Day 12 - Road Walking. The Alternate into Idyllwild. 162.6 + Alt mile 15.4 (11.6)

Today was a bit different than any prior days. Only roads. Mostly dirt, but I did hike for almost 2 miles on a very busy Highway 74.       The dirt roads were primarily along power lines. It made the confusing direction, a little bit easier to understand. Started off listening to some music, then finished off a podcast of The Joe Rogan Experience with Brian Cox as the guest. All of which helped pass the long road walks.  

         I see a lot of hikers hitching from Highway 74 to Idyllwild. I am glad I didn't. A little over a mile down the highway walk, I stopped at a market to grab lunch. I was craving a sandwich and some milk. As I am eating, I start talking to Dax (not a pct hiker). He is staying at the campground with his son for a weekend get together. We talk about the trail, life and cross country biking. He is riding over by Durango, CO this summer for 400+ mile bike event/race. 

     I wrapped up and started out when Beast Master (the guy who gave me my trail name) is in a van that pulls over next to me. He asked if I wanted a ride into town. I tell him I am going to walk it.  

After a little more highway walking I arrived at the Hurkey Creek Campground. From there I resupplied on water and wondered around trying to find the next path I needed to take. 

As I walked up the steep power line road, the views only got better. Was unsure exactly how far I needed to walk till I would turn onto the last road of the day.  

      It was weird to see, what looked like a brand new gate in an area that was closed to all motorized vehicles. Beyond the gate was a trail crew getting the area ready to open back up to the public.  

 As I was maybe a half mile from the top of the hill, the trail crew passed me, each asking if I wanted a ride into town. I passed on the offers. I really wanted to be able to say that I walked the full alternate. Also I wouldn't have been able to take some of the pictures I did. 

  

Finally reach the end of the dirt road to arrive at a paved road with a decent amount of traffic. I had cell reception so I decided it was a good time to call my sister-in-law to see how everything was going and to make sure everyone was on the same page with regards to shipping stuff. Mid conversation a nice lady stopped and asked if I wanted a ride into town. Now that I was on the edge of town I was very happy to accept the invitation. Said a very quick by to Becca and hopped in the Prius. 

The ride into town was way different than I had imagined when walking through the desert all day. Lots of trees. It reminded me of the mountain towns in Washington and Colorado. 

When I arrive most of the people I had hiked with in the past few days were already in town getting their packages and eating some food. My package is nowhere to be found. Evidently someone (ME) shipped it to the wrong address. So now I will have two packages waiting for me at Ziggy and the Bear's. I'll get all the resupply stuff down before this trip is through. 

I met up with George then head to the outdoor store. Small but they have everything a hiker could need. Gwen and Denise were there as well. Went to the state campground and get my tent setup. There were already more than 25 tents setup in the area designated for PCT Hikers. $3 a night. 

Met up with Gwen and Denise then went to the grocery store. I took stock of what the store had so tomorrow I could buy food for my next leg. The girls bought their food, then we went to the pizza place and ate dinner. George and Matt join us shortly before we left.   

Hung out around the campfire till 10ish and call it a day. 

Day 11 - Omelette For Breakfast. 162.6 + 3.8 Alternate (17.4)

I woke up this morning to my alarm, 6:10. Had some motivation to get on the trail early, as the Paradise Valley Cafe opened at 8:00am.         

   A little while after I was on the trail, Little Thor caught up to me. We got to the Cafe around 8:30 and were greeted with live music. We chatted with Alyssa, Riley and Anna while we waited for our food to come. 

        

 I ordered the Denver Omelette, a side of Bacon and some coffee. I ate every last bite with a big grin on my face. Worked on updating this blog and figured out the shipping schedule so I could discuss it with my mom.  

    Trudge and Dr. Jones showed up, followed by a constant flow of hikers, a lot of whom I hadn't seen since Warner Springs. We filled up the majority of the Cafe. Trudge bought a milkshake and it made me want a root beer float. Called mom and left the cafe around Noon.  

         It was a hot afternoons and I was dragging. Probably from all the good food this morning. I couldn't help but take an overwhelming amount of pictures. The landscape was spectacular.  

                        The challenge of the day arose as the trail climbed the 2600 feet to the top of the ridge. The wind had really picked up and the sun was below the ridge. Needless to say I was cold and not really enjoying it. 

                   My original plan was to hike to the PCT fire closure at mile 162, then proceed 1 mile on a side trail to Cedar Springs and setup camp. When I got to the trail junction I think I made the best choice I could have. I charged down the PCT Mountain Fire Alternate; rather than heading to Cedar Springs which would have kept me on the mountain for the night. Running off the the mountain got me off the mountain and out of the wind as well as helped keep me warm. With my muscles cramping a little and my groin feeling tight; I reached mile 1.5 on the PCT Mountain Fire Alternate to a water source. By that time clouds had started over the ridge I was on 20 minutes ago. I was warming up and enjoyed the break. 

          [wpvideo aIHUHZcZ]   

I thought about stopping there to camp and decided against it. There were a lot of Widow Makers around and I felt I could push on a little further in hopes of finding a better spot. 

    A little further down the trail there was a road which I could have easily setup on. But I didn't because I thought I could still find a better location.

I arrive at a paved road (part of the Alternate) and I start walking down it without paying too close of attention on where my next turn would be. Ended up being mile 3.6 on the Alternate Trail. I arrived after dark and was still a bit cold and down. I ended up walking 2.6 miles further than I anticipated. Bonus, I only have 11.6 miles to go tomorrow! I plan to get up fairly early so I will have some time in Idyllwild before dark. 

Setup my tent a short ways after getting off the paved road. Ate some food, listened to some music and decompressed. I hope the other hikers on the mountain are staying out of the weather. 

        

Day 10 - Rattlesnake. 149.0 (17.4)

Woke up with little motivation to pack up and get moving. Had a strange feeling about the resupply schedule. This stems from a conversation I had with my mom back in Warner Springs. Basically she said her first package should go out 4 Days later than I thought it should. But I trusted that it looked correct before I left Colorado and didn't go back and check one more time.   I decided to check into it this morning and realized I was correct in my feeling back in Warner Springs. That and the Sun hitting my tent really got me going.

  

Pushed till 1:00 pm and had gone 10 miles. They were all very uninteresting (I think my mind was focused on getting to cell service) and can be summed up in 1 picture. I figured around 13 a 15 miles would be my best chance at any cell service. But I needed to rest, eat and getting out of the boiling hot sun was for the best. 

The picture.   

 Back on the trail around 3:00 after, lunch and chatting with Trudge mostly about the AT (Appalachian Trail). It seems like a completely different style of trail.

Put in a lot of effort the last 3 miles, where I did get enough cell service to text and talk. It's weird, you can do literally nothing with 1 bar. For some reason I had it in my mind that Colorado was one hour behind me. I was sad to hear it was too late to get my package to the post office today. Tomorrow morning it will go out and should arrive the same day I do at Ziggy and the Bear's. This whole thing was very stressful, but I take all the blame. I should have looked at it in Warner Springs or one last time in Colorado! Once that was cleared up, I felt much better and relaxed my pace. I must say, the second half of today was my favorite so far. The valley, mountains and water caches were the highlights. 

                      

Around 5 pm I catch up to Alex and ________, to find them staring at a rattlesnake. My first of the trip. I took some pictures and a video. Then we try to figure out how to get around the damn thing. One side there is a cliff, and the other had lost of ground cover. As we take the uphill path, it decides to scoot off the trail. We all just take the trail. I take a few more pictures and videos of the thing and move off. The sunset was quite incredible. I'll let the pictures do the talking.  

[wpvideo an7jDlQI]     The last bit of today was uphill and my legs are really tired. Most likely from my fast pace this morning. I would had liked to make it to mile 151, but saw a nice campground with lots of people I knew and decided to stop.  Will be going to the Paradise Cafe in the morning for water and breakfast.  I am excited for some real food. 

     

                       

Day 9 - Snakes and Mike H.'s House. 131.6 (16.6)

Woke up to hikers packing up and walking by. I stayed in my sleeping bag for another half hour or so then started the packing up process. Trace, a gentleman that I met in Warner springs, and Alex, a name I've heard a few times on the trail, are also packing up.   Walked for roughly 5 miles then made breakfast. It consisted of some beef jerky, mangos and a granola/instant oatmeal mix. That is going into my backpacking list of good breakfasts. Just add cold water and it's like having morning cereal.

             The next 5 miles were not that exciting. I did see my second snake of the trail. A fairly large Gardener Snake.

     Stopped around 12:30 to wait out the heat and have some lunch. Normally I take one of the first shady spots I come to when I'm ready for a break. This time I didn't and it certainly paid off.

    [wpvideo GKUXkKPI] I got back on the trail when it started to cool off. Almost immediately I saw another 2 snakes. I have seen 4 total. No Rattlesnakes so far. In fact I believe only one hiker has (of those I've met). 

It was only a 2 miles walk before I reached Mike H.'s house. Three guys (Mike, Tom and Josh) live only a quarter mile off the trail and provides hikers with water, beer, soda, shade and pizza. They do encourage donations, which I gladly gave. 

                            Relaxed for a few hours at the house. Alex, Trace, Two Tone, Bottomless (formerly Eric), Little Thor, Anna, Alyssa, Riley and Toe touch (formerly Julie).

Right around 5:30pm I pack up, refill my water and head out. As I may have said before, this is my favorite time of day to be hiking.

Originally I was going to stop at mile 129.something which is at the top of the ridge in the saddle. There were a lot of good campsites, but it was windy and my legs were feeling good. So in headed down the hill to the next campsite 5 miles away. I was really hoping to find a solo sight up on the ledge, but it was all cliff, steep slope or lots of rocks and plants. I really enjoyed the night hike, I think it's a full moon. Arrived at the campsite around mile 134 and setup camp.

Note - the moon is so bright that it look like a floodlight is shining at my tent. 

Note 2 - First moscito bite... Right behind my ear. 

Day 8 - Rest Day and Sunset. Mile 115 (5.5)

Today was a rest day for me. Took my time getting up. Almost everyone was relaxing in camp. 1 or 2 decided to hit the trail early. I believe the ones that did, took a zero day yesterday.  Talk to mom for a short while, for some reason we didn't have a strong signal (she couldn't hear me), but I did hear her sing happy birthday which was pretty cool! Thanks Mom!

Work on uploading pics to my brothers Dropbox, but the Internet was really slow and I had almost 300 total pictures to upload. I wish you could select certain ones to upload only. That would save a lot of time. In the end I gave up on it. I will try again in Idyllwild.

Spend at least 5 minutes brushing my teeth. I was using a really crappy/ultralight toothbrush that wouldn't have been worthy of being used to clean a floor. I did purchase a better one at the resource center yesterday. 

At some point I decide it's time to go into town and pick up my resupply box. The ride I ended up getting was with the county sheriff. He's taking lots of hikers to and from the post office. I rode in the back with a French couple who kept asking before they stepped into the suv, "you aren't taking us to the jail..." They said it in a joking way, but I could tell they were a little uncertain of the whole situation. The officer ended up giving rides to and from the post office all morning long. I am really bad at remembering to take pictures of these things. 

Sorted my food when I return to camp. Everyone is impressed with all my dehydrated/vacuum sealed foods. Especially the beef jerky (Kobe Beef). The mangos are quite popular as well. 

     Went out to lunch with Gwen, Denise and George. I met Denise yesterday but couldn't remember her name. Ended up seeing Two Tone and Eric at the golf course restaurant. I had a large bacon cheeseburger. It was quite incredible. I also sneak a slice of Denise's pizza. 

   As we finished up I met Luke, who is a retired Air-Force pilot. He's out here because he enjoys flying but doesn't want to do it for a living. Instead he plans to get into renewable resource research and development. We talked for a bit and I headed to the post office for the second time today. This time I walk. I shipped a pair of micro spikes in my last resupply box but forgot to take them out and send them home in the first box. So I send out another, because there is no way I am carrying those over the next couple passed coming up. 

I enjoy the walk back to camp, but get a little lost in the golf course (very close to camp). It turns out Toe Touch (formerly Julie) is following me, which causes 3 more behind her to follow down the wrong path. We see the camp and backtrack to the very easy to miss left turn. 

Just before I took one last shower before hitting the trail, Gwen brings me a neapolitan ice cream sandwich as a birthday gift. Then as I packed my gear up, Denise walked around me to take, what looks like a picture, then the entire camp start singing me happy birthday all together. Denise took a video (I wonder if I can post a video on here). That was pretty cool.    

[wpvideo VrAh0C3D] Continued to wrap up. Tan Man was cooking some fancy hotdogs and was giving them out for free, some good trail magic. I could have ate all of them. 

Said goodbye to a few people and was back on the trail. It would have been easy to stay in that town forever. After about 10 minutes on the trail I was very happy I had left when I did (around 6pm). The views were the best so far. I feel like I'm going to say that everyday. The sunset was especially incredible. 

                   

I ended up walking with my headlamp the last 2 miles. Reached the campground and there were already a lot of tents setup. Everyone seemed to have the same idea, get out of Warner Springs after the heat of the day. 

Setup my tent get to bed early 9ish. Lots of miles, fire detours, high altitudes and possibly snow ahead.