red, black and white banded snake, stretched out. He was fairly small, maybe 3 feet long. He just sat there until John got out the camera to take his picture and before the shutter opened he slithered off. John did get to take a picture of a lizard. They usually run helter skelter when they see, or hear us, but this one just stayed there.
And finally, John thought we should rest over by some rocks and as we were sitting there, I actually found a quartz crystal. It’s small, but it’s the real thing.
We got to our campsite early – around noon and so we have been just walking all over checking out the area. Our elevation is 6868; we mostly went up and down, up and down between 6900 – 7000 ft.
Miles for the day:
8.4 Total miles: 270.5
Highest elevation for the day: 7000 feet Lowest elevation for the day: 6868 feet
It was a cold night, and windy. It is always windy and especially at night and early in the morning. We are camped at 6444 ft. so we obviously descended today. We’re up on a ridge under some pine trees, but we are camped right in full view of the sun. We followed the sun around in the evening just to sit in its warmth. When the sun went down we went in the tent. We did get up to call Leslie last night (Sprint Service!), and at that time saw the first sliver of the new moon. Beautiful. This morning we slept till the sun hit our tent – 7:30. The sun shining makes a difference of night and day; after a short while it got so hot in the tent we had to get up. We heard on the radio today that it is supposed to get down to 35, with highs in the 60’s.
We packed up and went down to Hwy. 18 (.1 mile away) and started hitchhiking for a ride into Big Bear City. We could take the trail back to where we had first started, but then we would be forced to walked about 5 miles into the city. Taking this alternate route, we would be assured of a ride into the city. It took about 20 minutes, or maybe 17 cars and a guy stopped. He worked at Big Bear City and was so kind to drop us off at the fire station. We walked into the fire station and the lady was so glad to see us; she showed us where to sign in, showed us the bathrooms and showers. We took a shower, filled up our water and headed off 2 doors down to get fuel. Next we walked 1 and 1/2 blocks to the post office and got our package and sent one off (more clothes, bug spray). Then 1 more block to the laundromat where we washed clothes, organized the food and John found out that we were in Sprint Territory so he charged the phone and called some people and checked all the email. We then walked 2 doors down to have a fabulous hamburger and bbq beef, went next door to the grocery store for aples, oranges, and carrots. Then John called the taxi for our $22 ride all the way to the top of that steep, dusty Van Deusen Road.
The older lady cab driver told us that they have 4 cabs and that there are very important (rich) people that frequently come to Big Bear City. She said in the winter people come to ski and that also Boxers come to train there because it’s at 7000 feet and that Olympic runners train there too. Plus all kinds of rich people in general come to their city and these taxis drive people as far as Los Angeles and San Diego.
She took us right up to the trail and we hiked just under 5 miles – starting at 12:30 PM. We are camped at a beautiful spot amongst the pines at 7800 ft. As we hiked along we looked down on Big Bear Lake which is at least 3 miles long and just beautiful.
Miles for the day:
7.6 Total miles: 278.1
Highest elevation for the day: 7000 feet Lowest elevation for the day: 6444 feet
The temperature remained coolish for most of the day, especially with the wind blowing. It was very nice for hiking.
We hiked to Big Bear Trail Camp. They had a brand new outhouse, a horse corral, a picnic table and a bench and a sign that said “sorry, no water – the water main broke”. We weren’t planning to spend the night there anyway as a lot of motocross people hang out there. We went a short distance and filtered some water from Holcomb Creek. As we traveled on, we looked down on the creek and it looked like a small lake because some beavers had made 2 dams. Part of one of the jeep roads was under water.
We walked through some big boulder fields today. It was neat. And we turned a corner on the trail and for about .2 of a mile we got to walk through this fabulous glen of cedars. It was awesome.
I left my knife 2 miles back at Big Bear Camp where we had lunch so John went and found it.
It’s not as cold as last night, but there is a fog bank coming down the mountain to our south. It looks really neat, like a big fluffy cloud sitting on top the mountain and you can see it slowly rolling down.
Miles for the day:
11.6 Total miles: 289.7
Highest elevation for the day: 6400 feet