Day 20 - Poison Oak and McDonald's. 347.5 (15.6)

Only needing 10 miles to McDonald's today which gave me a nice boost of motivation when cleaning up camp. It was a beautiful sunrise from on top of the hill I climbed yesterday evening. My legs were TIRED! The muscles still hadn't recovered/relaxed from walking nearly 22 miles.  I had the fortune to learn about Poison Oak today before it was a real issue. Once I learned what it looked like as well as the pneumonic "leaves of three, leave it be", I started to see it everywhere. In some spots, had I not known what to look for, I would have actually hit a lot of it with my bare legs. 

The last stretch before Micky D's was very enjoyable. There was a small creek flowing through the canyon. I would have stopped to take a mid day break had it not been 0.5 miles before McDonald's.  I started with a salad, two chicken sandwiches and an Oreo McFlurry. It was the perfect first lunch. As more and more hikers trickled in, the entry area was completely taken over by hikers. Some with their shoes on... Others with them off. It was a fun place to hang till 4ish. My second lunch consisted of an iced coffee, a second salad and a chocolate milkshake.  Once again, I'm not every good st taking pictures of all these things. 

The last part of the day was only 5 miles and it seemed to go by really fast. Despite me constantly stopping to take pictures as the evening sun presented incredible views. One of these posts I'll not used that phrase... But this is a scenic trail, which is all about the views from the "crest" of the hills. 

At the campsite, I met Faraday, Monte and David. The group (Riley, Alyssa, skinny Thor, Anna, Leah, Viet, and Alex), were also there. Despite all of us eating 2000+ calories at McDonald's, we were all hungry after setting up camp. Also, it was warm out so we all sat around telling stories and eating dinner until it was dark which is normally bedtime. 

The game plan for tomorrow is to wake up at 4:30 and hit the trail early enough so that we all arrive in Wrightwood by early to mid afternoon. We'll see if that actually happens. 

Day 19 - A long day. 331.9 (21.7)

Today I hiked further than any prior day. And I felt it too. The morning started off the same as most. As I was packing up, rain clouds rapidly moved in. I made sure I had all of my rain gear on before leaving camp. The moment I stepped foot on the trail, it started to rain. It did so for the next 20-30 minutes. It wasn't really cold compared to the other days I've seen rain. 

The first 3 miles flew by. Very easy hiking. I arrive at a spillway. Later I learn it is there to help direct water flow if the upper dam breaks. When making a sound in the middle of its walls, it created a very long echo. 

The PCT is all about traversing the hillsides. In doing so, it weaves in and out of every little hillside valley. This provides hikers with views that seem to change after ever turn of a corner. So I took a lot of photos. 

I was needing water around mile 317. There was a campground with water 3/4 mile on a side trail. I tried going there, but the trail was very poorly marked and turns into a vast area of paths that could be the trail. I decided it wasn't worth getting lost and I really needed water after about an hour of wondering around. If say I walked at least 1.5 miles during this time. 

Walked back on the PCT and literally .3 miles later was a good water source. Feeling a little frustrated I refilled with a couple liters of water and stretched a bit. Feeling better I marched on.  The trail passes by a gravel yard and a power station, both of which are alongside a paved roadway. 

A short while later it goes up onto the ridge surrounding a lake (all created from the dam). It was pretty cool sight. 

The trail walks the half of the lakes edge. At the far end , before it heads back into the hills, it comes to a state park (mile 328ish). Here I expected to see the group I'd been hiking with for the past few days. Unfortunately I did not.  I had two choices. One, I could wait for Anna and Alex who where behind me 30-60 minutes (according to one of the other hikers I ran into). Or two, I could continue on and select a site a little ways out of the public park. 

I chose the second and it kicked my ass. It started off with a gentle slope which I thought I could find a nice campsite. It was covered in dense vegetation. So I slowly continued, and the slope got steeper and steeper. To the point of where there weren't any plants, it was a cliff. I hiked 2.8 miles past the state park (a point where I was already mentally ready to setup camp. That's 2.8 less miles to the McDonald's tomorrow. I can't wait. 

 

Day 18 - Deep Creek Canyon and Mile 300. 310.2 (17.8)

Today was one of the best days on the trail so far.  Last night was COLD! None of us were prepared for it. Also, it didn't help that I had to get up around 1:30am to relieve my bladder. I tried going back to sleep instead, but there was no way I was going to hold it for another 5 hours. So I went out maybe 5 feet from my tent, bare footed, shorts and my coat. I say again, it was Cold. 

Took my time eating breakfast and packing up. Talked with Alex (who also was taking his time) for a while as we let our rain flies thaw then dry just a little.

I left camp dressed head to toe in my warm clothes. Not 15 minutes later, I had to pull off the trail to strip everything off. I knew I was going to need to, but I just couldn't get myself to do it before leaving camp. 

The next 6 miles were uneventful. The scenery was very desert like. The last 12 miles were incredible. 

Last night we had camped next to Deep Creek, which I would agree was a creek. By mile 298, the creek turned into a river (but doesn't change its name). Ever curve/corner that I went around provided a new view that I couldn't help take pictures of.

Around 12:30pm, shortly after passing the 300 Mile point, I found a way to the river. I needed more water and was ready for lunch. Anna and Alex were already there eating and drying out their gear from last nights frost. I chose to do the same. There were a ton of flies in this area and they drove me crazy. There were always 5 in my face at all times. I would take out 10 of them and there would still be 5 more. Tolerated them till 2:00pm. I would rather hike in the heat then deal with them. 

Lunch was followed by more views. It would have taken my mom a lifetime to walk through this canyon. Around every corner she would have wanted a picture. So did I. 

[wpvideo Dgtte4pM] As I approached the third bridge of the day, I looked down at a beach area to find Leah, Riley, Alyssa, Viet and Skinny Thor yelling at me that they had found a good spot. This was awesome as I was becoming concerned that the next campsite was 8 miles down the trail (which was published on the Topo Maps). 

Setup camp, which was easy. Cowboy camping... This will be my first time on the PCT, not including once in San Diego and once at Ziggy and the Bear. They were in town, so I don't count them. It was the same group as last night. It was much warmer than last night, but we are also 2500 feet lower in elevation.  Took care of the normal chores and worked on this blog till it was dark. 

The sound of the river and being able to gaze at the stars is nice.

Day 17 - More Snow on the PCT 292.4 (17.8)

Mileage breakdown: Cougar Crest Trail 2.1 mi to meet PCT Mile 177.4, then continue on PCT. Last night was the first time sleeping on a mattress in over 2 weeks, and it was way too warm. A heated room and a heavy comforter had me waking up at 3 am to throw all of the blankets off. 

Woke up to a couple of inches of snow outside the hostel. 32 degrees and calm wind. The radar showed a lot more on the way. It was obvious all 11 of us heading out to the trail this morning were questioning our decision to do so. But the trail calls even though it began to snow harder as we loaded our bags in top of Gracen's car. We fit all 9 of us (including the driver) in a classic 1980's wagon. We all had our jokes about the snow. Gracen continued to tell us, "you're more than welcome to stay another day and night at the hostel."A weird thing after taking a zero day, is that it's tough to get back in a hiking rhythm. Especially with a lot of weight from food in my pack. 

I jumped ahead of the group and around mile 5, for the day, the snow on the ground was beginning to melt. I decided to make Eggs with Ham and Bell Peppers. I could have eaten 3 of them easy. I believe my hiker hunger has kicked in. 

Hiker Hunger - After eating, the feeling of being hungry doesn't go away. Is common after week 2-3. Can lead to upset stomachs. 

My legs and feet were really tired for the entire day. It could be from not moving to much yesterday or the fact that we walked downhill for 16 miles a couple days ago. 

Skinny Thor and I met up with Leah in the early afternoon and the three of us walked together till we got to the campsite. Because it wasn't very warm today, I never took a very long break. The benefit of this is we got to camp around 3:30pm. This gave us plenty of time to chill by the river (largest on the trail to this point). Soaking our feet in the ice cold water was quite rejuvenating. Ate dinner then worked on getting a fire going. Relaxed till dark, then everyone was off to bed. Of course I didn't get a picture of the fire... Or camp because I'm pretty bad at remembering to do so once I'm in camp. All I want to do is relax. I'll take a picture in the morning. 

Day 16 - Travel to Big Bear Lake. 2.1 mile road walk.

Everyone was up by 6:00am. There were 5 of us that took a ride from Ziggy's to San Bernardino. We were dropped off at the bus station and awaited our 8:20 departure to Big Bear. After a couple stops in town, we had a full bus of hikers. The road to Big Bear gave us a little taste of what we're missing by having to bypass this section. It was very weird traveling at 60+ mph when I'm so use to traveling at 2-4mph.  Also, the driver was pretty aggressive for how windy the road was. Some of the people toward the end we're getting a little car sick.  The bus dropped us off near the Vons grocery store. Almost everyone went in to buy food for the next section. I already had 3 resupply boxes with me (way too much) so I continued on to the Big Bear Hostel, which was a 2.1 mile road walk. 

When I reached the hostel, Sarg greeted me and gave me the rundown on how everything works and where everything is. Unpacked all my gear and dried out my tent. I relaxed though the early afternoon then went to the post office to ship the extra food I had Ali with maps/paperwork home. I figure I had enough snack food for 12 days when the next section was only 6 days.

Around 3:30, a group of us (Anna, Leah, Viet, Riley, Skinny Thor and Me) decide to go to the Big Bear Brewing Company which sat only a block away from the hostel. I had a really good Chocolate Porter and Honey Blonde.Later, after hanging around the hostel for a bit, the owner Greg, took us to the best Mexican restaurant in the area. He even ate with us. All good company. 

Packed the last few things before the early departure tomorrow morning. My pack is huge and pretty heavy. 6 days of food is a lot. Luckily I only need to carry around 2 liters of water to start the day off.