Can Do More Miles Going Downhill - (Starting Trail Mile 305.9 - Elevation 3699)

I'm finally doing the longer miles, partly due to getting my "trail legs" and partly due to the fact that I'm finally doing more downhill than uphill.  Over a 24 mile hike, I lose 214 feet.  I still wake up and hit the trail early.  I love the early mornings with a coolness in the air, plus there is more wildlife to see as it starts to get light.  This morning, I see a large herd of deer across the canyon.  They are too far away to get a decent picture on my phone.  The thing I enjoyed the most was a large hawk circling around and through the canyon, making that piercing sound they make.  I tried to get a video, but got dizzy trying to keep him in my sights.  I started to get off balance and was afraid I would fall off of the narrow trail and plunge to the canyon floor, so I gave up and just enjoyed the scene.

I hiked past several camps of other hikers sleeping.

Steep drop-off

Deep Creek

  I came upon Deep Creek Hot Springs.  It would have been nice to be near the springs in the evening for a dip.  It is a hot springs out in the middle of nowhere, and is clothing optional.  The springs exits the ground and runs about 40-50 feet downhill into a rock and concrete pool for bathers.  The first pool is very hot, but overflows into a second pool that mixes with cold creek water and is more pleasant to seat in for a longer time.  I'm too shy to shed my clothes and hop in a hot springs with a bunch of 20-30 year-old bodies anyway.  I hike on by and wave at some hikers I recognize.  I cross over the canyon on a metal and wood arched bridge over Deep Creek far below.

Bridge over Deep Creek

This person keeps following me.

The trail disappears in places and I have to CAREFULLY pick my way across the ledge.

Beautiful roots!

Had to crawl over several trees over the trail.

About 8 miles into my day, I come upon the Mojave River Forks Dam. The dam is empty, but a nice stream flows across the trail, so I stop to filter water.  I start talking to a day-hiker who tells me the history of the area.  Apparently, there is a newer dam, and this dam is used only in emergency situations, or when repairs must be done to the newer dam.  I google the dam and find that it never has had water in it.  It is a control dam, primarily built to protect the Arroyo Southwestern Toad.  I've seen signs about this toad over the last several miles.  I have the feeling that this toad is the reason there are no identified camp sites for PCTers.  There is an effort to discourage hikers from staying in the area and possibly disrupting the reproduction efforts of these endangered toads.

Empty Dam viewed from above.

As I leave the creek, it is wonderful to hike a few miles in shade under big trees.  It doesn't last long though and I'm back out to an exposed, hot ridge-line.  Shortly after noon, I decide to hike until I find some shade to take a siesta and eat my main meal of the day.  I finally come up a hill and around a corner and there are some huge trees, lots of shade and a nice sandy area to lay down and put my feet up on a rock.  I make my dinner and take a nap for about 90 minutes.  I have cell service, so I call Marv, check email etc.  Then it is back into the heat.

Resting my dirty feet

Beautiful Silverwood Lake

Wait, you are ordering pizza?!  "Save some for me!" I holler as these young hikers pull away on down the trail.

 The rest of my hike this day winds through ravines and gullies of chaparral, which provide no shade at all.  A couple of hours later, as I sit on a hot rock, eating a protein bar under my umbrella, a hiker named "Balloons" stops and introduces himself.  When I share my trail name, he tells me I'm a legend on the trail.  I almost fall off my rock, laughing.  It's funny that just being old can earn such accolades!  He tells me that if I can make it to the Cleghorn Picnic Area, a bunch of hikers are going to order pizza delivery.  (This picnic area is close to a town, so they will deliver pizza).  Now that is incentive!


I make it to Silverwood Lake near sunset.  I'm surprised that no one is at the picnic area.  A check of my GPS tells be that the picnic area I'm supposed to be at is still 2 miles further down the trail.  Since the sun has set, I put on my headlamp and hike those last two miles in the dark.  It was a bit intimidating, but luckily the trail is a bit wider and trail is not difficult.  It is also much cooler, which makes my steps easier.  My only problem is that I've hiked the last 24 miles with a very thin pair of socks due to the heat.  This was a mistake, because now the ball of my left foot is killing me.  I thrown on an extra layer of leukotape and keep going.  I did come across the biggest spider I've ever seen.  It is nearly as big as my palm and right in the middle of the trail.  I carefully skirt around him, too spooked to try to get a picture.  I find the pizza-eating group of hikers.  They not only have pizza, but also 7-up with ice!  I had been thinking about ice all day, wishing for 2 buckets of ice water; one to drink and one to put my feet in.  After drinking hot water all day, I savor every sip!

I am almost too tired to eat, but I manage 1 piece of pizza, visit with other hikers for about half hour and then find a place to pitch my tent.  I was too tired to put the rain fly on and since it was already dark, I just dropped into my bag and watched the beautiful starry night as I drifted off.

Breakfast at Splinter's Cabin (Starting Trail Mile 292.4, elevation 5476-3699 ft)

I was hiking by 5:30 the next morning, enjoying the cool, pleasant temperature at that hour.  I continued along Holcomb Creek among the trees, flowering bushes and wildflowers. 

I pass other hikers, still sleeping.

I put my sites on Splinter's Cabin for my mid-morning breakfast break.
 I marvel at the gigantic pine cones I see along the way.  I've seen large, long sugar pine cones, but these are long and huge in circumference as well.

Now thaat's a big pin cone!

Splinter's Cabin and Day Use Area

I finally arrive at Splinter's Cabin about 9:30 and I'm starving despite having eaten a meal bar earlier.
I make a pot of oatmeal with nuts, cinnamon,
milk and dried fruit (my own concoction).  I eat it as I read the sign about the history of the cabin.

The History of Splinter's Cabin

Huge fallen tree.

Bridge leading over Deep Creek to the cabin.

At breaks like this, I always take off my shoes and socks and don flip-flops to let my feet air out and dry my sweaty socks.  After I finish my breakfast, I hike back down to the creek to fill up with water.  I meet and visit with a couple of families taking a day hike, or just enjoying the creek and letting the kids play in the sand and splash around in the shallow parts.  This is the type of thing my brother Steve and I loved doing when we were growing up.  For some reason, day-hikers always have lots of questions and act they are meeting a rock star instead of a dirty thru hiker.

Shortly after leaving there, I climb a ridge, while Deep Creek is further and further below me.  This ridge eventually climbs out of the trees and becomes a narrow, exposed and hot trail for the rest of the day. Today and the next two days will continue to be hot and miserable.  It becomes necessary to try to find some shelter to wait out the hottest part of the day.

Passed Trail Mile 300 today!

Big lizard shares a log for my afternoon break.

The end of the day brings me to Deep Creek.  It is a pretty nice spot, not too far from the creek.  I set up my tent and make my way around rocks and bushes to the creek to filter water and wash some of the dirt off my body before dark.

When I come back up to the tent, I sit a little distance away from my tent, on a rock to look over my feet and tape up anything that needs it.  I didn't notice that there was a red ant pile right under the edge of the rock.  My sitting down really ticked off the colony and they attacked with a vengeance.  By the time I realized what was going on, I literally had ants in my pants, and suffered some pretty severe bites on my backside, back of my thighs and hips.  As I start swatting and brushing ants away, some hikers (Yard Sale among them) pass above me on the trail.  They wave and say hello as they go by.

I am so tired that I take some Benadryl for the itching, stinging and burning and try to get some sleep because I want to walk at least 20 miles tomorrow.

I've read about the emotional highs and lows of the trail,  The afternoon today was desolate, dry and hot.  There was also no interesting scenery to distract me. Topping off the day, the ant bites are the last straw and I have myself a good cry.  What started out as a beautiful morning, has ended as a hot, painful, miserable day!  However, I know there are areas of the trail ahead that I will enjoy a lot more, so I fall asleep thinking positive thought about what lies ahead. 

Another Week, Another Zero (Started back at Mile 285.9, elevation 7550 - 5476 ft)

I hadn't intended taking another zero so soon, but desert hiking is hot, dirty and sweaty.  When I came up against a trail closure and had to have Marv drive me around and up a very rutted dirt road to deposit me on the other side of the closure, I decided I may as well shower and wash clothes before resuming.  As I was showering, I became aware of a half-golf-ball-sized lump on my right collar bone.  It was a little tender, but looked far worse than it felt.

I had Marv look at my pack adjustment to see what needed to be done to take pressure off of that spot.  I had a similar, but smaller problem on the left side.  No matter how we adjusted the various straps, it just didn't look right.  We finally decided to stop at REI on the way back to the trail and have them adjust my pack, or redistribute weight in the pack to optimal arrangement.  I had purchased the unisex ultralight Osprey EXOS 58 pack and had it fitted a year ago while in Boise at REI.  As soon as the guy at REI looked at the pack on me, he informed me that the pack was too long for my torso.  No amount of adjusting was going to fix the problem.  Since REI had fitted the pack to begin with, they agreed to take the pack back and fit me with a new pack.  A very helpful guy named Jon suggested a slightly heavier pack made especially for a women's frame.  With the amount of water I had been forced to carry, he thought the beefier pack would carry the weight better and actually feel lighter.  It was strange to transfer my gear into the new pack (an Osprey Aura AG 65).  The Exos had served me well and it was like giving up a good friend.  Also, I hate the red color of the new pack.  By coincidence, my old pack, solar panels (that hang off the back) and my tent were all green, black and grey.  I now have this horrid red thing, although after messing with minor adjustments as I've hiked, it will be a much better pack.  It has more pockets and my organization is much better than with my other pack that had one big compartment for everything.

Modeling my new "RED" Christmas backpack.

Back on the trail.

Starting late in the day, I knew I wouldn't get far.  Met a few more hikers, stopping to visit with "Yard Sale" and Emily during a snack break.  They are young 20 somethings and I will leap frog with Yard Sale several times over the next few days.  I hiked around Big Bear Lake and followed Holcomb Creek. I'm hiking on Gold Mountain where the largest gold rush occurred in 1860. There are a ton of jeep trails all over the mountain.  There is actually a tour called "The Gold Fever Trail" that is self-guided to 12 sites, including some of the old mines. It was wonderful to see water close at hand, and I camped under a big pine next to the babbling creek, letting the running water lull me to sleep.

I see trees ahead! 

I love hiking and smelling pine.

I filter water in a creek going right across the trail,

Nice camp spot all to myself.

 It was also wonderful to hike in and out of tall trees and wild flowers, although the terrain is still very dry.  Various types of snakes and lizards are still my trail companions.  The hiking was easy as I was hiking lower in elevation for a change and ended the day at 5476 ft.

More Desert and Breakfast with a High School Friend - (Starting at Trail Mile 129.2 -151.8, elevation 5571 - 6306)

The previous day, I had hiked the canyons and switchbacks through the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, with burned areas of Coulter pines.  Today, there is Tule Canyon, Coyote Canyon and Nance Canyon.  I've taken to setting my alarm for 4:00 am, so that I can do a good portion of my hike in the cool morning.  I was glad to have the water information from the caretaker at Mike's Place.  Otherwise, I would have been tempted in desperation to get water at very yucky sources.  For example, Tule Spring (shown on my app) is a hike some distance down a slope from the trail.  Since I stocked up with 6 liters of water at Mike's, I avoided that extra steep hiking off the trail.  Also, there is an old cistern water source.  Some previous hikers said the water was gross and tasted like sulfur.  Again, I peeked into this cistern and was glad that I didn't need water yet. 

Peeked through the cracked top of this old cistern.  Gross, green-brown muck.

The trail has become difficult to walk on because it is deep, fine sand; like walking on the dry part of a beach. Every step sinks into the sand, making going tough.  I climb Combs Peak and descend to a dirt road, Chihuahua Valley Road, where I was happy to find a water cache, set up by wonderful trail angels where the trail crosses a rutted dirt road. 

Water Cache

I camped where I could pitch my tent behind a big rock for shelter from the wind.

I didn't have far to go to reach Idyllwild the next day.  Again, I woke up at 4:00 and started walking, munching a protein bar, because I planned to meet a high school friend and her husband outside Idyllwild for breakfast.

I passed a husband and wife (Andy and Dani) I had leapfrogged with for the last few days.  I had met them at a water cache.  Dani was having some issues with her feet and ankles and was looking forward to receiving a resupply box in Idyllwild with new insoles for her shoes.  They were now camped at a 500 gallon water tank area called Muir Woods.  This area is equipped with a picnic table, places for pitching tents, and a small library.  There are standing posters of John Muir with some of his quotes.

Muir Woods camp and water tank.  Andy's up.

Cutouts of John Muir with quotes.  Library and trail registry.

Interesting canyon edges.

There was a majestic canyon near the end of my hike this morning. 

More amazing in person.

Passed the 150 mile marker.  Woo Hoo!

When I neared the trail-head near Hwy 74, I came around a corner to see Marv had hiked up to meet me.  What a treat!  We hiked down to where he had left the truck and drove one mile to the Paradise Cafe outside of Idyllwild.

Debbie and I toast with morning Mimosas!

Debbie Keller Blackhurst and I went to high school together, and have reconnected via Facebook.  She knew the trail crossed the highway near Idyllwild, so we made arrangements to meet at this cafe, one mile from the trail.  The Paradise Cafe is supposed to have the best burgers on the trail, but since it was morning, I opted for an omelet.  It was so fun to visit, catch up on our lives over the last few decades, and talk about the Pacific Crest Trail.  We toasted with morning Mimosas.  Thank you so much to Brent and Debbie for traveling an hour and a half to meet us and treat us to breakfast.  It was a real highlight of my hike.

Due to a trail closure just up from where I got off, I decided to go home with Marv for a shower, wash clothes and resupply my food.  He would take me back to the trail on the other side of the closure the next day.

Hot Trail Continues and Mike's Place - (Starting Mile 117.3, elevation 3173)

Another hot day of a winding trail through the desert.  Water is scare and I've had to ration carefully to make it from one water source to the next.  This is challenging for me because I usually drink A LOT of water.  The highlight today was Mike's Place at mile 127.3.  This is a Trail Angel who lives on a ranch in the desert and has set up a large water tank 0.2 miles off the trail.  It is well water, but we are still warned to filter or treat.

Blessed water and a donation box.

A sign encourages hiker to take a zero or nero.

Welcome to Mike's Place

Caretaker in red shirt, barrel mid-pic for washing and gal from Sweden in blue dotted shorts.

Orange tarp for more shade, hammock on the right.

Hiker Box where hikers get rid of stuff that other hikers might use.  There were shoes, partially used fuel bottles etc.

Last year's class painted on side of Mike's barn.

Hikers packing up to again hit the trail.

Looking back at Mike's as I climb out of the canyon.

There are signs that encourage hikers to continue down the hill to the ranch to camp
 or just stop for a rest and some trail magic.  I was talking to a gal from Sweden as we filled up with water.  We decided that since it was so terribly hot, we would hike on down to the ranch to check it out and take cover during the hottest part of the day.  The caretaker greeted us with cold Pepsi and offered to grill up hot dogs, which we eagerly accepted.  There was a tub under another barrel of water that we could use to wash our hot, dirty feet.  There were chairs to sit on while we treated and re-bandaged feet.  I did notice that as trashed as my feet are (3 good sized blisters and 2 bruised toes), I had much less than the other 4 people sitting there as we compared
injuries.

There was also an outhouse.  I wish I had taken a picture.  There were two walls with a two-seater toilet.  There were two big markers so a hiker could place their trail name on the walls.  I slept for about an hour under a shaded tarp.  The caretaker gave advice about water sources ahead; which to use and which to avoid.





Rested, I started hiking again.  I really wanted to get further down the trail, but again, due to the heat, I finally set up camp on a high windy ridge (elevation 5575) at mile 129.2, which is not my favorite place to camp.  It was very exposed, but I was too hot and tired to go further.

Camp site on an exposed ridge. It was a bit breezy, but I was too tired to care.

Back on the Trail - (Starting Trail Mile 109.5, elevation 3040)

Rancher allows PCT hikers to cross his land.

Marv dropped me back at Warner Springs to carry on with my hike on a very warm day.  I hiked until at 12:30, then stopped to filter water from a stagnant pond.  The new types of filters are amazing compared to the old Katydyn I used to carry for backpacking.  I'm using a Sawyer mini, which you saw in an earlier post.  It is quick and easy.  Except in areas with particular warnings, it is all I need.  I do carry chemical treatment as well, but will not use it except in very questionable areas.  The PCT Association posts water reports that hikers update regularly.  Water information and updates also show up on  my GPS Guthook App which works on my phone even when I do not have cell reception.  Technology really eliminates guesswork.  I've yet to get out paper maps or compass.  My GPS easily shows me if I'm on the correct trail, where the next water is, possible camp sites, my elevation gains and losses and on and on.  I can download any trail in the world on this app. I can touch any symbol on the screen and it will tell me the trail mile, the elevation, and show a picture of what the creek, campsite, road etc. looks like, so I can recognize it when I come to it.  If I touch the red GPS button, it shows me exactly where I am on the map and how far I go to specific places ahead.

Map View.

Elevation view

Water is scarce as most of the creeks are seasonal and are now dry.  I first cross about four miles of open grassland and then enter a more wooded area of sycamores and cottonwoods.  I didn't find out until later that mountain lions roam the area. After getting water, I found a big tree near the mostly dry Agua Caliente Creek to nap and write in my journal under for a couple of hours during the heat of the day. I then must climb switchbacks to get out of the valley and then follow miles of ridge line.  Later in the day, I found a nice place to camp among some bushes that gave nice protection against ridge line winds.  Due to the heat, not many miles hiked today.  I'm really finding the heat difficult to hike in.

Tibetan  Prayer Flags over the trail.

Pretty succulents along trail.

The landscape of where I'm hiking

The trail

This bunny must be used to passing hikers.

My camp site for a night, protected from wind.