Month: May 2023

Thursday, May 4, 2023

I woke up at 7am to 36 degrees and rain. Not ideal hiking weather. Hell, this was Washington weather. I wasn’t supposed to see this until the end of my hike!

But there was no getting around it, so I waited for a short break in the rain, bailed out of my tent, and put together my wet, muddy pack as quickly as possible. Embrace the suck, as the saying goes.

I wore every piece of rain gear I had. Jacket, kilt, rain mitts, and umbrella. Considering, I stayed relatively dry. Hey, I didn’t carry it all this way for nothing!

The rain finally started to clear around 1pm and my playlist shuffled to one of my favorite Coltrane songs, “After the Rain”. How appropriate.

Needless to say, I didn’t take a ton of pics today. But here’s a few.

I hiked to mile 145 to another trail angel water cache. This was Mary’s and she had a water barrel, a little free library, and some cutouts of John Muir, Thoreau, and Whitman along with quotes. Cool little spot that I decided to camp at around 4:30.

Camping this early allowed me to use my stove, which I’ve been neglecting, and cook up an amazingly good freeze dried meal from Peak. This is the most expensive of the hiker freeze dried meals, but also the best!

Two other gents strolled into camp about an hour later and we got along great. They are John and Clay, slightly older than me, and well experienced hikers. John is going for the full trail, while Clay is just doing sections. More on them in the next post. We got to bed early and prepared for a 7am leave time for the 6.4 miles to Paradise Valley Cafe the next morning.

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

As I said previously, the breezy fields and easy trail were just a tease. Today was all uphill, all the time. And I turned it into a 19 mile day.

I was again solo hiking, having left the Rocket Surgeons behind. The trail does that. I’m sure I’ll see them again somewhere.

I listened to Dave Grohl’s soothing voice on his autobiography, explaining his wild ass life (I’m pretty sure he’s actually an alien) while I switchbacked up mountain after mountain.

There were some beautiful waterfalls still flowing in this section. Such a great year for the trail in the desert.

The climb continued after lunch, as did the views.

I got into one section that was simply hills adorned with massive boulders. I kept an eye out to make sure none of them decided to dislodge and send me to an early doom.

I was heading to Mike’s Place to camp at mile 127. This is another legendary PCT place, but when I got there, I had second thoughts. I knew it was a bit trashy, but it was really more of an old junkyard and there wasn’t a soul to be found anywhere.

It was just downright creepy. Mike wasn’t there and neither were any hikers. Supposedly there are nights where 20-30 hikers stay here. I hung around for an hour and charged my phone a bit (and used the pit toilet, thanks Mike!), but decided there was no way I could sleep here alone.

Have you ever seen Toy Story where the demonic kid next door tortures the toys in his yard? This felt like his yard.

It was 4:30 and I figured I could push hard and get to the next campsite, 5 miles away. I raced the sunset and did make it to the next site with about 30 minutes to spare before sunset. I knew weather was supposed to come in overnight as well.

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Today was easy peasy. I made a little over 8 miles in the morning to Warner Springs where I picked up my resupply that included my ice axe and Microspikes.

This is way earlier than I need them, but I was told by Yogi (legendary PCT hiker, trail angel, and gear shop owner) that I shouldn’t send them to Paradise Valley Cafe (40 miles further up trail). They are apparently inundated with hiker boxes and can’t handle the volume.

First though, I cruised solo from camp at Barrel Springs through easy fields to Eagle Rock. This is exactly what it sounds like. A big rock that looks like an eagle. Also sacred to the native peoples of the area, so it was treated with respect.

I continued on and just before Warner Springs, the trail goes through a beautiful string of huge oak trees (Coastal Live Oaks) along the creek for a nice change of scenery.

I got to the Warner Springs post office, a double wide trailer, and picked up my huge resupply box that we paid way too much to ship. But I needed my gear! I sorted through my food and mailed what I didn’t need ahead to Big Bear to pick up in a couple of weeks.

Once that was done, and having watched a YouTube video on how to properly attach my ice axe to my pack, I headed out again to get a few more miles in. The flat trail through beautiful meadows on the way out was to be a short lived luxury, compared to what was coming the next day.

I camped by myself at a site next to a beautiful, babbling brook (yo alliteration) and also a creepy shed that I’m pretty sure had something living in it that came to life at night and terrorized hikers, but I woke up unscathed.

Monday, May 1, 2023

We were under a wind advisory all day and didn’t want to spend the night up in the hills, so we pushed a 19 mile day and just before camp, hit the 100 mile mark.

Now I’m cold and sore and still in bed at Barrel Spring.

The night before, we hiked up from Scissors Crossing and actually walked past dark to find a site that had decent shelter from the wind. The ocotillo was blooming, which is my favorite desert plant.

The next morning we hiked 9 miles to 3rd Gate water cache, one of the oldest and most well known on the PCT.

We had lunch there around 11 and that’s when we decided to push for a longer day to Barrel Spring, the next water source 10 miles away.

Today we have 8 miles to Warner Springs where I am picking up my ice axe and Microspikes in preparation for Mt San Jacinto. I still have a ways to go before that, but decided to pick them up early to avoid the congestion and confusion of all the packages at Paradise Valley Cafe. They don’t really have the infrastructure to handle as many packages as they are getting these days.

Ok, I’m going to crawl out of bed and start packing up. Hike on!