Adventures on the Pacific Crest Trail

I made it to Oregon!

2011-11-02T10:11:00.000-07:00

Pacific Crest Trail trip 26 2011

221 miles – August 13th through August 26th, 2011Castle Crags State Park, California, to Callahan’s Siskiyou Summit, Oregon. This year the strapped state of California said it would close a lot of parks, among them our trailhead, Castle Crags State Park. The good news is they’re not closed yet and the PCT continues through an unmanned portion of the park. I don’t think closed California parks will stop PCT hikers. I’d been thinking about or preparing for this trip all year. I don’t think you ever stop thinking about your sections: doing, buying, training, studying etc. You can never be fit enough, but you have to be fit to start. Crasher, a through hiker we met this year, said, “I think it’s harder for section-hikers,” but I think she’s wrong, especially after successfully negotiating the snowed-in Sierras. Rachel Ginsburg kindly, for the third time, picked me up at Oakland airport and drove me to Dunsmuir to meet John Hart, my hiking companion and mental trail giant, for our second section together. He’d just finished a week on the trail from Burney Falls to make up for the part he missed last year. His final total for this trip would be 301 miles - his longest! Rachel gave us a send-off kiss, and although she and her new dog, Athena, intended to join us in the Marble Mountain Wilderness, that sadly didn’t come to pass due to another commitment. To start off, I went back under the Hwy 5 underpass to touch a post on the other side. John and I always make every trip “honest”; we don’t miss a step. That first afternoon we started off at 1PM and hiked nine miles. We had a ridiculous hope we’d do 11 miles. Our intentions are stronger than our legs. We ended the day at Castle Crags, a dramatic and beautiful outcropping. The next morning we started a big day: 20 miles or so, with over a 4500 feet gain in altitude, to the only guaranteed spring in the first section. There were several water sources in the first miles but we were so enamored with the sight of the Pitcher Plant at a stream (the North American habitat of this carnivorous plant) that we’d tanked up too late. It made for a dry end-of-day. We did meet our first through-hikers: Feisty, Gnarly, and Han Solo, who was from Germany. Even with my 35-year-old German, I succeeding in convincing him I was fluent. He went on in German for quite a while before he caught on. Late in the day, but before the final spring, we found our first Trail Magic. We were far from dying of thirst, but were thrilled to come across a five gallon drum filled with Hansen’s soda just past the dirt road down to Gumboot Lake! Thank you, Trail Angel, whoever you are! We trudged on, found the spring, filled up our bladders and bottles, and found a campsite late. I’ve said it before: the most important thing to find is water next to a flat spot. It’s amazing how few places there are to camp in the wide open wilderness.Settling down to start cooking dinner, I found that my gas canister was empty! Note to self: Shake that thing before a trip! John shared his cooking gear with me. Later , as I was dropping off to sleep, it seemed that the earth below me was getting harder every second. Another surprise: my NeoAir Mattress had sprung a leak! It was two days of lying on the ground positioning my three foam pads on shoulders and butt before I found and fixed the hole. Also, I found spiders and silverfish crawling all over me during the night. I’ve never been bit or harmed, but I’m buying an enclosed tent next year. I think I drink half again as much water as John. He uses bottles, and has to stop to drink. I sip away on my bite valve as I go. Extra water weight creates foot pain, I’ve found. More about that later…This section is a big tipped over U. We launch east and southeast from Hwy 5 for several days. You often see Mount Shasta and realize you’re barely moving north. John, who knows these things, says for every mile north we have over 4 miles of trail here. There are 2.3 trail miles for every mile north to Canada. The territory north of Shasta is very dry, which explains the routing. We laughed over how often we’d discussed the bazillion trees we’ve seen in 1700 miles. We’ve seen plenty of nature. There’s no lack of it. Every day on the PCT is hard. Climbing up and down mountains with a pack on your back is masochistic. Everything is inconvenient in the wilderness. You have to bring everything with you. The challenge of the adventure is what drives me on; not nature, but the achievement and social aspect of hiking with friends.

We met Pete from Portland going south. He’d hiked the trail before but was walking from Ashland to Sierra City. A transplanted Brit, he was one of those hikers who look shockingly clean and unfazed by the rigors of the journey. He’s probably doing more sensible miles than we are.We spent a long lunch at Upper Deadfall Lake. Few lakes are accessible from the trail, and even when they are it’s often hard to get to the water. Reeds, logs and mushy ground make it hard to filter water or jump in. This one was lovely, and we saw lots of day hikers who had gotten there from a nearby forest road for good camping and a beautiful view of Mount Eddy. After the road we had a 4 mile half-circle of easy walking. We had a laugh when we finished a long traverse and then looked over to where we started hours ago. We wondered why the PCT doesn’t have an air bridge. There were lots of signs and posts in this area. Like states’ rights, the marking of the trail is inconsistent. I thank the energetic people of this area for clearly posting the trail. We passed a lake listed as a water source in Erik the Black’s book. We would have stopped for water, but it had a hundred foot drop so we would have needed someone to rappel down to get it! Baby wipes are sure handy. Ultralight hikers don’t carry them but I use them for cleaning my hands before putting in contacts, general cleanup and of course after the outdoor toilet. Figuring out what to take in your pack, and in what form, is a big job. It’s got to be light and have multiple applications if possible. When we got to Chilcoot Creek we met the previously-mentioned Crasher and her parents from Connecticut. While filtering we learned she had successfully navigated the snowy Sierras and was spending five days with her daring parents on the trail. She was jumping to Ashland to rejoin her through-hiking group to Canada, hoping to do the section she missed in October. I complemented her and she said, “Go big or go home.” What a sweet and determined young woman. Around noon, when we stopped to rest after a long, hard traverse on steep slopes,Frito Ray and his wif (wish I could remember her name) caught up with us.. He worked for Frito Lay and had a bag of the chips on the back of his pack. As I mentioned before, I drink a lot of water. Seems I carried too much up the mountain and my right heel started to hurt. Stopping to check it out, I saw a red spot on the bottom of the heel. John helped me apply Moleskin with duct tape. I was fearful the trip was in jeopardy, but that was my hysteria, as usual. We passed by Echo Lake and Rattlesnake Mountain on this trip. It reminded me of the limits of human creativity. There are at least three “Buckhorn”s, and probably too many “Kennedy Meadows” to count. So many places: you have to call them something. But it’s much more pleasant that just using a number, as in “Peak 5142”.We ran into Overload (good name), One Step (finishing her last section, she’d met Bill Redman at Paynes Lake), and Silver Toes and Mog Apion, all going south. We spent the night at Bull Lake. It was a great camp but we had to descend a rocky slope to get there. The next night was spent at Mosquito Creek, which lived up to its name in a minor way. We go a few bites that night, but on the whole the trip was blessedly free of mosquitoes. Positive ID came in late and camped with us. He’s Adam from Portland, and his father knows a man who knows me. Small world. Our last day before Etna Summit was a long one. We couldn’t find a camp until late after an arduous climb that left us exhausted. John and I knew we’d done too much and were breaking down. I’ve had tendonitis in my left wrist for the last year. Using hiking sticks doesn’t bother me as long as it’s a vertical motion, but my hiking pole slipped and twisted on a steep climb and it hurt like hell. I had to favor it for the rest of the trip. I slipped on the trail that day but fortunately fell on my backpack and lay there squirming like the beetle in Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Anyone who says they haven’t tripped or fallen on the trail has never hiked. It wasn’t all bad, though - we passed some plants that smelled like sweet pumpkin. I carry my MP3 player on the trip so there are plenty of programs to listen to at night in the tent. FM reception was poor: country western - Red Neck Yacht Club; religion - How to share your faith with the Muslim next door; a little NPR. We were definitely in the tulies. I heard about future Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Wouldn’t that make a great trail name? As I said, there’s never an easy day on the PCT, but some are worse than others. This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done: carrying your 35 pound house on your back; walking up 5000 feet in one day. There’s nothing like it, and it’s great for weight loss. I lost 8 pounds on this trip and have a new business concept: “Lose belly fat with this simple trick. Hike the PCT!”Paynes Lake was our last body of water before Etna Summit. We met a batch of day hikers: “Seniors on a Mission”. Saw Newts! There I said it: Newts! I was dumbfounded. I didn’t recognize the swimming lizards immediately, and didn’t know they existed in North America. I’d never seen Newts in the wild. We met Bill Jeffrey (Asabat) at Etna Summit. He has huge hiking experience and is a wiz with maps. Plus, he’s a trail celebrity because of his water report for Southern California. He brought potato chips on request from John. Etna Summit is a terrible place to camp. I wound up in the parking lot on gravel behind an SUV parked on a slope. Bill ended up near some buildings and John on a dirt road. The next day we had an 800 foot up and stopped at a trail register along the way. Someone had put a baggie of marijuana in the box, but we were the wrong demographic for it. We ran into Oakdale going southbound. The climb continued through a landscape of steep granite dotted with lakes and streams. We broke off early to camp at Fisher Lake, putting off to the next day a big climb to a saddle. It’s risky to go on unless you have assurances of camping ahead. Wiz and Mrs. Wiz from Australia passed us that night. He was a through-hiker but she’d joined him at Sierra City to share quite a big section. He had a cute miniature Aussie outback hat. The Marble Mountain Wilderness is unique. Soon after dropping into a pretty valley you pass marble outcroppings dotted with jagged caves. John remarked on the two dramatic peaks that dominate the area: one black and one white.

About that this time, John’s back started to bother him. I looked back at a crooked man hiking behind me. I know that feeling. He was better off after the day in Seiad Valley. We met some archers in a jeep on the way down to Seiad Valley, and had a nice talk about the trail. They were hunting deer. If you can shoot a deer with an arrow you’re a serious hunter. I haven’t had deer or Elk (venison) meat since I was a child. We talked about how hard hiking is. They jokingly offered to drive us to Cook 'n Green Pass, hard miles ahead, but, as I said, hiking is masochistic, so we turned them down. The long way down to Seiad Valley is a green tunnel with excellent trail through lush forest that ends with a long parallel to Grider Creek. We camped at Grider Campground, wiped out after a big day. Even downhill, 20 miles can tear you up. I took a lovely bath in a natural half-Jacuzzi at the creek, then had to scurry back to our tents through a short summer rain. I found a frog in my tent trying to get out. I liberated him and went to sleep. The next day we road-walked 6 miles along the Klamath River into Seiad Valley.

What a joy to come into a town with food, a shower and rest at the Mid Valley RV Park! Seiad Valley is about 50 compact yards of town on one side of the highway. It’s a plum and poke town as my fellow traveling magicians would say. “If you poke your head out of the window you’re plum out of it.” However small it may be, it is mighty! We had lunch at the Seiad Café. Shanda, the proprietor, is a sweet lady, as is her daughter, the waitress. I had Eggs, Bacon and Pancakes! We met Bruce who runs the RV Park where we spent the night. “I sweat when I think” was one of his memorable sayings. He had had some trouble with immature hikers who’d made a mess of the place. We’d heard about it from the trail grapevine. I heard him out (which took some time) and apologized. He sets aside a covered space on the grounds for hikers: chairs, fridge, microwave, space for tents, power for charging, hiker box, Wifi and a whole lot more for 12 bucks including showers and laundry. It’s a low rent hiker wonderland. I picked up my resupply box at the PO, and bought stuff at the general store which stocks a little bit of generally everything. We met Will, Noodles Romanoff, Rockfish (a triple crowner doing the PCT again) and Icarus and saw a family picking Blackberries. For a week in advance, we’d been lamenting the next day’s climb out of Seiad Valley and its more than 5000 feet in elevation gain past the delightfully named Lower, Middle and Upper Devils peaks. John repeated his distaste for it. We decided to launch early in the morning at 6. Bill left separately about 4:30. I worried out loud about having enough water but Icarus said take no more than two liters (“It weighs two pounds per liter!”) and “Camel up” before you go. So I chugged as much water as I could, and waved at Shanda in the dark as we passed the Café. Remarkably it went well and easy. We were strong and slowly conquered the elevation. Some days that should be easy are hard and vice versa. Bill stayed ahead of us, and we shared updates via text about his progress. Icarus flew by us (I know) and I thanked him for the good advice. We passed some vestigial outcroppings of marble, and then had lunch on the south side of desert-like Kangaroo Mountain. We shared our beloved Gallo Dry Salami. That afternoon, we passed lovely eponymous Lily Pad Lake, and at about 4 met Bill at Cook and Green Pass where we camped at the crook of a well used dirt road. Reason 42 for hiking with friends: Remember how I discovered the canister I brought was empty and John kindly shared his? We discovered at about this point that he left his canister somewhere, and so I was able to return the favor and I shared mine that I got from my resupply at Seiad Valley. I carry the Pacific Crest Handbook section pages for each hike. John and Bill, great navigators, carry every other bit of data about the trail. They provide the facts of the trail and I provide the color. It makes for a great combination. Again I was reminded how much an altimeter helped locate us. The weather was good during the trip. The first night was the coldest. I don’t carry long underwear so I put my fleece on my legs and wore my windbreaker in the sleeping bag. It did get really hot down in Seiad Valley but we were lying around in the shade eating ice cream. One remarkable thing was that it was Spring in the mountains and Fall in the valley. Up at altitude the big winter produced wildflowers and gorgeous butterflies in August and down low there were leaves on the ground. I’ve never seen much fauna on the trail. Rarely do you see or hear a bird. I’ve realized that the mammals in particular hear, see and smell you long before you them. John mentioned that he sees and hears enormous amounts of birds at home, but rarely in the wilderness. We did hear a Hoot Owl twice, and can vouch for the accuracy of the name. On the 24th we had a 21-mile day. It kicked our butts. John’s back acted up again and I felt for the crooked man hiking behind me. He’s a strong hiker and definitely not a quitter. During the trip, we never felt that that we were close to humanity, and the first 1/3 of the trip really is the boonies, but the last 1/3 of the trail runs pretty consistently along Road 20. We ran into an “active logging area” and a sign that insisted we follow a ribboned bushwhack detour out of the section for about a mile and a half. But it was late and we weren’t in the mood to obey, so we kept on walking. Many trees had been marked for cutting but there wasn’t a soul around. Once we heard a truck and dipped behind the trees like snipers. I realized when we got to Ward’s Fork Gap (where seven forest roads meet that the detour would have taken us down to a road and then to the Gap. There was no danger on the trail but we’re guessing that legal worries make them overreact. Always bring a watch. I have a sport Timex. It wakes me up in the morning, gives me an idea of my speed, and lets me know if we have enough time to meet our goal for the day. If you’re doing big miles you need a watch as much as if you were at work. Hiking is not a vacation for me. We have a job to do. The biggest curse of hiking is that you move in and out of your apartment every day. Setting up and striking camp is tiresome. Worried about water, I decided to filter at Mud Springs Even with cow tracks and leavings everywhere. I added Bill’s Aquamira drops to my water to insure health. No sooner had I made this poor choice than we ran into one sweet spring after another in the Bearground Spring area. Even so, it’s never worth passing water sources. I would rather have my heart broken than run out of it. We camped at Donomore Creek, with John on the bridge and Bill and I on the trail. It’s never easy to find a flat spot. We saw a deer who wasn’t concerned about us at all. Next morning: Oregon! I’ve passed many demarcation points, county lines, state and federal parks, but this was tops! We’ve accomplished a lot; over 1700 miles in eight years.As we neared Ashland, or more accurately the Siskyou Summit, we saw more roads, Ski areas and people. We ran into two Park Service guys doing work on road signage. “Welcome to the Beaver State.” One of them was with ODOT (Oregon’s Caltrans) and talked about Sheep Camp Spring being the best water around. He said, “I’ve been drinking it for over 30 years and never got sick.”Turns out the Promised Land is the interstate. This section ends at Hwy 5. There’s a cutoff with a sign for Callahan’s before the end. We wisely walked all the way to the highway before doubling back to the Inn on an easy frontage road and under 5. This was a lovely section. John told me that we walked up over 38,000 feet according to maps from Halfmile. It wasn’t easy, but nothing compared to the Sierras. It has some beautiful areas. There was more logging than I had seen on the entire trail but it wasn’t distracting. We met fewer than 25 section- or through-hikers in 220 miles. I’ve said it before, never has more money and time been spent on so few. I read recently that there’s been a 25 percent reduction of people visiting the wilderness since the 80’s, and people are wringing their hands about it. . I don’t think it’ll get better, but they don’t know what they’re missing. I think I’m the luckiest guy in the world on the trail.Next year we’ll strike out for the first half of Oregon. Looking forward to it. .

I'm more than half way to Canada!

2010-10-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

Pacific Crest Trail Journal - Trip 25 August 14th through 25, 2010
Belden, Ca to Castle Crags. 217 miles.

The mountain one ridge over was on fire when Rachel Ginsburg left us at Belden. It was also about 90 degrees. We had permission to go from the Forest service but they took our names and numbers at the trail-head. We were surprised to see through hikers Crow and Dundee. Turns out they started late at Mexico and were moving quite fast. Dundee was our hiker babe. A pigtailed, gregarious beauty in short shorts. An uplifting start to the trip. Only 7 miles to Myrtle Flat for our first night but it was late, steep and smoky. The first three days of this section have the biggest ups. Very tough but lots of water. John Hart my hiking partner has a GPS and an altimeter. I never appreciated it until this trip. You know exactly where you’re at when you match altitude and map data.

Cold Spring, a lovely camp, was our next night. Best spring water right from a pipe over a barrel. No filtering needed. JC from Australia stopped in long enough to jaw and borrow matches. He was moving very fast. Woke up that night sweating in my sleeping bag. Immediately looked up in the sky to see cloud cover. Sure reason for an increase in temperature.

I had a cold for the first time on a big trip. Gave my bandanna a workout. Had to wash them in every stream. Annoying but not debilitating.

Animals like the trail. I’m sure it beats bushwhacking. Saw a lot of deer and small creature tracks. Saw a grim looking hiker lady going from Ashland to Campo. Maybe I’m losing my mind but there seem to be a lot more trees in Northern California. Most of it pristine except for patches of forestry. I haven’t seen excessive cutting of trees. We’ve spent a lot of time under their canopies except for the Hat Creek Rim.

We made 24 mile dry run from Cold Spring to Soldier Creek. There’s water in the middle about ½ mile off trail but we blew past it. It was our first big day. Soldier Creek had good campsites and we met Luke and Nat Reinsma. Luke, the dad, had a copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses. I said “I hope it’s annotated” as I’ve heard it’s impenetrable without help. Like Shakespeare. He said it was and the best translation. I said I was reading Anna Karenina. His son Nat just graduated from Seattle Pacific University and at 24 can’t find a job. My son is in the same boat. Dad is the medieval literature professor at the same school. We had a lively literary discussion. Later Nick, Pete and their three mules came into camp. We had a little trepidation about their stock but they all turned out to be the nicest people in the world, mules too. Found an extra hiker the next morning camped on the trail.

Bumped into Trace ,Untraceable, Sheep Dog and Sandals southbound on the way to Drakesbad Guest Ranch. Sheepdog and Sandals have been married for 37 years. I asked Dog if Sandals was OK. It’s unusual for wives to be on the trail. He said “About 10 years ago she started asking me questions about hiking and the next thing you know she was walking. He was shocked but happy. Then we ran into hiking legend Billy Goat. He was on his eighth trip on the PCT. He’s done over 20000 miles on it alone. We talked a bit and he said “I live on the trail.” No truer words were ever spoken. I noticed a tendency for him to speak about himself in the third person. Guess if I was out alone as often as he was I do it too. He sounded like Gollum in the Hobbit. “You know if Billy Goat’s not happy with your backpack word gets out that BG doesn’t like it.” Well.

We passed midpoint marker for the PCT. I got excited but it was a sobering fact that I’ve walking this thing for nearly eight years. We didn’t have time to split off to Terminal Geyser but had a good look and sulfur smell of Boiling Springs. I’d call it the Devil’s Bathtub. Boiling steaming mud.

Drakesbad Guest Ranch is the Ritz in the forest. Over three hundred dollars a night for the guest cabins, food and amenities. PCT hikers get a fabulous bargain on food, showers and joy.
You have to eat outside the dining hall. Guests get to be inside. The first night was an avalanche of food, fresh baked bread and dessert. $10. I tipped double. We dined with Nick and Pete, the Muleteers from Missouri, and Malcolm, Jim and Patrick. Jim ate about five plates of food and 3 loaves of bread. I think he has a hollow leg with all that hiking.
The place has been run for 20 years by Ed and Billie. Originally from Germany and Switzerland. This married couple is the best hoteliers in the wilderness. They had a Euro crew of beautiful women from the Ukraine and Russia who’ll return to teach English in their respective countries.
Shocked to learn that our resupply packages hadn’t arrived we spent the night in a campground nearby. We found out later that they were in Chester at the hardware store but unnoticed by the lackadaisical staff.

We enjoyed two more meals the next day before taking off for Old Station with what was left of our food and some goodies from the ranch.
We had a cold night at 31 ° before we left Drakesbad. I put my jacket on my legs in the sleeping bag to crank up the warmth. One of my Platypus water bladders sprung a leak. I always bring an extra so no problem.

Made my first big mistake on the trail. Got off the PCT and went up a trail 2 ½ miles to Summit Lake. Boy was I frustrated. Really much ado about nothing but I was beside myself for a bit. We did the right thing. We retraced our steps so I haven’t missed one since the trail-head at the Mexican border. Developed a new rule. Follow the purple line. John’s GPS has a purple line for the PCT. Comforting.

Deer are crazy for salt. When we finally got to Swan Lake for the night I looked back at the trail where I’d relieved myself and saw a deer licking the ground.
Had to crawl out on a log to filter water because of the growth around the lake. John cooked up some Mac and Cheese and my cooking directions turned it into Gorilla Glue.

Ran into Sugar Mama and her dog the next morning.
Walking into Hat Creek Resort I saw my first bear since Mexico. A hiker in front of me startled it. It crawled up and tree and stared at us in terror. Got some great video. Hat Creek Resort has a Deli and store. Even though a salad was not on the menu Teresa whipped a special one for me. We shopped to fill our packs with food until we could get our next package at Burney Falls. I got a free shower. Nice people. Sat with 5 hikers who’d stayed at the Heitman's. Two of them Brits. They had a pail of brews while we ate and chewed over the trail. They’d grown to hate Erik the Blacks guide because of errors. We’d already had our first problem with altitude between points. All agreed that Halfmiles maps and data were the most accurate. Firefly (Georgie Heitman) tried to kidnap us but we politely begged off and I donated $20.00 to the kitty.
She’s a legend as has done wonders as a trail angel.

We bugged out in the pm for a camp near the Subway Caves. We loaded up on water because of the approaching Hat Creek Rim. Probably had the dirtiest, dustiest camp ever. About 2 inches of soft, filthy top soil. John bought some pepperoni and I have to say that is the new trail food. Any really hard salami would do. Luscious.

A hard slog up to the trail-head in the morning brought us to a wonderful viewpoint with our first view of Shasta. What a mountain! Beautiful. Lassen peak is visible too. A great view.

The Hat Creek Rim was a long walk. Over 25 miles but we beat the heat that day. Wonderful water cache at Road 22. More like a hut under a tree. Named Cache 22. No camping on the rim but found a great one under a tree after descending.

John Hart is a retired mechanical engineer. He is a walking computer. He practically memorized the trail and all of its particulars. I’m a piker on the trail. A poser. I study the maps and details over and over but a lot of it doesn’t stick. John will walk behind me and I’ll hear him doing the math for the trail. Distances, plans, ideas. All the numbers being crunched. Every time we stop he gets out the maps and goes to work. He’s a wonder. A hiking human calculator.

Ran into Kate from Oakland about 8am. She’d got up at two that morning in Burney Falls to get up to Cache 22. Exhausted already. We all make decisions that make the day easy or hard.

We got to the powerhouse at Baum Lake with its river and fisherman. Stopped at the fish hatchery to use the bathroom and have a snack. Thousands of trout fill the ponds. A massive grid of overhead wires keep the predators out.

Burney Falls: Got in line at the Ranger hut to get our campground pass. Had a nice conversation with a ranger who was just transferred from Oroville. She had hated it there and was thrilled to be posted at the Falls. “The hikers campground is inconveniently located.” She was right. About 15 minutes away on the other side of the car camping area and the store. We did have our resupply boxes there. A joy to see the stuff you need. Camped with a bicycle camper who was doing a 1000 mile loop or so. Later a big guy came in and loudly discussed his trip. Very nice and voluble. They call me “Foghorn because I talk loud” he said with complete innocence. He was walking from Ashland to Campo.

I saw my first Bald Eagle in the continental US.
Early the next morning we saw Burney Falls. You’d think it was a river but it comes from underground. The largest spring we’ve ever seen. John reminded me it’s a million gallons a day. Plus instead of a single fall it comes out like a shower head from multiple lava holes. Beautiful and unique.

I’ve often said the most dangerous thing we do is drive to the trail-head. Still nature is unforgiving. It is beautiful but brutality lurks below the surface. It this case a tree root. John tripped on one at mile 1446 near Red Mountain peak. We’ve all tripped in the woods but this time he fell on a log and punctured his left eye. I called 911, gave them our Latitude and Longitude from John’s GPS and 40 minutes later he was picked up by a CHP helicopter in a clearing near the accident. An amazing crew of skilled pilots and an EMT who’d done his Army reserve time in Iraq and Afghanistan. We were lucky to have their help. John was flown out and by that evening had eye surgery in Redding. His prognosis is good for normal sight in about 6 months. We were more fearful of our wives reaction than anything else. The pilots wanted to fly me out. Asked me if I had bear spray or a sidearm. I asked John if I could continue the trip. He readily agreed and passed on his GPS and Spot device. The pilots told me not to forget to pay my car registration and left. I was freaked out for the next few hours. I became intensely focused and developed a case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I’ve never, in 1500 miles, walked alone. I didn’t want to make a mistake, miss a trail crossing, walk the wrong way. I talked out loud, touched every trail marker, checked the map at every point, a bit nuts.

I’m always headed for the barn on each hike. Can’t wait to get home. The next day I did 25 miles. I’m amazed at my endurance. The human body is a remarkable thing.

We’ve been using the new trail guide from Erik the Black. It’s more than a data book but less detail than the PCT handbook. It’s good but with limitations. He needs to correct real altitude change details.

I picked up two blisters on my out upper right heel. I don’t believe my New Balance trail runners are to blame. I think I have problems with my gait because my soles don’t seem unequally worn.

The view of Shasta become better and better. It looks massive – a broad base, towering over everything around it.

Met Chuck going south to Sonora Pass from Ashland. Appeared, by his dress, to be a trucker who took a long walk. Camped at Great Creek, exhausted.

I ran into a very quiet, stoic hiker named Eric.
I asked about camping places he’d seen ahead. He said “I camped on a ridge last night” as if it never was a bother. Ran into two hikers later who immediately recognized him by his sober nature.
Camping places and places to sit are as rare as hen’s teeth on the trail. Basically you’re looking to find a flat spot to be comfortable in. Flat enough so you don’t slide off your mattress in the night. Or scoot to the side or end of your tent. I found a tight spot next to Deer Creek one night. It has a shallow depression that I fit right into. Might have been the best spot since Campo.

The middle of this section had several places that were quite dry. Long stretches of 20 plus miles where I carried up to six liters as insurance against dehydration. The last 40 miles were quite wet. If I had a trail name it might be Water Buffalo because I’d rather carry too much.

There are a lot of trees near the end. It finally got hot, real hot, but under the canopies it must be 20 degrees cooler. Lushness of trees and ferns like the Sequoias. Pop out into the sun and feel the heat lamp. I did run into a ton of gnats on the McCloud river valley on the last day. They have the ability to fly upside down and backwards near your face as you walk. I’ve needed my head net about 5 times since the beginning of the PCT. They drive you nuts without it. Put it on and you laugh at their impotency to enter your nose, eyes and ears.

I sat in Squaw Valley Creek in my underwear splashing about. It’s a beautiful rocky place. No worries about anyone seeing my aging body. Quite liberating. Joys of the wilderness. That night, the last night, I had to climb to a road to find a camping spot. Lost my hat as I let my hair dry. Nice spot but dusty from all the vehicles passing. Several trucks went over and a few guys stopped to pee. They all looked tough (and couldn’t see me in the trees) and one got on his cell, called his honey, and said “Just out with guys, took a little drive. Do you need anything at the store? See you soon. Love you too.”
We’re all harmless.

Ran into Step and Machine coming in from Manning. Older guy and a lovely young lady. Probably his daughter. I’ve seen 28 hikers in 217 miles.

I said it before: no more money has been spent on fewer people than for wilderness projects. If the federal government spent funds on what citizens like and use we’d have Nascar or a Football in national parks. They spend money on what believe is good for us. I’m glad I’m part of that tiny sliver of population that likes the outdoors.

I don’t hike to commune with nature. To get away from the craziness of the city. To find myself. I do it because of the challenge, the adventure. I like people and more time I spend in nature the more I appreciate human nature.

All together a terrific section. I’m more excited about the next section to Ashland Oregon than I’ve been in several years.

We did it! Trip 24 is finished.

2009-09-01T17:54:00.000-07:00

I'm almost half way to Canada. Below is my trip report.

PCT 24 Journal
Echo Lake to Belden, Ca 192 miles
It took 12 days to get to Belden. We had a zero day in Sierra City which was wonderful and a day at the Sierra Club Claire Tappan Lodge at Donner Pass which was amazing. Rachel Ginsburg friend and trail angel extraordinaire took us to Echo Lake. It was Bittersweet to not have Bill Redman there. We’d done all but one of the sections from Campo together. He had important knee surgery and I hope to walk with him next year. Paul Freiman joined me or I him. Known to many as Capt. Bivy he had a lot of experience and a great attitude for this section.
Eight miles out late in the afternoon took us past Aloha Lake to a camp above Heather Lake that had a sweet waterfall above it. Lots of day hikers. Great views right off the bat. Saw very big earthbound bird. Paul said Turkey. I said giant Grouse. But why didn’t it fly? No pictures. A rodent chewed a hole into my food bag and had some trail mix.
The next day, a hard one, took us over Dick’s Pass and up to Richardson Lake. Ran into people running 28 miles in one day. I thought I was in shape. I was a little dehydrated because of my refusal to filter from standing water. You get goofy quickly without water. The lake water tasted fishy but it was clean. Slept for 9 hours and barely moved.
Picked up a buddy for the day, Jeff Smith. Retired professor. We walked 22 miles, his personal best, and walked right by creek because I read the handbook wrong. Still we found a creek to wash and filter from at the end of the day. Bill’s Pepsi can stove burns a long time. My Tortellini is always cooked right. Got my first blister on the PCT. Left inside heel. Fixed it with Duct Tape and triple antibiotic.

Paul is hurting today. Always takes a few days to acclimate. His pack is too heavy. Back bothering him but he troops on. Saw one of our favorite things on the trail. Lady hikers out for the day with a dog. Beauty itself. Reached Soda Springs. Quick hitch to the P.O. and a quicker one to Claire Tappan. Best deal on the PCT yet. $50.00 a person. Clean bed, shower, dinner, breakfast and a packed lunch. Human food and human contact. You have to help out here. I set the tables twice. The namesake of this Sierra Club Lodge said that outdoor people are “good sorts” and he’s right. Two of them wanted to take us back to the trailhead the next morning. Wonderful experience. I performed some magic at breakfast.
Peter took us to the trailhead. First time I’ve met a venture capitalist. Walked past Castle Peak to our packed lunch at Peter Grubb hut. Lovely location in a meadow. Must be a skier’s paradise. Ran into a forest recon crew of two. They had a notebook of all the blowdowns in that section and they were carrying a crosscut saw to do what they could on the trail. Heard it ring before we saw them. Spent the night at White Rock Creek. Maybe the prettiest campsite in recent hikes. Mosquitoes can sting through your clothes though. First time I was really affected by the little buggers. Paul’s feeling stronger.
Biggest day ever. 28 miles into Sierra City. Thought it would be shorter but kept going and going. Plenty of ups even with the notes showing down. Ran into Tammy and Asa coming down from Cascade Locks headed for Whitney. Tammy was talking about staying clean. Must be tougher on the ladies. She realized one day she stunk too. She’s from South Carolina. With her home drawl she said “Oh my God I smell like a boy!” Saw a doe, Paul saw a bear (I haven’t seen one yet on the trail) and two rattlesnakes mating. They did not want to move. Frozen in excitement. I believe the guy was thinking. “I been waiting to do this my entire snake life and I’m not going anywhere.” They finally slithered, still attached, off the trail in a rain of rocks. We were wiped out by the time we got to Highway 49. Picked up by a Forest Service Biologist on vacation. Went to the Buckhorn Restaurant and Inn. I couldn’t stop talking and Paul hardly muttered a word. Funny how we act when fatigued. I had my town ball cap from Soda Springs. We look and smell awful but I seem to think a cap makes me less objectionable.

Sierra City is the place I’d bring the family. What a sweet spot. Two blocks or so of Sierra fun. We met great people. Picked up our supplies at the P.O. and bought some groceries during the next day in town. Donated my protein bars. Never take them again. Ugh! It became obvious that the place is run by strong women. Except for Larry at the store women are in charge. Love a strong woman but not a weak man. Bartender at the Buckhorn. “I can’t get my husband to go ice fishing or snowmobiling with me. He wants to sit on his ass all day.” I’d go with her.
Hitched out of town early. Trail angel Jim Duffy gave us a ride after he took his blind dog for a walk. Hit the Sierra Buttes early. We powered up the mountain. Paul had hit his stride and zoomed ahead. A day hiker’s haven we met a man and his extended family going up for the 30th time on the far side. We road walked for the first time in memory, confusing. You have to read the handbook carefully. I love a duck on the trail. Helpful but often unnecessary. I call them “courtesy ducks.” Saw a “water duck” pointing to a spring.
Some hard climbs today in this section. Volcanic rocks everywhere. Water scarce. Put my sock on, felt something, found a 1 ¼” flying bug, lovely. On my now annual hike the body becomes a roaring furnace. A fat burning machine. I’m always refining trail food to make it as healthy as possible but it is the only time you can overwhelm calories with exercise. I lost five pounds on this trip. Paul must eat twice what I do in town. He’s amazing. Sample meal. Giant turkey sandwich. Polish Dog. Bag of chips. Pint of Ben and Jerry’s. The rest of my bag of chips. Bag of Twizzlers and 3 Dr. Peppers, not diet.
We descended into the Middle Feather River Canyon. “Delightful Spring” was a mere trickle. Saw one of the most amazing bridges on the trail. Haven’t been able to get my mind around how they haul in and build this stuff in the wilderness. I swam in a “fantastic pool” in the river. It was wonderful. I got a swim and a bath. We hiked to Bear Creek for a camp above it.

A huge climb today. In fact two. 2700 feet up to the rim and on to the alternate route through Bucks Lake. Five miles of road walking. Met Petrie with a 70 pound pack and a good attitude. Nancy Williams did Trail Angel duty for the first time this year. Haskins Store has real Turkey Sandwiches. We walked to Bucks Summit and put in another 1000 feet to get to our last camp. I lay in my Tarptent surrounded by large black ants and spiders. I’ve gotten used to them and they don’t bother me. My wife would never have anything to do with this. She might be the sane one.
The last day brought us through some sweet forest walking with the first cows in this section. 16 easy miles but a huge leg pounding descent into Belden at the end. 36 switchbacks. The hiking days never exceeded 80 degrees but it was a 100 at the end. I’m at 1289 miles from Campo. What a project. Canada or bust. Another gauntlet of giant Poison Oak. Belden Town resort is well run by Karen. Food good and beer cold. Took a shower to not offend Rachel back to the Oakland Airport.
Not as hard as the Sierra sections behind us but the most mile for me, 192. We averaged 17 miles a day in 12 days. A very nice journey.

The next section.

2009-07-19T15:16:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and hikers.

The next segment on the PCT for me begins August 15th at Echo Lake. Number 24 since Campo. I have two weeks to make it to Belden, Ca, 192 miles! My biggest segment yet. For the first time I'll be flying to an airport to hike a section. I'm getting picked up in Oakland by Rachel Ginsburg, friend, hiker and trail angel. (She puts in another whole week this year at Sierra City helping through hikers.) New friend and hiker Sheila O' Rourke will pick us up at the end.

Trying to figure out best places for resupply. Lot's of choices but don't want to wait a day for a post office to open.

Sad news is Bill Redman my best hiking buddy, advisor and sage will pass on the hike this year. He had knee surgery and is progressing well but no hiking per the doctor for nine months. Good news is Paul Freiman (Capt. Bivy) will join me. He has an amazing knowledge of the trail with a can do attitude.. He also has huge hiking experience. Bagged a ton of peaks too. Looking forward to getting to know him better.

We may make a push for Chester or Old Station if things go well. We'll see.
Let me know about your plans for summer adventures.

Pacific Crest Trail Segment 23 – August 17th through the 27th of 2008

2008-09-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

Tuolumne Meadows to Echo Lake. 152 miles.
Here is a short video of places along the way video.
Here are the photos Bill and I took.

152 miles of the PCT anywhere is a physical, mental and logistical challenge. I spend many hours over the month or so before the big walk planning, preparing, packing and getting in even better shape. Except for the last section along the John Muir Trail this part was as uninhabited as any we’ve been through so far. Twice I relied on day hikers to take out a message to my family. I never got a cell signal till the last day above Lake Tahoe. We did it in 9 days. It was hard but didn’t beat me up like the last section. I lost 7 pounds. I ate quite a bit not enough obviously. Having 10 days worth of food forced us to choose with care. No more couscous for me for a while but macadamia nuts are still great.
We got a ride from Echo Lake back to the Tuolumne Meadows trailhead from Rachel Ginsburg super trail angel, hiker, friend etc. (more later) We couldn’t have pulled off the car shuttle better. We went through a terrific thunderstorm on the way to the trailhead. We saw a fire started by a lightening strike. Rachel didn’t join on the night hike to Glen Aulin. Walking 6 miles in the dark to get a jump on the mileage was not her cup of tea. We arrived at about 11:00PM and no matter what they say you can’t hike at night with a full moon; use your headlamp. Lot’s of indistinct trails over solid rocks; camped near a bear box which we used. The next day we lit out for the territories. The first few days are a roller coaster of climbs, passes and deep canyons. Lots of pack trains out there and saw a mule stampede that made us step off the trail. The cowboys were right behind and a few hours later the mules came by again in tow. Like me the mules get free and they head for the barn.
Everyday I was able to bathe in a lake or creek except one, a great joy. Only a few of the passes come close to the height and difficulty of the last section. Heard Clark’s Nutcracker annoying scream at Bensen Pass. Like crows they are part of the bird Mafia. Had a two mountain pass day and with the ups and downs, the altitude, felt weak. Passed a pretty lake with a freaked out duck. Didn’t see the chicks or eggs but were sure that she was protecting them. Lot’s of deer. Very tame except for the skittish youngsters. They know they have no worries from us. Some pretty Aspens here. First among equals in beauty. Surprised to see some scrubby desert like microclimates above 9000 feet. A real diversity of plant life, deep forest and the occasional moonscape. Bill thought he saw some beauty that equaled the Grand Canyon on a small scale. I’d agree. Noble Canyon had a compact version of an Anasazi cliff dwelling. Some terrific trail work along the way including diversionary channels for runoff that resemble trail junctions. I think I counted six deep canyons in a few days. 2000 feet descents in a mile or two with commensurate ups. Best to do them in the morning when it is cool. You just can’t schedule a hike like that. I had about 36 pounds to start with everything. Had a few nights, one in Grace Meadow, with lots of condensation. Dried off tent and bag at lunch. Never seen such moisture before. Nearly freezing in the morning. Bad camping spot.
Trails in meadows often turn into ruts. You can be walking 4 to 6 inches below the meadow floor. I trip and stumble and can’t figure what to do with my poles. Finally I shortened the poles to compensate for the depth. Started seeing cows. They must be grandfathered in because they tear up the ground and soil the creeks but this is real grass fed beef. Don’t know where you can get it but someday I’ll find it and give it a try. Saw a 15 person Sierra Club group. Probably more brains in one group than anybody on the whole section. I entertained them for about 10 minutes with jokes and questions. Sorry I wasn’t part of this group. They had a bear GORP attack the previous night but had enough food between them to go on. We never hung out food but sealed it in multiple bags and put it at our feet. First 15 mile day. Hey we’re in Volcanic areas now. The handbook says less granite and more Volcanic rock for the next 400 miles. Some amazing piles of rock as a result of eruptions along the way. The day before and after Sonora Pass was amazing. Incredible views, high altitude, dramatic sheer cliffs, narrow passes and big ups and downs; I’ll bet` we could see 200 miles. Coming down to Sonora Pass a heavily laden pair going up asked “do you have everything you need in there?” I said “looks like you have everything you need in your packs.” “Do you have a beer?” One said “if your name is Dana there is a beer down at the pass.” I said “My name is Dana!” Turns out Rachel Ginsburg put two bottles of Heineken at Sonora Pass for us. What a sweetheart. Met Angie the Forest Service Ranger from Utah on a busman’s holiday at the pass. She was in the area for a fire but things had calmed down and she was free to wander. “This is beautiful here.” We agreed. We went back above 10000 feet that night and camped at the highest point of the trip. Ran into a group of trail guerillas who only maintain the PCT. They were filthy young people with ecological degrees starting their life with a summer in the wilderness. We thanked them for their work. They ended their arduous day by hiking up a local peak. Saw some grouse the next day. Big bird! Good eating? Nobody on the trail today. Have seen 53 people so far. A fraction of the 600 last year. We bathe daily, wash our clothes, cook hot meals lunch and dinner. We’re passing a few roads now and saw 19 people, mostly day hikers near Highway 4. Only a couple of long distance hikers, two of which were recent graduates of “U Dub” or the University of Washington. I asked “what are you going to do now that you are grown up?” She said “I’m not grown up. Look at this pack. I am a Nomad now.” I woke up that night and saw the best firmament ever. It was glorious. Even with my worsening eyesight. We walked by the very windy “Nipple” on the next to the last day and passed the Lost Lakes before camping by the “Lakelets” below. I made a mistake and passed an easy water source. We were dry, windblown, and exhausted at the end of the day. Had a flyby by a flyboy in a jet and what a sound. Great lake where I washed on a submerged rock and filtered all the water we needed as a mea culpa. Got a signal and called my daughter and son. Wife was out but called me later. The last day we did a 20 mile or so to finish off. Saw two hikers, passed Carson Pass, fabulous views into Tahoe and the southern Reno valley and long beautiful meadows. The last hiker was a young lady in a two piece black athletic bikini miles from anywhere. I figure we deserved that. She said “You’re the only people I’ve seen all day.” I said “you’re the second person and best thing we’ve seen all day.” There was a huge, slow, rocky, descent in a canyon before we got to Highway 50 and a Ski resort. You needed to be a Billy Goat to move quickly. Deep forest and couple of miles to the shores of Echo Lake and my car. The worlds best trail store is at the boat rack. Packed with goodies, fresh vegetables and fruit and a place for a good burger. They guy who delivered the produce gave us a peach and some desserts, nice. Bill and I walked to the center of the dam at Echo Lake, high fived, and made a promise to come back next year for the next segment.
PCT hiking is running a marathon everyday for 10 days. Bill says it is half a marathon. Regardless we’re starting a business: Bill and Dana’s 10 day, 10 pound fat loss program: tent, backpack, sleeping bag and food extra. The adventure is not the view but the challenge. The view is spectacular however. You see beauty and places no one will every see. The scale of nature is moving. Wilderness means being virtually alone. A handful of people every few miles. California is big, really big. 30 million people but drive 30 miles from anywhere and be alone.

Article on my PCT talk from the San Diego Reader

2008-08-02T06:33:00.001-07:00

Hot, Miserable, Amazing
By Barbarella | Published Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008 San Diego Reader

“The first thing I learned was that the man who has water on the mountain is king,” says hiking enthusiast Dana Law. “Water is absolutely the most important thing you’ll have in Southern California, because this really is the land without water. When I saw my first mountain spring I was totally shocked. It’s the most amazing, unusual thing I’d ever seen.”
On Wednesday, February 13, Law will appear at the La Jolla/Riford Library to talk about his experience hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. “This is one of three national scenic trails; it encompasses the entire U.S. West Coast beginning right here in San Diego County at the border in Campo,” explains Law. “It’s a connection of mountains and desert roughly 2650 miles long, all the way to the Canadian border in Washington State.” Law, a self-employed fitness buff, has hiked 974 miles of the trail over the course of 22 separate journeys. He learned of the trail from another hiker in 2003 while on an 11-day, 140-mile “sea to sea” course from Torrey Pines to the Salton Sea.
Law experienced his first emergency on a hike in May 2004. “It was 80 degrees the day before and 80 degrees the day after, but it turned out to be 100 degrees on the day we left.” When the trio of men set out, they made a pact to speak up about any adverse condition or health problem. Several miles in, one man began to look sick. “He kept being a guy and saying, ‘I’m fine,’ but then he collapsed.” Law climbed to the top of the nearest peak and called 911. “He had to be airlifted with a helicopter. It turned out he had heat prostration. He was running on too little water.”
Law, who hikes Cowles Mountain twice a week with a 25-pound backpack to stay in shape, says he is “constantly morphing and tweaking techniques to survive.” In addition to finding the proper shoes (hiking boots are out, tennis shoes are in), Law thinks the most difficult hiking hurdle is the ongoing struggle to reduce the weight of his pack. “One of the first trips I took, my pack with water and food was about 45 pounds, which was much too much — I was totally wiped out after only a few days. In the Sierras I had a 38-pound pack with about seven days’ worth of food. An average pack these days shouldn’t be much higher than about 25 pounds.” New technology in hiking gear has helped. Law’s old pack weighed 4.5 pounds, but his new “ultralight” bag weighs only 2 pounds.
One danger for which Law has learned to prepare is hypothermia. “Staying dry is absolutely essential to your success and health and happiness. You don’t even have to be that cold — it could be 40 degrees and you might think that’s not freezing, but think of what your body temperature average is. If it’s 40 degrees and you’re wet and you start shaking, you could lose your life in the middle of nowhere.”
In Law’s experience, it’s heat that causes more problems than cold. On several occasions, he and his team realized that they had gone too far in hot weather. The worst of these may be the time when they covered 15 miles in one day across the Cajon Pass on the way to Las Vegas. “We went up 4000 feet in 15 miles, and it was incredibly hard. It was hot, it was miserable, it was the most challenging thing we’d ever done physically in our lives.” Of other hot-day treks, Law says, “I’ve had nausea and weakness. Sometimes I’ve collapsed at the end of the day and curled up, speechless in a ball for an hour.”
Oddly enough, at no time during any of his journeys has Law suffered a blister. He does not attribute this to his shoes (trail-running tennis shoes), but to the high state of physical conditioning he maintains. At 53, Law is the youngest of his hiking partners. Despite his conditioning and experience, he is not immune to making mistakes. While entering the southern Sierras, Law fell behind his friends and admitted he wasn’t feeling well. When they arrived at the nearest stopping point, Law passed out. “Twelve hours later, I woke up in the same position.” In this case, Law believes he had consumed too much water. “People get sick from drinking too much water. Remember the woman in that contest who died?” (In January 2007, a 28-year-old died after participating in a water-drinking contest on a radio station in Sacramento.)
Hiking enthusiasts love to trade information about their favorite gear, as evidenced on numerous online forums. Aside from his MP3 player, which Law says helps him get to sleep in his tent, the one piece of gear he treasures above all others is his bandanna. “You can filter water with it, keep your face covered, and wipe the sweat off.”
— Barbarella

Here is a detailed map of the Pacific Crest Trail.

2007-10-28T18:10:00.001-07:00

Pacific Crest Trail Map

PCT trip 22 August 5th through the 17th. 171 miles.

2007-09-06T11:08:00.000-07:00

Click on the links for photos and videos.

Our sections get farther and farther away. We have walked every step of the PCT consecutively north from Campo, Ca. It now means it really takes a whole day to get to the trailhead. In this case we had to drop off a car at Tuolumne Meadows, spend a night in the backpacker’s campground, and get a ride to Onion Valley near Independence to reenter the trail. There was a search on up in the Yosemite area for a lost hiker. The rangers didn’t have time to talk. Our driver was Rachel Ginsburg of Oakland. She was my “blind date” early this year when I picked her up at the San Diego for a ride to a PCT segment here in San Diego. I have a lot to do to make up for her help on this long section. Getting back to our latest section means walking over Kearsarge Pass, just west of Independence which itself is over 11000 feet. It wasn’t easy getting out last year and a bit harder getting in. I am in good shape but none of us could be prepared for the altitude. Ray Ellis got up there first after one of my water bottles sprung a leak and I fell back. I rearranged my pack and Rachel accompanied me for an hour. Paul Freiman went up before me but I caught up to him in a little while. He started feeling unwell quickly; something that would bother him for most of the trip. This is a dramatic spot, one of the great views of the Sierras. Once we joined up at the pass we descended past a section which had been recently rerouted and improved.

Our first night was spent at the northern junction above Charlotte Lake. I shoehorned my tent into a tight space and realized I should have placed us at the bigger junction. At my first dinner I found out I had forgotten my salmon. Fortunately between jerky and protein bars I was fine.

Our first true mountain pass the next morning was Glen Pass. At the time it seemed incredibly challenging but as the hike progressed it was remembered a merely as a good warm up. Most passes are bleak rocky ascents into a treeless world. Some like Selden Pass have a beautiful run up. Still they are an alien place. After Glen Pass we passed through Rae Lakes a fine area and crossed our first creek ford. In this case a lake outlet. We were reminded how difficult it must be for early or wet season hikers to cross these things. It is dangerous, time consuming and scary. For me it was sobering.

On day two we ran into a hiker looking for the local Forest Ranger. A diabetic man on Taboose Pass had collapsed and needed help. He said that two doctors were with him, which should be no surprise because of the talent, experience, and quality of the people out hiking. We saw a helicopter fly over later and found out the next day he was in the hospital and doing fine. Saw 103 people on the first full day and 28 women.

I bent one of my hiking poles going up Pinchot Pass which was a bitch with a dozen switchbacks up a nearly vertical rock slide of talus; like walking through steep gravel pit. Many are what I have deemed “Landslide Trails.” Steep rocky trails in a gravel pit. One earthquake and the pass would be blocked. Water is scarcer this year and we make sure to get plenty when we need it. We did Pinchot and Mather in one day. It was too big a chunk. We ran into a very clean hiker: shaved, sparkling, a real scout who said “one pass a day for me.” He was a bit smug. We passed one cool suspension bridge over I believe South Forks Woods Creek. Only one person at a time passes while it swings back and forth. I keep saying to myself “keep looking straight ahead”, spooky. I had blown out two of my three Platypus water bottles. Ray gave me a Nalgene bottle that I used for the rest of the trip. I have to buy new bottles for each trip or risk having none.

The Muir trail section of the PCT is a roller coaster, a pass, a deep valley, steep climbs and descents, a pass and so on. Most of them are beautiful but difficult. Descending in to Deer Meadow we saw patches of dead trees. This was sad because the flora in the Sierras is in such good shape. I thought it was the Bark Beetle but turned out it was fire damage. It appeared a lightening attack had centered itself there.

Paul Freiman decided to fall back and hike at a more comfortable pace to reduce his discomfort from the altitude. His plan was to exit earlier and meet us at the end. I got pretty sick of my protein bars by this time. We always find a food we can’t stand on a trip. I could never get enough beef jerky but later replaced my food bars with Snickers at Vermillion Valley Resort , heaven! We are averaging 11 hour days. Brief stops for water and a short lunch. Before Muir Pass we had the largest campsite, Big Pete Meadow. An early stop, good wash from the creek and lots of really nice people to talk to. There are lot’s of sharp interesting people on the trail. It is a self selected group of educated, aware, motivated people. One lady, a newbie, with a big dream who had struggled in that day over Bishop Pass asked “will Muir Pass be hard?” I told her I hadn’t been there but they were all hard. Very few minorities except for the Asian’s mostly of American extraction. Are white people in general the most likely to enjoy outdoor pursuits? Is this a cultural thing? Ran into to two African Americans both youths with scout groups. I have seen lots of people with fishing poles but only one person with fish.

We had a late camp one night at high altitude above the Palisades Lake near a feeder creek. It was near freezing in the morning. It is never easy to get out of the sleeping bag when there is a chill. Saw a naked man on a rock fresh from a bath, female co hiker looking on. We descended the Golden Staircase which is blasted out of the rock in a narrow canyon. The handbook says that it was the last section of the Muir trail to be finished and I can see why. We expected summer rains on this trip but it never happened. We had blue skies almost every day. Saw two other people with ULA Catalyst packs. Like me they had changed from the ultra light packs that just don’t carry enough weight. It is a lot more comfortable too.

I like the Sierras but don’t always see the beauty others find. Muir Pass was really a long hard slog but quite a pay off with the view. The Muir hut is one cool thing. Bigger than I imagined. Must have been a heck of a project. Saw Marmots and their babies.

We crossed a lot of rivers on this trip. Most of them were quite low. I can’t imagine trying to cross them in a normal season of snow and rain. It must be quite difficult for early season hikers. I had to take off my shoes once and those rocks hurt bare feet. Only reason I could imagine taking ugly Crocks. I have never had camp shoes.

It got a bit frosty on a couple of mornings. I have 20 degree down bag and I was toasty except for the coldest night. I felt the chill a little.

Ran into a guy who had named himself Wilderness Destroyer the day before when the Rangers asked him to move his tent farther away from the river and trail. He cussed a lot about the situation. Claims he dared the Rangers to give him a ticket. Don’t believe him. I think he is a coward and had the conversation in his tiny head. Ran into a nerd hiker who had just “bushwhacked cross-country.” I got the feeling he felt real winners had what it took to go cross-country. I’d like to try it sometime but not by myself.

Ran into our first Pack Train. There are hikers up here with small packs doing about 10 miles a day that are supported in every way by pack trains. Tents, food, fuel and anything else except the basics is carried for them. I wouldn’t do this plan but it still sounds like a sweet deal. Horses have a pretty good deal up here too. They can poop on the trail. Forgot the riders name but he had 8 horses and mules packed to the gills.

Near Selden Pass I tripped and fell flat on my face. Banged up my legs and right knee. It would be so easy to get hurt up here. I was carrying my poles while walking on a flat rocky trail and promised myself it wouldn’t happen again. Quite a scare but I was fine. You have to pay attention all the time. You can’t spend too much time sightseeing when you are walking. Selden had the best approach to a pass. Two wonderfully pretty lakes and the perfect forest. It reminded me a bit of some of the trees in the San Bernardino’s that all the same height with no messy forest floor; like a Christmas tree farm. This bit of Eden was enhanced by another beautiful pigtailed hiker who wanted to talk. I think these young women see me as a father figure. I can go with that. They all remind me of my daughter anyway.

My friend and former co hiker Bill Redman is a few days ahead of us on the trail. He has become my PR agent telling several groups we were behind him and describing us. Three groups of hikers recognized me from his description. I feel like a celebrity. I wear a bandana over my face when I hike to protect myself from the sun. I think that is what Bill has told them to look for. One lady who didn’t know me said “you look gangster” and another guy said “I thought I was going to be robbed.” I cover up completely when I hike. I wear long sleeves, long pants, gloves, big hat, sun block and the bandana. The sun is the devil to the skin. We are getting plenty of Vitamin D just being out there. Young hikers look awfully good but the older hikers with a lifetime of sun worship look like a wrinkled leather bags. Not a pretty picture.

Every time I unload my pack it looks like I getting ready for a yard sale. What a mess of bags and detritus. The contents are organized and essential but it doesn’t look like it.
My legs are really starting to ache at night. This was an eleven day trip but I could see a through hiker could never heal with one zero day. This is the hardest consistent physical effort I have ever done and that is saying a lot.

We got to Mono Creek and peeled off to Edison Lake for a ferry to Vermillion Valley Resort. The lake is very low. I heard it was 30 feet below normal. It is pretty surreal. You walk about a mile across mud flats to a place deep enough for the pick up. Three low life young people drinking beer arrived with the Ferry. 15 hikers filled up the ferry which is a euphemism. It is a flat pontoon boat. The pilot put his empty bottle of Stone Ale at his feet and lost control of it as it rolled about and he did foot ballet to keep it there. Most of us looked at each other in stunned silence. I suppose it is difficult to find good help in the middle of nowhere but this was the low end. The “Resort” was a scream. Like a trailer park after an earthquake. The food was great and the young losers that picked us up turned out to nice enough just lost early in life. We suspected the owner who was in town getting supplies lost control when he left the property; when the cats away the mice play. You do get a free tent cabin to sleep in the first night. The chef, waitress and store manager were fine people. After I went to sleep Ray sat at the campfire and watched a bear attack the camp looking for chow. They fired some sort of cherry bomb gun at it with mixed success. We had time to meet some cool people at VVR. One lady, an American living in Oman, we get our help as she comes into the dry Southland.

Going north on the trail means 90 percent of the hikers pass you quickly going the other way so having time to meet people is special. We ran into Paul Freiman getting on the “ferry” when we left. He is doing better. After getting back on the trail had a very stiff climb which ended with 53 switchbacks on the other side of the mountain. Hiking the Muir/PCT trail is a roller coaster. I pitied the people going up that side even though we had done the same in other places. Not long after we stopped for water and creature the size of a fox run by with a small squirrel in its mouth. It must have been his dinner. Saw several deer.

Silver Pass was a gentle climb and pretty one too. There is a notch at the top that turns out to be the pass. Bill Redman’s PR got me recognized by two hiking ladies my age near the top. This trail is becoming very dusty. One particular day I found I had a fine layer of dust on everything.

We had a scare the day before Reds Meadow. In the morning we were climbing up out of Tully Hole and I said to Ray “it is pretty hazy today.” Later it got worse and I smelled smoke. At Lake Virginia the sky was completely socked in. The first trail gossip we heard turned out to be correct. He said that a Ranger told him it was from the fires near Santa Barbara. For a few hours though we were trying to figure out how we would escape a Sierra Fire. This was a big day for us, 18.5 miles into Reds Meadow. The last 10 miles is pretty pleasant walking. It was good to have a hot meal and a free hot springs shower. The old building has no lights and I had to leave the door open a crack to wash up but it was wonderful. I met owner of the restaurant, store and stables: Bob Tanner. He has run the place for the last 47 years. He has had three strokes and moves at a snails pace with a cane but his mind is great. He doesn’t think that Ansel Adams deserved a forest. He says that he and his buddies did more for the Sierras’ by blocking the Trans Sierra Highway that was going to be built from the Owens Valley to Fresno in the 1960’s, very interesting guy.

Leaving Red’s the next day we walked past the Devil’s Postpile. Having seen it as a child in the nineteen sixties it does, as one older hiker said to me, “look smaller now.” It still is a remarkable geologic site. After Agnew Meadow there is a steep climb into higher altitude but virtually treeless. There is a lot of water here. This mountain must be a big sponge. The view of the Minarets and Shadow Lake is breathtaking. The skies were still hazy from the fire. I will find a picture of the view we had and post it here. My photo wouldn’t have done it justice. As I mentioned before I quickly get my fill of the beauty of nature after hiking for days but this transcended it. The Muir Trail which splits from the PCT after Red’s rejoins it in this section.

We camped at Badger Lake off trail after we met the Badger Lake Chamber of Commerce. This was a family that was camping there and insisted we meet them later. We went to the lake and kept hearing them say “over here, over here” and then never saw them again. Except for a few fisherman it was empty. My feet were in good shape. Haven’t had a blister in all these miles but my legs started to ache at night in the tent. Thank goodness for ibuprofen. Did I mention catch and release fishing is silly. You should eat them unless they are too small. Not that I am fishing. What a lousy hobby if you can’t eat the result.

We came down into Thousand Island Lakes the next morning and I missed a turn and wasted an hour touring the shoreline. When we finally got out of there I tried not to turn back and look at it. I was afraid I’d turn into dressing.

Our last pass was Donahue and it looked like a piece of cake on paper but it is a pile of rocks on both sides. It is a real leg beater. I got really tired going up to the summit. I didn’t want to slow down because some clouds were coming in and I didn’t want to get stuck up there in a storm. I waited for Ray and said “let’s get the hell off this pass before something happens.” He said “I don’t care if it rains.” I replied “who cares about rain.” Descending from Donahue is rougher than ascending. Both sides are very rocky but the north side is bone shaking and knee jarring. Just when you can’t take it anymore it smoothes out to flat Lyell Canyon the best way to finish this section. We spent the night at the trail for Vogelsang High Sierra Camp. I thought I saw a Bigfoot but it turned out to be a teenager. The last day was very chilly till the sun came into the canyon and then an easy short walk to Tuolumne Meadows. We ran into Paul Freiman early just as he said and to our surprise Bill Redman who was hanging around for a permit to go. We had a tough but fulfilling hike. As soon as I was done I started thinking about the next segment north to Lake Tahoe. Often I can’t wait for a hike to end but then….

I was reading about poetry in a history of Japan. The poet-scholar Tsurayuki said “In a world full of things man strives to find words to express the impression left on his heart by sight and sound.” The impression I have is that the Sierras are dramatic, stark, beautiful and inhospitable right below the surface. We only have a small window in which we can pass fairly safely. The biggest impression for me was the achievement of finishing this section. Personal accomplishment moves me more than nature. I could never be a poet.

Pacific Crest Trail trip 21 – August 18th through August 25th, 2006. 87 Miles.

2006-09-24T11:16:00.000-07:00

See the photos here:

Pacific Crest Trail Hike 21

Aug 18, 2006 - 197 Photos

This was the longest trip yet. We spent seven days on the trail and took a ton of food. As always it took a bit of work dropping off a vehicle at the end and getting back to Kennedy Meadows. We hired Gary from Ridgecrest to take us to Kennedy. It took about 10 hours to pull it off and then we walked 11 miles. The weather was nice for the whole trip. I don't think it got much above 80 degrees. We passed and saw Beck and Monache Meadows. There was a controlled burn in this area that made the view a little murky. There never was a real clear day because of other fires. We are all carrying about 40lbs with food and bear canisters. It is the law up here and three extra pounds. I immediately felt the extra weight. I decided to bring my Mariposa Pack and it is overloaded. I took a chance with a light pack that turned out well. There is a lot of water up here. I think the farthest distance between water sources is seven miles and that is a miracle after 700 miles in Southern California. This is still cow country. We saw a big black object near the South Kern. Our eyes are old enough that for a while we thought it was a bear. Only a bovine. At the South Kern River we ran into a Sierra Club group that had bagged Olancha Peak. A guy came up to us in the dark and recommended we camp on the other side of the river. He thought we were part of his group and frankly he was a little nosy. After he found out we weren't with him he kept giving us advice. He turned me off. We were at 8000 or so feet and the stars were awesome. We got frost the next morning and our water bladders were frozen. It was a reminder to sleep with your water bottles. You can't filter water either with frozen tubes. Our first leg took us a long way up Cow Canyon. We filtered along the way: 14 hard miles today. We did see a lot of skunk cabbage. It was a bit hard to follow the trail in places because the whole area is so recently wet that every bush and plant is growing like a weed. There are still some wildflowers at higher altitudes which is a pleasure. We crossed Gomez Meadow on a causeway (a word I like to use) that keeps your feet out of the swampy meadow. A sheepherder carved a man smoking a pipe on a tree here about 100 years ago. I like ancient graffiti. We took a long to time to go the eight miles to pass the turn off for Olancha Peak and then down into Death Canyon. Our camp location that night was sensibly set by Bill before a 2000 foot climb that next day. I have developed a rash again on my lower back from the heavy pack. I think it is from the pack. I put duct tape on it and wrapped my fleece around my waist to stop its progress. The big climb on the 20th gave us a great view of Owens Valley to the east and the White Mountains. Perhaps we shall investigate them some day. We ran into Dave Drew recently retired from the Alaska DOT doing a section. Most of the hiking today followed a ridge that had several places to go off trail for water. I watched them all closely so we could get water at the last possible one, Dutch Meadow, to reduce water weight and then I missed it. We had to walk to Corpsman Creek to get water and we were thrilled when we saw it. We passed Trail Pass Trail. We needed a good camping spot and we found it at the edge of Poison Meadow which had a beautiful view east and west here.

On the 21st after Cottonwood Pass we passed Chicken Spring Lake. This beautiful lake with surrounding dramatic rocks called cirques marked the beginning of uniquely Sierran views. We had a big up after this and walked through a nasty section of rocks and sand. It slows you down and beats up your feet. There were some great views of mountains to the west. We passed a young couple. The women was pregnant and seemed to be far along. It couldn't be too long until a hiker baby was born. Another hiker, Bill, was starting his JMT trek from Cottonwood Pass. He was way overloaded and later we shared our water so he could survive to the next source. This day was the shortest. We slowly descended into Rock Creek, one beautiful place. We were alone when we arrived but soon there were 20 other hikers in the campground, a Sierra Club group, some older Boy Scouts with dads and a few strays. Bill, Ray and I were able to wash off very well in the river and even do some laundry. This has to be one of the more idyllic places we have ever been. One guy in the Sierra group figured out Bill's age and accomplishments and went on and on about how amazing he was. It made his day or week. It was nice to have some company to talk to. Saw our first Ranger who wanted to see our permits and bear canister. I showed her everything she needed while washing Ray's hair. She looked at the permit and said, "Where's Manning?" I explained it was the Canadian border. We attained Guyot Peak by 9:00AM the morning of the 22nd on the way to Crabtree Meadow. 3800 foot gain today which is the biggest of the hike. At 1:00PM today we met the John Muir Trail. The PCT and JMT join each other for 176 miles. It came after Crabtree Meadow which has a terrific view of the mountains to the east including Whitney. We had a big tiring climb up to the Bighorn Plateau that we were sure was badly routed. I renamed it "What's the Point" but it turned out to be the best way. Most of all our hiking has been at ten or eleven thousand feet, often above the tree line. The plateau has a 360 view of every mountain range within 50 miles. I saw my first Marmot. Our camp was at the crossing of Tyndale Creek which appears to run through blocks of rock stacked like Legos. I found a personal pool protected from the rushing water. It was wonderful. I almost got clean. We put our food in a Bear Box for the first time, a bear canister in a bear box, funny.

The next day we went over Forrester Pass after passing through a land of mystery and beauty. It was a something out of Tolkien. We passed creeks, ponds, grass, views of Whitney and patches of snow, some of which was watermelon snow, pink from algae. It reminded me of a Chinese contemplative garden. Now we have seen what they try to recreate in an urban setting. We met a very attractive lady, a Veterinarian from Canada, on the way up, obviously a veteran hiker. We took her picture and Bill and I were smitten. The trail over Forester Pass is a remarkable achievement. In places it seems to be carved out of the rock. Huge boulders everywhere. A nineteen year old died in 1930 when it was built and there is a plaque commemorating his death. We all felt very strong going up to the highest point on the PCT. There were at least eight hikers coming up the other way when we arrived. This turned into a flood of people we passed in the next few hours. Most of them loaded to the gills. I was worried that we had too much weight but almost everyone else had to be carrying ten to twenty pounds more. I felt sorry for them. I passed through a strip of snow covering the trail and the guys decided to walk around it on the talus. Bill said "you seem to be doing well" and then I fell on my butt. Soft landing and I was fine. Pride goeth
before the snow fall. There are lots of lakes here and many have a beaten path to them. I am sure the angling is good because we can see the fish hitting the surface. We descended into Vidette Meadows in a lovely treed area with Bubb's Creek nearby. We passed a lot of small streams and near the end of the meadow there were about six in a row which must be a record. We took a long break near the end of the day for a meal, washing and rest before climbing steeply out of the canyon. We saw a batch of lightly loaded hikers on the way up. There was a large pack train near the bottom and we deduced that they had been dropped off near the top to get the hiking experience. This climb was hard. We arrived about 7:00PM for our final camp near the junction of Kearsarge Pass and Charlotte Lake trails. We started the walk over Kearsarge early the next morning. It was Ray's 61st birthday. There are several lakes near and below the trail on both sides. Several feeder streams cross the trail. We never had to take off our shoes to ford a stream on this trip. The way out of a Sierra hike is a familiar one now with a sharp climb to a place in a rock wall and then down. There was good stream of hikers passing us on the way down. The first had a fishing pole and a Labrador. A Lab seems like the perfect trail dog and happy to be hiking. It is a long way down to the parking lot. We arrived about 11:00AM. I saw 154 hikers on this trip. The Sierras are pristine. People seem to be taking careful care in their travels. This was tough hiking. The views are becoming more beautiful and dramatic. It don't think, with snow pack, that we will be able to continue our journey for at least 10 or 11 months but we hope to get in some kind of trip in the meantime.

Pacific Crest Trail Hike 20

2006-06-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

Walker Pass to Kennedy Meadows – June 5th – 8th, 2006 51.6 miles.

See the pictures here
Listen to the Podcast here
powered by ODEO

On June 5th we left Walker Pass Trailhead after 2:00PM. These hikes are getting more difficult to get to. We had Dollar rent-a-car pick us up in Kennedy Meadows and drop us off. It was 91 degrees. A few minutes into the walk a fighter jet flew west through the canyon below us. It was very quiet. At first Ray thought it was a big rig. In five miles we got a big view of Inyokern, China Lake and Ridgecrest and plenty of budding Pinyon Trees. We still haven't eaten from them yet. There is a memorial plaque here to Jim Jenkins who helped the PCT a lot before he left this world early at the age of 28. Lots of footsteps from the through hikers here. This is the season. I have mixed feelings about the through hikers. I want to see them and talk to them but we have the trail to ourselves, at least so far, for most of the year. We met 10 hikers in 50 miles. I can't imagine why I think this might be important. It was a joy to see all 10 of them.

We got in 8 miles that first day and climbed several thousand feet to the Owens and Jenkins Mountains saddle. Its big shadow is projected on the Mojave Desert at dusk. Met the Mad Scientists, Amy and Mike. She is a botanist; he is a wildlife expert. They have done California before and this time they are using the trip to gather information for their graduate thesis on determining what kind of wildlife exists based on the vegetation in an area. They both attend UC Davis. Great couple. We slept well and had good views east and west.

The next day we got our water at the seasonal creek before Joshua Springs spur trail (the water source at Joshua Springs has traces of uranium in it, and though not serious is worth missing) before going down Spanish Needle Creek. We saw Nolina Plants (Parry's Nolina) which are related to the Yucca but with an incredible lantern of small yellow blossoms that are firm like a leaf. At a Spanish Needle Creek tributary we had lunch in cool shade and filled up on water for our steepest climb of the trip. Along the way, we spooked two families of Mountain Quail with cute tiny chicks running around. The moms aren't as nervous around us when they have kids and spend their time rounding them up. It is funny to watch. Fortunately out first two
afternoons were cloudy and cool. Trainman had just gone through this section with his hiking partner a few days before and had a tougher time of it, I suppose because of the heat. The saddle above Spanish Needle near Lamont Peak provided a nice view and break. Soon we got another great view of the Mojave. The trail is in good shape here. We arrived tired after a 20 mile day. We bumped into Tadpole at a creek before Chimney Creek Camp and were barely civil. We apologized later. We walked up Canebrake road to the camp and met Moondancer and his son Prickly Pear at the campground. This kid is precocious and quite a climber. Talking to Moondancer later, he says, "Are your Dana Law?" Turns out he had called me several months
earlier about information on a previous section. He is a professor at Boise State University. Birds of a feather hike together! Thirty million people in California but if you have a niche interest you will probably meet someone who shares it. Three other hikers came into camp, two young men and a lady. Her name was Twisted Sister. You gotta love trail names. The three left early the next morning and we didn't see them again. A good camp and pleasant dinner, though my alcohol stove is getting sooty. I think my fuel has been contaminated.

On June 7th, we had big climb but over many miles. We saw a lone Sequoia far south of its usual habitat. Passed Fox Mill Springs and entered into the 14 mile burned section. Did some magic tricks for Prickly Pear on the trail. He has money in his ears! Crossed the highest point on the trip, over 8000 feet. Not much to look at because of the burn but got a beautiful view of the Dome Lands National Park. It looks like a climber's paradise. Also a great view again of the snow-capped Sierras. Bill could pick out Mount Langley which hides Mount Whitney nearby. We had a long descent into Woodpecker Meadow crossing many diorite rivers of rock down to Rockhouse
Basin. Long two-hour lunch with hot food under a giant burned out tree. Good stream here. I washed just about everything. We arrived at the first true river in 700 miles, the Kern. Even though Whitewater River was big last year because of the record rains, The Kern is a true river. For some reason I thought we had to cross the thing but that was not the case. Ray said, "I am not crossing any rivers!" and I felt the same. We won't have that luxury further up the Sierras. We camped with Sonny and Tadpole at Pine Creek before it runs into the Kern River. They had seen a big bear on the trail that day. Tadpole is as nice as she can be, and Sonny is the same with the addition that he is a total gear head and loves learning about every aspect of hiking. I wish when I was that age I asked as many questions. He was picking up a ULA pack in Kennedy Meadows that we didn't get to see. I gave him my pack of salmon I wouldn't have been able to eat, and he filtered my water at the creek. We had some thunder and a bit of rain that made us put our rainflys on but they came off for a night of a nearly-full moon and bright stars. It cooled off and chilled our water for the last day's segment.

June 8th: We walked about seven miles into Kennedy Meadows, a pretty area. The Kennedy Store looks just as a mountain store should. We had drinks and snacks with Tadpole and Sonny. We ran into the famous Lawn Ornament (famous to me for her trail name). The trail ahead is the most challenging because we will have to make much longer sections during a limited time of the year. We will go again for as long as we can in August. Hiking is outdoor therapy.

Listen to the Podcast of the most recent segment here.

2006-05-19T15:37:00.000-07:00

Pacific Crest Trail Hike 19 – Highway 58 Tehachapi Pass to Highway 178 at Walker Pass. 84 miles May 7th to May 12th 2006

2006-05-17T17:45:00.000-07:00

This remarkably diverse section goes through mountains and deserts. After the traditional musical cars we slept in windy wash next to Highway 58 the night of May 7th and it was noisy, dirty and difficult to sleep. The walk up from Tehachapi Pass is steep and I got dehydrated and bonked at the end of about 18 miles; don’t know why. I thought I drank enough water. Saw 3 plastic PCT signs knocked over. Lots of Pinyon Pines which I found out always exist below the pine forests in dryer areas. Too bad pine nuts are out of season. Begin to see some wildflowers beginning with lupine. We scared off a large animal at Golden Oak Spring which is running well. We couldn’t see what it was because of the trees but it was big. Lots of cow pies in this section. This windy mix of public and private land means windmills for about 25 miles. Our first camp was at a very nice saddle. I slept for 9 hours! The body is a walking biology lab and some days the chemistry is out of balance.

On May 9th we left the camp under west facing windmills and walked to Robin Bird Spring. Keystone Kid and Balls from Portland joined us. They started the PCT early and skipped Section C because of the snow. Very nice young men and Balls is my son’s age. We saw a lot of cow pies in this area but no cows until we saw a giant black steer that ran away from us. Bill has cached water at two places for this trip but we had to depend on this and the last spring for the first 36 miles of the trip. Ray lost a walking stick; a nice one that had been made by a friend. We made a very nice camp above Cottonwood Creek and its tributary. Very quiet no wind. Balls and the Keystone kid passed by as we prepared our dinner. We never saw them again.

May 10th brought beautiful healthy pine forests along Landers Creek with an abandoned miners sluice box at waters edge. Crossed Piute Mountain road and found a trail journal with an invite for the house down the road about half a mile and history of this area once a town site called Claraville. Saw Velvet Ants, Grey Rats with a white butt (Bill calls them Bobtail Rats) and something that looks like babies breath and smells just as great. Got to Kelso Valley road after a big downward slope that took us completely out of the forest to a desert floor where the only shade is Joshua Trees. When we came near the road miraculously Mary Barcik super trail angel drove by. I hailed her and she said, “finally some through hikers.” We aren’t through hikers but we were thrilled to see her too. She said Robin Bird Pass road was repaired thanks to the efforts of Warner Springs Monty and some PCT hikers haranguing the proper officials and she had cached water at this important spot. She took Ray and my home numbers to call our wives as there is no signal in any part of this area. The walking is pretty easy afterwards but becomes a hot bitch on the way up to Desert Divide. We passed it about 1.6 miles to a great camp overlooking the desert. Through hikers who come through this area later must really suffer from the heat. We camped at the top of a wide desert valley to the east. We heard the braying of wild mules left over from the days of the prospectors. Hope they don’t come up here and try to mate.

May 11th gave us an early start out of lower elevations. It got hot yesterday which is what killed us. I have come up with a definition of PCT hiking especially in this area. It is a forced march with breaks. We have to cover so many miles to accomplish our goal that we must good use of daylight. I don’t want to walk at night even though we encountered our first full moon in three years of segment hiking. We saw an old rusty bus in a ravine and then as we descended farther found the hoof prints of the mules we heard the night before and then a carpet of flowers on the way to Bird Spring Pass. They smell great but they make Ray sneeze. We saw a rattler at the pass and curiously a Jackrabbit rolling in the dust like a happy dog. He didn’t seem too worried about us. Mary has a big cache here. Bill had left 4 gallons for us and we drank or packed it all out of there. There is no spring at Bird Spring Pass. Four well equipped motorcyclists went by on Hondas while we enjoyed our lunch break. Skinner Mountain is the big jump after the pass and the highest point on the trip at 6900 feet. We ascended 1100 feet in 1.1 mile fully loaded with water. Bill started to get sick. We still can’t figure out why because he fully hydrated at the bottom. Maybe he drank too much but we don’t know for sure. We got back into the Pinyon Pines on the north side of Skinner. I finally realized that it isn’t just altitude that brings you back into the forests but the side of the mountain. It can be barren desert at altitude on one side and a lush forest on the other. Bill couldn’t eat or drink at our next break. His stomach had taken over his body.
There are some killer views of the snow capped Sierra from here; beautiful. This has been first really clear day on the trip. Bill slowed downed and finally stopped. I went ahead to scout a camp and got my first cell phone signal when I recorded a journal note on my phone. We finally camped in a craggily haunted forest after Yellow Jacket spring. Bill lay down and slowly recovered but wasn’t able to eat or drink until the next morning.

May 12th we passed a big white steer in burn area that was just a nervous as the first one. There are a lot of blow downs here and it is bleak because of the burn. Didn’t see the road to McIvers Spring but saw a seasonal stream crossing near there. It is mostly flat here before descending to Walker Pass. We have our best view yet of the Sierras. The forest reappeared and smelled great along with the wild flowers. We met two older men coming up from Walker Pass campground one of which was the father of a PCTA board member named Corsine-Dennis. That is only four hikers in 84 miles. It was a joy to be near the end. We have never walked farther. A great guy named James who worked at China Lake and had done some hiking took us all the way into Ridgecrest. I apologized for us smelling up the truck and he said it was payback for all the times he had done the same to others. A hard but wonderful section of the trail.

Podcast of our segment hikes

2006-05-04T17:32:00.000-07:00

Click below to listen to our journal of the most recent segment.

Tehachapi Pass Windfarms

2006-03-22T10:35:00.000-08:00

PCT 18 - Section E – Highway 138 to Highway 58 - 48 miles.

2006-03-14T10:38:00.000-08:00

Check out the photos here http://flickr.com/photos/mindreader/

We crossed the desert in the winter! What a difference compared to our early days leaving the border. We spent the night before the trip in White's Motel in Mojave. White’s Motel has seen better days. Unless you are enthralled by the opportunity to hear trains all night as they stop to take a dinner break at the McDonald's next door, you’d be better off spending the night in your own sleeping bag.

The first day takes you on dirt roads mostly following the Los Angeles aqueduct. This is the one that "stole" water from the Owens Valley to feed the speedy growth of Los Angeles in the early 1900's. It is about 16 miles of flat walking all the way to Cottonwood Bridge. You pass through Joshua tree forests that look like Christmas tree farms. We were passed several times by languid aqueduct security in an SUV. The water is off right now and a work crew unknowingly provided a port-a-potty for us along the way. I got a hot spot on my right foot about 12 miles into the trip and cured it with duct tape; never bothered me again!

There are some terrific PCT signs here, they are heavy iron, maybe the best since Campo, and it helps keep the hiker from taking one of the many trails that cross it. The spooky thing was we started to hear gunshots, and not just single shot but automatic fire. I have fired a lot of rounds in my life but I think they fired as many in that afternoon as I have in all my days. We never saw them and fortunately we slowly moved away from the sound. We had water cached by Bill just past Cottonwood Creek and the trough, which was dry. Two of the four gallons had tipped over and run out. We suspect that they freeze and fall over easily. It was the first time this had happened. Fortunately two gallons was plenty. We decided to put in a couple of extra miles to make the next day easier. Unfortunately it got harder and harder to find a flat place to camp. We found one in a draw near the base of the mountain. I am getting better and better at eyeballing a flat spot but it was hard to avoid the cow pies in this area. Bill and I cooked our dinner in the biting wind while Ray got right into his tent, warmed up, and had a cold dinner.

The next morning I woke up to frost on the inside of my canopy. It was 28 degrees. That was cool, literally. This whole section is usually windy and hot, so our winter trip, though sometimes brisk, was a real gift. We saw a red tailed hawk or chicken hawk; a good looking bird. I had put my camera in my sleeping bag to warm it up and left it there by mistake. Bill took pictures that day. The climb up to the Tehachapi’s is not particularly steep but it is over 6200 feet where we crossed over. We made one wrong turn and wasted 40 minutes and some energy going the wrong way. We had a short snow flurry and passed through some pinyon pines. I can't wait to try the nuts when they are in season. There are a mess of motorcycle trails here; a group of bikers stopped to talk and promised to stay off the PCT as much as possible, which is not easy. Tylerhorse Canyon had water but Gamble was dry. There is a stiff series of switchback here. We crossed over the top in pleasant trees and views of the Antelope Valley. The north side of the mountain has a nice secluded ridge of cabins and more motorcycle trails. We paid close attention and had to reroute twice to get back on the PCT. The snow from the last storm ran about two to four inches in places. Our trail runners stayed dry. We saw cute little bunny and deer tracks. It was mighty cool. I need winter gloves for this but the rest of me was warm and comfy.

The trail goes down, down, down past the first wind farm above Oak Creek where we camped for the night. It was plenty chilly again so we all jumped in our tents for an early night and a cold dinner. Better to eat it in a warm sleeping bag where I found my camera. This camp is right by Tehachapi-Willow Springs Road, which we crossed in the morning to go over rolling hills filled with wind farms. There are old school windmills here with their new modern giants next to them. It wasn't too windy this time but this is the place to catch the power. The trail goes gently up and finally descends steeply to Highway 58 with a great view of the Southern Sierras. We have made it to the Tierra Del Fuego tip of the mountains ahead. Near the Highway, Ishmael from Tehachapi Taxi picked us up for the trip to Mojave. This wasn't too difficult a hike - the next trip is 84 miles.

Neenach and the Tehachapis from Liebre Mountain

2006-01-29T16:43:00.000-08:00

PCT Trip 17 Aqua Dulce, Ca to Highway 138 at Neenach, Ca January 22nd to 25th 2006.

2006-01-29T15:53:00.000-08:00

This was almost 62 miles. We picked up Captain Bivy (Paul Freiman) at Highway 138 and dropped him off in the dark at Elizabeth Canyon to complete a section for himself. It wasn’t until we got there that we saw what a tough climb he had ahead. We were fortunate to be able to stay with the Saufley’s at Hiker Heaven in Agua Dulce, CA, the night before the hike. They have a trailer behind the house and it was heated! They are the best PCT Angels and wonderful people.

We managed about four hours of sleep before the first day but I never felt tired. You follow the road out of town for a mile or so before you hit the dirt again. What looks like a junk yard has the fuselage of a large commercial aircraft in it. It was a very windy day and as we gained a view of the lovely sequestered Annan Ranch, we were almost blown off our feet. There is a large exposed vein of quartz along the trail and scattered pieces all about as if someone had tried to blow it out of the ground. The mountain here is called Sierra Pelona. It is better looking than most mountains, and though it is high the trail is an easy grade. It was plenty windy on top so we didn’t dawdle long.

We passed some French day-hikers on the way down and took our lunch in a quiet spot soon after. Ray took a quick nap which he does so easily. I’m jealous anyway. We got to Bouquet Canyon Road, the source of the day-hikers, crossed the street, and started another trek up the hill there. Within a mile and a quarter we saw two small streams running well. It appears, though there have been some recent rains, that last year’s massive downpours have kept a lot of streams and springs going into the new season. Our day ended at 4:30PM with about 18 miles traveled. We worry about finding camping spots in this chaparral cloaked area, but were surprised to find the Anderson’s Oasis water cache before road 6N09 to be the perfect spot. They hollowed out an area under a large Manzanita, put in lawn chairs, a pink flamingo and a hanging skeleton – I guess for a Halloween theme. It fit two of our tents, and Bill put his in a big spot on the trail. We cooked our new trail food: Tortellini with dried tomatoes. It was terrific! It got to 36 degrees that night, but we were warm and comfortable in our bags.

The chaparral here is boring and unattractive. This is a devilish section in the late spring and summer. We weren’t consuming a lot of water but it is critical later in the year. For the first time on the PCT, I wore my wind stopper jacket all day. The trail after Bouquet Canyon Road is in poor shape. It needs maintenance. We saw the first evidence of motorcycles using the trail. They had ripped up the tread in many places where the ground was soft and muddy. It creates erosion zones, is bad for the trail and just plain illegal. I believe about 70% of the trail has been used by them between Agua Dulce and Highway 138. We hate the results of what they are doing. Bill said if he lived closer to this section he would come out on the weekend with a lawn chair and a camera and get them in trouble.

There are remnants of wild cucumber on the entire section. This is one strange looking plant. Passing San Francisquito Canyon, another big climb, we saw two big water caches that had been brought up from the dirt road below. Elizabeth Canyon was running well. This is a tough section because you are going up and down crossing canyons. We are strong hikers but it wasn’t easy. We saw some great views of the eastern Antelope Valley. The desert and surrounding mountains are beautiful. We have a great view of the sections ahead. At length, we ran into some conifers, big cone spruce, and soon after saw some black oaks with their acorns making the ground slippery. The big surprise, though it shouldn’t have been, was snow. It started to cover the ground in patches and eventually nearly covered it completely. We passed a beautiful stand of trees that looked good for camping but was too windy. Our camp for the night was built by a scout troop in the nineties and, though chilly, had a very soft duff so we slept very well. We didn’t cook hot breakfast because of the shortness of the days – wanting to make the most of daylight. We are all coffee drinkers and Ray brought some magic beans from his wife Kay (at least that is what I named them) – chocolate covered coffee beans, to feed our need at the beginning of the day.

The next morning we passed a stream that had a cap of ice over the small waterfall, and
a small pond behind it that would have been the perfect ice rink for fairies. You can see the Pacific here; I don’t remember ever seeing it since the start at Campo. The coulter pines are a beautiful species with a large cone. They are found here healthy and beautiful. Also sprinkled about are incense cedars which they make pencils from. Most of the hills are chaparral and brush so these trees are a gift to walk through.

We always carry a ton of information on these trips. I have step-by-step directions, Bill has a GPS and maps, and we always study the section before we go. Still sometimes we get confused. There is an intersection of the old and new PCT on Liebre Mountain. The sign is broken and we stood around, walked around, and consulted our notes and the stars before taking off the right way. Our friend. Paul Freiman, 2 days ahead of us, wasn’t so lucky. He went 2 miles down the wrong way before stopping for the night and doubling back in the morning.
On the way down to Pine Canyon Road, we made our last camp under a massive oak in a grass covered saddle sprinkled with ice. No wind and soft undergrowth. I spent my 12 hours in my tent sleeping or listening to Stephen King’s Carrie. The whole area has clumps of Miner’s Lettuce which I ate a handful of. Bill and I promised ourselves to make a salad the next time we run into it.

We left our long underwear on for the last cool segment but we had to strip them off at Pine Canyon Road. On the way down we saw maybe two tons of Mistletoe hanging everywhere, 4 or 5 washouts of the trail in the creeks, the remains of last year’s fire, a bizarre post conflagration plant and, surprisingly, fruit trees. We couldn’t figure out which kind from the mummified fruit on the ground, but it was remarkable at that altitude. Miner’s Lettuce everywhere, and beautiful views of the valley below including a giant crop circle of green grass or alfalfa. The trail is in rough condition here. We descended slowly, sure in our minds this would be an easy day. At Pine Canyon there is a river, and we passed a bucolic vernal pond with ducks. A road worker grading the sides of the road from a washout said he would like to hike, too, but hadn’t been in that kind of shape since the army. We assured him he could do it. He also said that deer sightings in the area, once common, were way down due to increasing populations of mountain lions: something I confirmed later. Comforting…

Then we crossed the street into No Man’s Land. The map showed a gentle slope down to our terminus of about 7 miles, but it turned into a roller coaster through Hell’s Half Acre. A topographic map shows altitude in 40 foot contours so it looked like we would go down about 1000 feet until the end, but in reality it goes up and down meaninglessly and strenuously through hills until the last 500 or so yards. To top it off the whole section is burned out. Very few pleasant sights except the occasional glimpse of the valley ahead and the shock of a gingerbread mansion dream house on a hill nearby. The PCT handbook says this torturous section was designed by lawyers from the Tejon Ranch who kept the PCT skirting their land 20 years ago. They have agreed to reroute the trail through their property sometime in the future, which will take it out of the desert and properly through the mountains as God intended.

We found a dead ostrich tied to a fence not long before highway 138. Our first impression was of an animal owner’s cruelty though we will never know. We were pretty tired and achy at the end, but took the time to visit Bob at Hikertown across the street to get permission to park our car there for our next segment. We walked a mile east to Gil’s Country Store in Neenach to wait for Jeff Saufley for our ride back to Agua Dulce. Those 3 hours will live in our memories forever. We met, saw and listened to the strange and interesting characters of a small town.

Gil of course doesn’t sell stuff on credit anymore. His wife runs the store now because he is laid up in the trailer out back: He shattered his leg while trying to collect on a debt. Patty, who has worked at the store for 6 years through 3 owners, was there, and the guy who built the store in ’75 and ran it for 15 years stopped by to say, “Hi.” Another “Gil”, Gilbert, a big hulk of a man from Lebec “since 48”, who knew everything about the surrounding area, played with the giant five month old dog who tried to eat our food. A cowboy, who stopped by to pick up hay, went in and out of the place 5 times, walking like he spent most of his time on a horse. At least five school buses dropped off kids from area schools while parents picked them up. Several people got the new lecture about no credit, and one slightly brain damaged young man asked for a case of beer that he would pay for on Thursday, while his Methamphetamine-high friend waited in the truck for him. I asked Patty what percentage of their sales was alcohol and cigarettes and she said, “All of it.” It was almost more interesting than the last 4 days.

We have traveled 519 miles on the trail and it has been challenging and fun. The next segment crosses 16 miles of desert before going up into the Tehachapi’s. See you soon.

Cloudburst Summit to Aqua Dulce- October 2nd through 5th, 2005.

2005-11-30T18:31:00.000-08:00

Bill Redman and I parked at the Saufley’s in Agua Dulce and got a ride up to the trailhead from Salt and Pepper. They had just finished the PCT in sections after four years! The have the perfect van for section hiking. It was the size of an airport van all fitted out for getting where you need to be to hike. We got there late and took off to Camp Glenwood in the dark with fresh peaches. It was an easy cool downhill. During the night I reached out to replace a tent peg that the wind blew out and tore a muscle in my side. It hurt like hell at times. The next day paralleled above SR-2 for a while with some shear cliffs and good views. The pines are healthy here and the forest looks very good. Sulfur Spring is verdant and we saw remnants of some sort of pagan ritual with sand made into a symbol and burnt incense sticks placed like birthday candles. We should have taken a picture. We passed a good spring after Sulfur springs running across the trail. It may have been Fountainhead Spring. The days were cool and the trail good. There has been some work done along this stretch. Some glimpses of the Mojave here as well. We ran into some ripe Blueberries. We’ll they aren’t Blueberries but they were blue, had a pit like an apricot, and were tasty. I ate about 20 and didn’t die. The trail down to Mill Creek Ranger Station is steep and long. We saw a bunch of footprints near days end and found that a bunch of firefighters from Oregon had used it to stay in shape. They had come down for the Topanga Fire as a reserve force. They have to carry a lot more weight than a hiker. It was hard finding a good spot near the Station for camp. The next day we crossed the Angeles Forest Highway to follow the crest west. We spent a surprising amount of time in the shade this day. We also ran into regular carpets of fallen acorns. We both fell several times on nature’s seasonal slip and slide. We passed below the prison camp on the north side and had great views of the mountains we must pass through. I can’t believe we have come so far. It was unimaginable just a few years ago. Once again we were paralleling a road, rarely used, for car campers, bicyclists and prisoners. Apparently the road was for a Nike Missle base, now defunct, near the end. I planted too much water for this trip so it was a pleasure to leave some for future hikers. Several times in the San Bernardino’s and Angeles Crest we walk along the crest of a long mountain and then finally leave it steeply at the end. Such was the case after Messenger Flats Campground when we zoomed down to North Fork Saddle Station a weird outpost which according to its caretaker of seven years, Todd, was the most isolated in the Angeles Crest: so isolated that there are no paved roads and no permanent Fire Fighters. It is a staging area for troubled times in the mountains. Todd has a dog, TV and the Internet and he likes it. He watches the place and paints the signs we see all over the mountains. It was very windy and he gave us permission to camp on the least windy side of the saddle. We cooked on a bare spot in the horse corrals. There is a special kind of weed here that stuck to everything. The next morning we got an early start down the edge of a long canyon. This was another day of being able to see the end of the hike from the beginning. There was a good flow of water in Mattox Canyon. We ran into a Skydiving instructor on his day off. He said he would pass us again on his way back. We thought that was pretty impossible until he did it. At Soledad Canyon road they are building a nice new trail building and parking. We crossed the road and thought we would find the trailer park we had read about for a snack but found we had gone to far north so we moved on. We found the monument to the completion of the PCT in 1993 vandalized by some idiot: a rare occurrence on the trail but still an annoyance. There are some strange giant monoliths of mud here that you pass around. It was a blustery day and we gripped the earth tenaciously to keep from being blown about. After a long hilly walk we passed under Highway 14. This long tunnel is not for the claustrophobic. We though it was really cool though. I took us on a wrong turn after the tunnel that took us 15 minutes to figure out. We entered the Vasquez Rocks Park and Bill said he recognized a place where the Lone Ranger and Tonto camped. I found the place underwhelming though the signature rocks near the parking area are remarkable. We exited the park, walked the road into Aqua Dulce, and had a great meal before walking over to the Saufley’s. We turned a 4 day trip into a 3 and I was wiped out. It took me days to recover. It still was a great trip. We start again in January.
I have had a terrible time adding pictures to this Blog. Please go here for photos from this trip

Mt. Baden Powell

2005-11-07T20:55:00.000-08:00

Trail West

2005-11-07T20:36:00.000-08:00

Near Cajon Pass

2005-11-07T20:33:00.000-08:00

2005-11-07T18:24:00.000-08:00

Islip Saddle

Pacific Crest Trail Trip 15 August 21 to 24^th - 2005- Silverwood Lake to Cloudburst Summit – 68 miles

This was a beautiful and exciting section. We camped late on the 20^th next to a creek bed at Silverwood Recreation Area. Visitors nearby, but unseen, whupped it up until about 3:00AM. Males in the group successfully got coyotes to sing along with them. Bizarre! Leaving camp the next morning we quickly passed through creek bottoms so washed out from the season's rains that we lost and found the trail several times. Bill's GPS shows where the next waypoint is but you can't always get to one directly. We gained Cleghorn Ridge via a detour because of damaged trail. Every once in a while the gentle grade of the PCT turns very steep. This time I tried walking backwards. I had cached water at three points on this trip and it turned out to be a perfect balance between natural sources and dry places. This first day took us along Highway 138 and a view of a train transfer station of some sort to the north. These giant trains all seem to be a mile long. I imagine they carry everything from all over the world. The trail here snakes steeply down sharp ridges to Highway 15. Crowder Canyon Creek was running well and you can see that it may have been the original road over the pass, maybe a toll road. We surprised people on the river panning for gold uncovered by the season's rains. They didn't realize that the trail passed just above their heads. At the frontage road we went to McDonalds for lunch! It felt like cheating. Ray relaxed in the culvert under the freeway and we brought him a burger and soda with plenty of ice. Passing to the other side is a zigzag through high bushes and creeks. We got to a big train curve under the Mormon Rocks and were confused by a detour around damaged trail for about 15 minutes. We passed around Ralston Peak to a great camp in Swartout Canyon. The next day we found a hikers cache on the west side of the canyon toward Lytle Creek Ridge. Day two was the hardest day with a gain of 6000 feet and a loss of 1400! My water cache was farther than Bill thought because I wasn't clear about it. It was about half way to Guffy Campground which worked well. We saw a lot of buckwheat and dreamed about fresh pancakes on the trail. We got a view up higher of Telescope Peak to the north though the Mojave was pretty murky. This is a long section and Guffy Campground is the top of a mountain! We saw some deer. We had to go downhill to find the spring. Bill's waypoint for it was right but the map was wrong. I found it 300 yards downhill from camp on the other side of a chasm. It was surrounded by a tropical jungle and I nearly burst my heart from my chest bringing back the bucket and Ray's cook pot filled with water. The boy's met me half way up and we traded off to the top. Bill said I looked like he felt before his heart attack. Comforting. He asked me to rest a bit and I did. I got an incredible desire for meat and wolfed down several pieces of jerky. Weird. Bill didn't feel like eating. We went to sleep in wind swept tents. Day three brought us down to Highway 2 and Mount Baden Powell. It got steep and rocky down to the top of the Wrightwood ski areas. A rocky trail gets uncomfortable fast. Both of the ski runs have massive reservoirs to make snow with on the top. It was strange to walk across dry ski slopes. We made it to the highway and basically followed it on the north side to Grassy Hollow campground. We tanked up, used the facilities and rested here. We passed two trail runners, one of them large, red, and without a tee shirt, a scary sight. There is a huge downhill to the road at the base of Baden Powell. We mused that it would be easier to build bridges straight across in places but we won't hold our breath. I had cached water here and was so concerned that we would need all we could carry I lugged along another half gallon in a jug. I encouraged the boys to fill all their containers even though Lamel Spring lay only few miles further. We wouldn't have another chance for water until the next day. Baden Powell is a big, steep four mile zigzag to the top. It felt surprisingly easy. Lamel Spring was running well. The top of Baden Powell is a new climate with a rare gnarled but beautiful tree called the Limber Pine. There is a large monument to Baden Powell, the Boy Scout founder, on the top. Getting the concrete and steel up there for it was an act of faith. We met a local hiking expert named John who gave us a good camp spot a mile or so past the peak and pointed out a B-24 crash on a far mountain that occurred after WW11. It was a dream camp in a draw beneath Mount Burnham facing the Mojave. We got a great view of Edwards Air Force Base where the shuttle recently landed. The most surprising thing was all the lights at night from a rapidly urbanized desert. I slept well. We passed our first hiker, Dale, in 35 miles with two backpacking Saluki dogs. There is a lot of downhill again along ridges here but it went quickly to Little Jimmy Spring where we filled up from our waterless camp. Someone has built a nice place here to rest and hydrate. We passed Windy Gap which though windy was the least windy of the many gaps we passed and descended to Islip Saddle which is unique in look with a wide table of brushy land between mountains. Passing a group of Senior Sierra Club Weekday hikers we crossed Highway 2 again. Trail mix sucks. Time and again on our trips we get disgusted with one of our trail foods and often it is trail mix. You want to avoid eating it and only do so for survival. Passing the Highway 2 to Mount Williamson to what the handbook calls a moderate ascent was a heart pounding bitch and we agreed if the author was there we would have strangled him. Ray fell sensibly behind while Bill and I forced ourselves up the grade and took a big break near the top. I grabbed a low hanging pine cone saying that in California the fruit is ripe for the picking and got sap all over my glove. Very soon the trail plunges back to the highway past a rock chasm Bill had to photograph and a parallel trail to Eagles Roost. We paused here and left a message for my daughter that we had decided to go to Cloudburst Summit. Going down an old jeep trail we entered Rattlesnake Canyon. Lot's of water here. We topped off at Little Rock Creek and moved on. We crossed good streams several times and entered Cooper Canyon which eventually goes up and around, way around, to Cloudburst Summit. It is very pretty down near the water. You could spend a week down here on vacation. Ray fell behind and made a wrong turn up a dirt road which fortuitously brought him right to the end of the trail, whew! Janessa was waiting for us with her laptop open working on Medical School Applications. This was a beautiful section of the PCT. Plenty of hard work and lots of great views.

Whitewater River to Highway 18 near Big Bear City - May 15 to 18th 2005

2005-05-25T16:30:00.000-07:00

This may be the hardest but most satisfying section so far. We walked farther, 46 miles, than before and covered dramatic territory. It was 100 degrees when Donna dropped us off just east of the Whitewater River. It was flowing almost as well as it had been a month before. Section hiking has its plus’s and minus’s. The minus in this case was a difficult crossing a mile up river to get to the PCT. It took us an hour and a half to do it. The riverbed is sand filled with millions of rounded stones. One of which, the size of a bowling ball, fell out of a wall I brushed against and nearly crushed my foot. It was an obstacle course. We met our first through hikers on west side of the river after removing our boots, putting on sandals, and fording it. It is scary because the current is so strong. Bill lost his only bandana in the river. I need to take two next time. Ray left one of his water bottles somewhere as well which affected how we tanked up along the way. One of the hikers had taken off his clothes and sat right down in a tributary to take a bath. A pair of hikers, one from Israel, sat in the meager shade of a bush for a hot meal. They were surprised to see us. Going north from this point is like crossing a swamp. The heavy rain has turned much of the trail into a river. Fortunately 4 X 4 posts give the general direction of the trail. One last ford back to the east of the Whitewater started our trip over to Mission Creek. Ray already felt sapped by the heat and we had 7 miles to go. It is quite a roller coaster in this area. I have noticed that many of heads of canyons hereabouts end in an earthen damn; appearing manmade by nature, like a spillway. The most dramatic is Coon Creek Jump-off on the second day. This area is still all desert and plenty hot. Some good views to the south though. The tip to Mission Creek took us a long time and we arrived near the river at 6:40 PM. Just enough time to pitch camp before dark. A hiker that looked like an adult boy scout passed through camp. We had seen him eating and bathing earlier covered in tattoos, a bit strange. The river was quite loud and I remarked to Bill that I hoped they turned it off so we could get some sleep. We ineffectually hung our food in low trees for the night after a very hearty dinner.

The next day was overcast most of the day but I sweat like crazy as it became muggy. Mission Creek goes up, up forever or about 12 miles which seemed like forever. No big ups or downs. Someone has put trees across all the crossings to keep you out of the water , there are over 27, which slowed us down considerably. Only Ray got wet. Our first goal was the South and Fork confluence of Mission Creek which was the longest five miles I have ever hiked. Lots of through hikers passed us and then we passed them when they stopped for a hot lunch. Several of the women (thirty percent of all hikers) were wearing gossamer wraparounds which reminded me of Gauguin’s Samoan women. A little like Hippies. One of them was using couscous an ingredient I will add it to my trail meals in the future. One subject of constant conversation on these trips in what we will eat; especially for lunch. Bill wants to get away from the bagel to the pita for a variety of fillings. I like that. I have added pink salmon in packets for dinner and it is a great success. It was a long day and the only person handling it well was Bill. I got really tired but kept trudging on. Most of this trip is treeless. We saw 8 horny toads, a hundred coal black lizards and two racers, one trying to kill a lizard, and the lizard got away. We stopped short of Mission Creek camp for dinner. The theory being that we could avoid bears if we cooked in another area than we slept. It is only a theory weakened by the fact that at rest we were surrounded by cooking hikers. This area takes you far away from civilization. Perhaps as far as we have been since northern San Diego. One of the hikers that passed us had a dog named Buddy. He wore booties covered in Duct Tape. The hiker had no walking sticks. When asked how it was to walk with out sticks he said, “I wouldn’t know I have never used them”, makes sense.

We were in the seasonal “herd” of through hikers here. Usually we are practically alone on our trips. It was a pleasure to meet so many birds of a feather: young and old sharing the same dream. Reaching the tree line is always a pleasure. It is prettier and cooler. There are some big grades here before camp. Ray fell behind but not too far. We left messages that he never saw but he caught up to us in camp quickly. We gave up trying to put up our food in the trees and put it in our tents as bait. It is very hard to tie a stone to a rock and throw it accurately. My rear tent pole snapped in half which makes for an ugly tent. There were many hikers there but we just said hi and went to bed. It got down to about 40 degrees and my new sleeping bag kept me warm.

We went the wrong way out of Mission Creek Camp for about a ¼ a mile along with a lady. Finally we went up and over a hill north of camp and found my water cache from last October still in good shape. We were full up so I left them by the trail. We ran into snow on the north side of the mountain. Mainly drifts of 10 to 100 feet covering the trail. It was pretty soft but we stayed in the footsteps of those ahead of us. One of the disks on my poles vanished recently so it was funny to see that pole plunging all the down into the snow and the other a few inches. We took a break with a pair of hikers we camped with later. Nice people. The women had been saved, she said, by the man she was with when she got a case of hypothermia on San Jacinto after a storm. She raved for hours while he warmed her up with hot liquids, good advice and conversation. Most of the trail here cuts through slopes of the many mountains it crosses. There are great views in all directions at different points. We saw Mount Baldy and Baden Powell. for the first time ahead to the west with It is a long way to Agua Dulce but we want to do it this year so we can hike the desert in the winter and miss winter in the mountains. Coon Creek Jump-off is a dramatic break between the alpine habitat and the desert below in North Fork Mission Creek. It has to be seen. There was a bathroom there at a still closed camp! After ascending another mountain we got a great view of the north side of Mount San Gorgonio. We all took pictures. I never thought I would see it this way. You go from trail to dirt road to trail in this area. We bumped into two lovely 25 year old recent college graduates from Canada who became our campmates later. They were fit and fast hikers. We saw the movie animal place along the way here. There was a Grizzly, brown bear and a white tiger that could be seen from the trail. The Canadian girls thought having them in captivity was just terrible. The place was a mess though. We had planned to camp at Onyx summit close to Highway 18 but that was a mistake. It was a waterless spot and we decided to pushed on to definite water at Arrastre Trail Camp. Even though there is record breaking water in the area we needed to make sure we had enough for the long stretches. I made us stop by a mountain rivulet that allowed us to make it easily to our night’s camp. There were about eight hikers in the camp when we arrived. It made for a great night of talk and sharing. I did a little impromptu show and Ray told many a story. I think all but one of the through hikers was in their twenties; all nice and interesting. The Canadian girls had nasty blisters but couldn’t have been less worried about them. One of the guys gave us a wonderful rundown of his favorite beers. I helped a few of them get a cell phone call out to loved ones. The next morning we left late after the others. We only had about 10 miles to go and relaxed a little. One guy who had arrived late said he was hiking with his retired dad “who is hiking like he is retired and is two days behind me but we will meet in Victorville.” The trail is basically north here and we followed an escarpment of alpine and desert habitat. We saw the Mojave Desert north of the San Bernardino’s for the first time. It is massive. It is amazing to think we will go a hundred miles or more west and still be in it when we leave the San Gabriel’s. There are good views of the lakes here and remarkably groves of Joshua Trees on the desert like hills. Also the Pinyon Pines are quite beautiful. We kept thinking we heard cars just ahead on Highway 18 at our terminus for about 2 hours. We decided we were delusional. We were all strong that day and our walk ended about 2 pm. We tried for a bit to see if the other hikers could get a ride then lit out for town on foot. We soon got picked up by a 60 something Norman Bates like character in a 73’ Jeep Wagon who we believe lived with his mother. We arrived unmolested in Big Bear City for the best meal so far at Stella’s. Good, cheap and filling. Check out the pictures here.

April 11, 2005 Interstate 10 to Whitewater River.

2005-04-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

Dana Law, Bill Redman and Ray Ellis
Our first trip of the season was a day hike of 9.1 miles on trail. Making it a day hike was an adventure. After the rainest season in memory we restarted our journey north. The trail appears and disappears in the wash. Look for the 4X4 posts. Stubb Canyon Creek actually had some water in it up near the now defunct Pink Motel. The new owner has put up a sign welcoming hikers to pass through their property. There is a good stream running in Cottonwood Canyon. We missed the trailside map mentioned in the handbook. We did see something we never would have thought of seeing, a tortoise! It was twelve inches long and crawling the PCT. I suppose it is a good trail for them as well. Though the trail is carpeted with growth in many places it is easy to distinguish. The meeting of Gold and Teutang Canyon is dramatic. It reminded me of Desert Divide; a sliver of a saddle between two distinct areas. Descending into Teutang we passed several yards of trail undermined by erosion in the first tributary. There was water running well in the next two streams coming into the canyon. We met an old man with a giant pack coming down into the canyon. He looked very tired. He had parked somewhere on the other side of Whitewater though it was never clear. The far side of Teutang is like a beautiful mountainside meadow. From here you can see precipitous animal trails on the southwest side. Descending to Whitewater River we were amazed to see the PCT tread north had become a stream. It looks like you’ll have to walk the shoulder until it dries up. Now the big adventure began. We had turned this into a day hike by parking Bill’s truck a mile downstream at the road crossing in Whitewater Canyon. There used to be a trail but a few hundred yards downstream the river has eroded it. We spent a great deal of time safely fording the river in a zigzag manner to get on the opposite side. It was a bit scary. Once across we were able to walk to the truck. Lee, Trout farm employee, stopped by to say his boss didn’t want people to park there. I said we had heard it was BLM land even though it is posted no trespassing. He really was nice though. Asked us about our trip and gave me permission to walk up the east side of Whitewater River to connect with the PCT for our next hike to Onyx Summit. Here are the pictures

Fuller Ridge Remote Campsite to Highway 10 October 5, 2004

2004-10-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

This section is 19.6 miles and nearly all downhill. As a matter of fact it goes from 7750 to 1360 feet above sea level. We passed the lowest point between this section and the Columbia Gorge on the Oregon Washington border. We camped the night before at the campsite after a 2 ½ hour ride with Ray’s son Jim up to the top. We are asking a lot of our relatives with this shuttling but it is working out. It was a warm and beautiful night. The sky was packed with stars. I slept badly. Don’t know why. The moon came up and I thought Ray had turned on his headlamp. We got off about 7:15 for our march to the bottom. The first thousand feet is covered with trees. We had fabulous views of the desert, mountains to the north, east and west. San Gorgonio looms bare and forbidding ahead. The next section is listed as difficult. We will take it slow and easy. There was a fire here in July and the vast majority of the hike down is scorched desert scrub. We have spent so much time walking in burn areas I think our little group should be called the “Fire Walkers.” The fire turned the mountain into a dirt slide. Most of the trail is covered with soft soil that has slipped over it and, in places, made it appear just like the rest of the slope. We saw lots of prints from deer. They seem to think staying on the trail is a good idea too. We believe we saw the paw prints of a mountain lion. Bill said that the way to tell the difference between those of a dog is that the nails don’t show and they didn’t. This section is a very long series of switchbacks through boulder strewn hills and canyons. Most people have bitched about the length of the trip. We decided in advance that “it is just the way it is” so we didn’t worry about it. It helps to have an attitude check to keep your spirits up. We passed though another giant boulder area. Some of them are 30 feet tall. We went under some giant rocks that looked like they were about to fall anytime. This was the perfect time for Ray to reminisce about a bridge project where several people were flattened under a boulder so large they didn’t bother to dig them out. They just put a memorial on top, lovely. Snow Creek Village is a small group of varied structures on the desert floor below and we finally saw it about 2:00PM. The end of the trail is in view most of the day. I suppose that is why people get tired of this section. We have hiked this distance before and have never seen the end until the last few minutes. The end of Snow Creek has a water district that serves Palm Springs. The miracle is that they have put a water fountain, with cold water; at the point the trail hits the desert floor. It was wonderful. We drank, filled out bottles, and poured it on our heads. The weather was nice on the way down but now it was hot. We had to walk across the desert floor and it was 95 degrees. It didn’t take long to drag us down. Of course we have already walked 16 plus miles. I have a tendency to keep on slogging regardless of how I feel. I should listen to my body. I noticed Bill flagging so we took a couple of breaks. The strange part about this area is a series of 4 X 4 posts marking the trail to keep the shifting sand from obscuring it. Closing in on the freeway I had spoken to my daughter Janessa and she was waiting on the other side. A fire broke out near the Exit and I called her and said “are you all right?” She said, “I’m fine, I see the fire. Should I go and look at it?” I said no and she said “you’re no fun.” It turned out a mobile home had gone up in flames but it gave us a start. We passed under the railroad and freeway and we were happy to finish, a great trip.

2004-08-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

Near Castle Rocks.

Fobes Saddle to Fuller Remote Campsite

2004-08-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

Fobes Saddle to Fuller Ridge Remote Campsite July 25th, 2004

The first morning, we didn’t start at the Fobes Saddle spur trail till after eight and got to the PCT at the Saddle just after nine. The early starts are getting harder the farther north we go. We found a six gallon cache here courtesy of Bill’s Trail Kitchen. The trail gets steep immediately. We passed Spitler peak on the way to Apache peak.

Bill stopped to fix a hot spot on his foot. I have never had a problem with my New Balance trail runners, but they slip too easily. I have fallen for the ultra light mantra about using these shoes instead of boots. I think without hiking poles I would have hurt myself. I have a new pair, and if they don’t improve my stability I am looking for another shoe.

It was already about 85 degrees here with a fair wind. Very few wildflowers at this time of year, but we did see some Red Penstemon, Indian Paintbrush, and a very cool plant with a red cone and purple flowers. When the pictures come back we have to identify it.

We lunched at about 1:00 after Apache peak, and were already wiped out. Ray said, “When I feel like this I am ready to stop.” I got a headache from the altitude but Advil, food, and a break made me feel like a new man. You can see the Coachella Valley all along this part of the trail.

Near Antsell Rock, we ran into a shirtless man with a British accent walking the other direction who said he was from the Zen Mountain Center. We don’t know where he entered the trail. We ran into gnats that flew around our faces like a mask of bugs. I inhaled one in my nose and it came out my mouth. Ray ate one and said, “Good protein!” The trail is carved out of solid rock in many places here and must have been a Herculean task to build. This section is dangerous in the winter with snow. We are glad to be walking it in dry conditions. Red Tahquitz Peak is literally red, and we had to round it on the east side to enter the forest beyond.

The wilderness up here is a patchwork of National Forest and Mount San Jacinto State Park. We entered the Eden that is the top of Mount San Jacinto. It looks like a punchbowl surrounded by peaks. At first glance you might think it is a dormant volcano. It is filled with trees, and has a big green meadow, Skunk Cabbage Meadow, near the bottom northeast side. Unfortunately up here the bark beetle infestation is in full force, and a good twenty percent of the trees are dead or dying. Only several years of average or better rainfall will solve the problem. It is still quite beautiful.

The grade went down into the valley and it was a welcome breather. Our permit was for Strawberry Junction Campground, and it was still 7 miles away. Just before the trail meets a 1/3 mile cutoff to water in Tahquitz Meadow, we came across good flowing Tahquitz Creek. This stream, which surprised us, came from Tahquitz Peak above, and since all the snow is gone Bill and Ray surmised that it originated from ground water. It was a lot of water. We filtered about 10 liters of good, cold water between us. We decided any pauper can have water down the mountain, but on the mountain the man with water is King! I drank six liters today! We saw a mule deer and heard some doves. We were exhausted and no where near our goal.

We arrived at Saddle Junction to see a very tired man about 30 years old sitting on a tree stump. “I used to hike all the time, and this is first time I’ve been out in two years,” he said. Apparently, the 2-1/2 mile Devil’s Slide Trail had been more than enough for him. We finally decided to camp north of Saddle Junction on a sandy area overlooking Idyllwild and Hemet beyond. We had covered nine miles. It was impossible to get to Strawberry Junction, where we had arranged for the camping permit, from Fobes Saddle in a day of hiking, but that was the only permit area available to us. We felt bad about it, but it was getting dark. We all agreed to tell the truth if we ran into a Ranger. We didn’t have a choice. I understand why they restrict camping: People have damaged the area in the past. We treaded lightly. I was stunned to realize that I had left my new stove at home. Ray shared his cooking gear with me, and I enjoyed Red Beans and Rice. I added tuna to both our dishes. Bill had lent me a tent because my Tarptent had not arrived in time. Unfortunately, he brought the wrong poles, but my hiking poles crossed and adjusted did the trick, and I had a tent. It was a warm night, and with a half-moon everything was quite clear.

We heard some people whooping as they descending the trail to Humber Park. It became obvious we were probably the only people on the whole mountain; a strange but powerful feeling, especially with millions below in our view. I did not fall asleep till 1:00AM, but lay there for nine hours. I don’t know why; perhaps I was too tired. I heard Ray rustling at 5:30 and woke up. Bill had blisters on both heels. He treated them and we were on our way by 7:00AM. We climbed another 900 feet in the next few miles. We were over 9000 feet, a record so far. It was cooler than the day before. It took my body a while to wake up.

Strawberry Cienega was a revelation. It was really a seep. It takes only a little water to change the flora dramatically. All the plants are different and lush for over a hundred feet on each side, with Ferns, Bracken and Skunk Cabbage (which Bill says works well as toilet paper, although I’ll take his word for it). As usual, Bill took a lot of great pictures. We got to Strawberry Junction and stopped for a snack. There are some giant boulders beyond here with large, pock-marked faces. People have decorated the holes with pine cones. Bill said he had learned that these “soft spots” form when different kinds of molten rocks come together in a lava flow, and later erode more quickly leaving the pocks. We shall call them “Devil’s Marbles”. We saw and smelled some beautiful Wild Azaleas. We soon crossed a creek. It wasn’t much, but we could dip Ray’s cook pot in to fill his bucket for filtering. We loaded up.

We had much more shade today and the walk was easier. After we took the Fuller Ridge turn-off, we came across a whopper of a creek. It turns out this was the north fork of the San Jacinto River and boy was it running well! We didn’t need water ,but we marveled at it for a few minutes. Fuller Ridge, like the San Felipe Hill before it, has made us nervous. We thought it was sun baked; lacking shade. That is not true. It is well shaded, but it is perilous at times. It is mostly rock, and during the winter I am sure it is dangerous. I slid about some and found the trail hard to follow at times for the lack of soil. A little snow and you could get lost. The grade was mostly downhill, but the steep incline up to Castle Rocks is short but hard. We could see the San Jacinto Peak from here, and also the burned trail area down to Highway 10. It is really something and worth the walk. We met our third and final person on the way to Fuller Ridge Remote Campsite. He was sunburned, without a hat, and carrying a backpack with the tag still on it. His name was Gerald, and he seemed a bit addled. He was heading for an overnight up the trail. I realized he was mumbling something about us not having a ride at the campsite, and this being a bit late in the season for through hikers. Actually I think he was fine but I was confused. We found his motorcycle at the campsite. Past the campground we passed Black Mountain Truck Trail, and found the barricaded final section to Highway 10. We will go as soon as it opens. We walked down to Black Mountain Campground and were picked up by my daughter, Janessa, and her friend Christie soon after. A great, hard and beautiful trip.

2004-08-01T07:43:00.000-07:00

Pacific Crest Trail hewn from rock.

2004-08-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

Wild Azaleas

2004-08-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

Where we came from

2004-08-01T07:25:00.002-07:00

Mount San Jacinto from the north

2004-08-01T07:25:00.001-07:00

Mount San Jacinto ahead

2004-08-01T07:25:00.000-07:00

Gorgonio Pass

2004-08-01T07:24:00.000-07:00

Devils Marbles

2004-08-01T07:22:00.002-07:00

Saddle Junction Camp

2004-08-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

Raw Beauty

2004-06-07T21:12:00.000-07:00

Saddle north of Desert Divide May 25, 2004

2004-06-07T21:05:00.000-07:00

Rock west of Penrod Creek

2004-06-03T08:57:00.000-07:00

We have passed through our first county and look at the sign!

2004-06-01T22:11:00.000-07:00

Horny Toad "hiding" from us.

2004-06-01T22:08:00.000-07:00

Camp below Combs Mountain in the fire zone.

2004-05-31T13:02:00.000-07:00

Highway 74 to Fobes Saddle - May 25, 2004
Jim Garrish, an acquaintance of Ray Ellis, joined us today. He was a good companion. Parking the pickup vehicle took a little off roading so we got off late. This segment is the first in the San Jacinto Wilderness, about 16 miles. It was pretty and varied. There were no big inclines but a gentle slope most of the way. The trail runs near and crosses Penrod creek on towards the Desert Divide. That is literally what it is; a ridge separating the mountains and the Coachella Valley to the east. We had a good view of Indio, Palm Desert and the Little San Bernardino Mountains. The Pacific Crest Trail lived up to its name again. The trail runs north along this ridge with a great view almost everywhere. Little patches of blackened pines started to appear. I had read that a fire burned here 25 years ago but the only obvious damage is to the conifers. One of the saddles was a beautiful meadow. Like a football field with a mountain view. I saw another Velvet Ant. This amazing bug (really a flightless female wasp ) is quite pretty. We passed Pyramid Peak and it lived up to its name, quite geometric. We saw four deer. We crossed Little Desert peak and the vegetation became quite sparse. Most of the area is covered with chaparral but finally we got into some nice groups of trees. We were well over 6000 feet in altitude. There are many springs in striking distance of the trail. With a little effort water is available. Our next segment is 44 miles and water is the big issue. Signs that say “Trail” made me say “isn’t that a little obvious” but Ray reminded me that they are helpful when there is snow up there. I righted one that was knocked over. There are some pretty lakes to the west in the valleys. One small, bright blue one, is near Morris Road and the other farther west is Lake Hemet which is quite large. Palm View Peak brings the trail over 7000 feet and all of us noticed some breathlessness that can only be attributed to altitude. This area opens up into wide plateaus of meadows and trees. Nice camping spots but windy. Northeast of here we could see our truck quite close below but the trail must take a big switchback to descend to meet Fobes Saddle on the eastern side. . This must be the deepest saddle on the trail so far. We lost more than a thousand feet. I was worried the Fobes Saddle trail would be hard to find but it is very well marked. The dramatic incline across the saddle to Spitler Peak looks like a serious mountain. We will have to crank up our workout. A great day.

Warner Springs to Highway 74 April 26 to April 28th, 2004
This was our longest hike to date. The segment is a little over 42 miles. We cached 7 gallons of water at two locations. It wasn’t enough as you shall see. Bill Redman and I had ticked off the elbow between Highway 79 SW and 79 NW the previous Monday. It is a beautiful two mile section with rolling hills, meadows and at the north end a deserted, overgrown, oak covered private campground with space for RV’s and clean stocked port a potties! We saw miner’s lettuce in the shade which is the only edible thing I know about on the PCT. The trail passes under the NW 79 and into Agua Caliente Creek. A little water turned into a good stream in a few miles where met some young ladies coming back from an overnight in the canyon. The trail is good but overgrown in places. A steady climb brought us to an overlook of most of Warner Springs and Ward Canyon to the west. Soon we were in the burn area. Sadly the few conifer trees that dot the charred chaparral are gone for good. We passed our first through hiker Cecily P. from Michigan. She was moving slowly and struggling on a grade. We asked her if she needed anything. She said she was fine and would learn later how fine she was. We set a big goal for the first day. I wanted to get to our cache at Chihuahua Road and maybe to Combs Peak. It was all burnt and the dust sandblasted our legs. Gaiters don’t work to well with this type of soil. We saw and photographed a gopher snake and some horny toads. It was murky day so the view wasn’t too hot. Frankly it isn’t very pretty out there. There are some signs of spring and beautiful pink flowers on the beaver tail cactus where the fire hasn’t done them in. There are a lot of weeds in the burn areas much more than in the unaffected parts. When there is no chaparral weeds appear to have no known predators. I would like to know the reason for this. We had a long slog and made it to our cache of 4 gallons for the three of us. The big cache of maybe 50 gallons is about half gone. Kudos to Jack’s Painting Crew of Escondido for the support. I took his card. There must be something that needs painting. After a break we moved on to Combs peak for our camp. It is a good grade up there but less than two miles. The good camping area is on a shelf east of the peak. It has a good view east of Terwilliger and Anza below and our next goal Mount San Jacinto. Today’s mileage 17.5. Ray Ellis our other hiker (AT 96) was hurting. Some days we feel it more. We got off by 7:30 the next morning but not before Cecily from Wisconsin came ambling by. She said Hi and took a water break while we chatted. We started to be impressed by her. Her actions spoke louder than her words. We passed her soon as we took the long descent east of Terwilliger Valley. We finally passed out of the burn zone. The big moment for Bill Redman and I was seeing the tiny wooden “County Line” marker. We had walked every step from the Mexican border and passed our first small goal. It got hot. April 27 was the freak hot day. It got up to 95 by time we got to Tule Canyon Creek Trail. The PCT has less signage here. It is marked as the California Riding and Hiking Trail. We took a break under some Manzanita and soon heard a voice. Dusan from Chicago in his late 20’s, strapping and swift. He found out about the PCT two months ago and decided to do it. A substitute teacher fit but with no technical clothing except the de rigueur New Balance and an old heavy pack. We talked a bit and expected to be passed by him soon. He took a sensible midday nap. We arrived in Nance Canyon about 3:00PM and called it a day. We met a shy couple there from Colorado resting under a tarp and reading the Pacific Crest Trial book. Everybody on the trail has the book or a portion of it. They were pushing on to Table Top/ Terwilliger Road after the heat of the day. We took the big sandbar on the south side of the dry creek for a campsite. It was hot and windless. Gill, 67, from Victoria B.C. walked by. I said hello and he asked “why would anybody live out here?” I tried to explain but gave up. I couldn’t think of a reason. Soon after Cecily P. from Michigan plodded by. “I want to get to the top tonight.” I was beginning to believe everything she said. Silently I gave her the trail name “tortoise.” I set up my tent, a Six Moon Designs I am borrowing from Glen Van Peski (check out his website), and left the front net open. When I crawled inside later there were at least a hundred flies, mosquitoes, bees and tiny things buzzing around inside the back end. I crawled in on my back and killed them one by one with toilet paper. Ray Ellis just laid out his mat and bag and took a nap. It was so hot that day that we were cooking dinner at 4:00PM! I got up later to do you know what and heard a big crunch in the brush. Bill gave me his headlamp so the giant creature could see me better. There was lots of noise through the night including some cute squeaking. We had decided on an early start. I woke up at 3:50AM to Ray saying “are you awake.” I woke up and he went to sleep again. We got off by 6:10AM. It could have been hot again and we were low on water. Water is the most precious thing on the trail especially here in Southern California. We got out of Nance canyon easily. We got to Hiker’s Oasis and were thrilled to see a huge bookshelf of water. We ran into Damien a divorce attorney from Hayward. He was headed to I-10 this year and returning to the San Gabriel’s the next. He said he wanted to quit every day from the border but he was better now. He also said the Cicely P. had left an hour before. Not a big surprise. We crossed the Table Mountain and descended into Alkali Wash. It is a mini Hauser Canyon in looks but much easier to pass through. The following trail on the narrow edge of the Horse Canyon is remarkable. The slip fault shows the result of portions of the mountains slipping off into the canyon in the last ten thousand years. We followed a gentle grade on the south side of Lookout Mountain to a low gap and relieving view of Highway 74 and the San Jacinto’s ahead. We just passed Cecily P. before Highway 74 but I am sure she would have beaten us to Canada by a month. We found out she was an AT veteran (2000). It was a great trip. I can’t wait for the walk to Highway 10.

Scissors Crossing to Warner Springs January 22nd to January 24th.

Our party included Bill Redman, Ray Ellis (AT 98) and me, Dana Law. The weather was terrible but we took one step at a time. It wasn’t raining when we got to Scissors Crossing. We spent the night to get an early start. We were off by 7:20AM. Slow walk up Grapevine Mountain with heavy packs. There are some pretty cacti and cool Juniper trees on the way up. We found a rain induced rockslide about a mile along with minor damage to the trail. Vulcan Mountain to the west was snow capped with a heavy cloud cover. A light shower kept us out of our rain gear. I had packed 2 ½ gallons of water in preparation for the “dry” San Felipe Hills and probably in the first time in years it was unnecessary. Ran into Jeremiah from Tennessee, “doing the bottom half” who had passed through snow in the Laguna’s. “I filled up my cookware with rain overnight on Granite Mountain”. We finally needed our raingear late in the afternoon and then camped at 4100 feet overlooking the San Felipe valley in a big wind. It was a poor camp but we were spent. Military helicopters passed north through the valley at 2000 feet, maybe lower. It was 37 degrees overnight. Our party got off at about 7:15AM with a quick trip into the clouds and through the “Gap” that we didn’t see but felt as the trail descended. This is the burn area and there isn’t much left. We made an early arrival into Barrel Springs about 10:30AM. There has been quite a bit of trail work on the last mile or two of the trail. The water trough is full and running. We crossed S-22 after an early lunch and headed across the beautiful meadows. Saw cow pies but no cows. The trail is distinct here and picturesque. It was cold and blustery but no rain today. San Ysidro creek is running but easy to cross. Walked to Canada Verde. The creek here is running well and is lined with beautiful oaks. We ended our hike at the Warner Springs Fire Station which has a patio, chairs, water and log book just for PCT hikers! The last eight miles of this trip was a pleasure after the dreaded “Hills.” We can’t wait to head to Highway 74.

Pedro Fages Monument to Scissors Crossing January 12th, 2004.Day 6 We had a big break in our hike because Bill Redman had a heart attack. He had surgery to implant a stent in the afflicted artery and we took four months off for important recovery. We started at the monument so we could park our cars after picking up our terminus driver at Scissors. This spur is about one mile southwest from the PCT. Joyce, Lou and Ray Ellis joined us for 7:00AM start. It was 39 degrees. My new Land’s End Marinac wind stopping fleece jacket kept me very warm but my face and ears stung. It quickly warmed up at the escarpment over looking Oriflamme canyon and Granite Mountain. We took a group shot and went down the jarring rutted decent to Chariot Canyon Wash. There was evidence of a huge amount of runoff from the recent rain but no running water only wet sand. The trail goes up the hill and turns left along Chariot Mountain to the Rodriquez Canyon. We could see an airstrip in the desert floor to the southeast that I learned later was a private strip called Rancho Vallecitos. Rodriquez Canyon is a pleasant area between two mountains. When we hike we see places where people could live a secret life and rarely be seen by outsiders. Cut off from the rest of the world. The view here is quite nice and we had an early lunch with a view of Banner Grade and Valle de San Felipe. Lou found a rock which I have that is imbedded with black tourmaline. He has quite a knowledge of plants and rocks. We passed some old mines as we entered the fringes of Granite Mountain. The mountain is quite steep in places and I watched my step. There was some damage to the trail from runoff and dirt slides and we had to mountain goat a little. There are plenty of rocks to slip on as well. Joyce who is terrific shape twisted her ankle a little and suffered from hot spots. Lou brought some moleskin and cut some for her relief. I have added it to my hiking list. Bill took a fall too and it looked scary but wasn’t. I didn’t fall but slid about a half dozen times like a drunken sailor. The trail goes around the north side of Granite Mountain for a long way. The guide book says that a direct route wasn’t possible because of property rights. When it is hot it must be hell here. We saw more and more succulents such as Beaver Tail cactus, Teddy Bear Cholla and Agaves. We saw and photographed what may have been a mortar (Metate) that the Indians ground Agave in past centuries. We imagined a person sitting, grinding with a protective view of the valley below. Lou pointed out a Juniper Bush which I have seen but had no name for. We stopped on a rocky outcropping to take a long break. The next segments along San Felipe Hills are clearly in view. Water will be the big challenge for the two days necessary to reach S-22 at Barrel Springs. Ray has been on all of this section before and it helped to have his knowledge. He is a quiet giant in my view. Humble but very accomplished. Bill has plotted all of our waypoints for this trip and they were spot on. He is going to teach me the Topo program we follow and print maps from. We took a sharp right at base of Granite Mountain and went along a fence line to S-2 and then down it nearly to the crossing. Bill, Ray and I jumped over a running San Felipe Creek successfully but I got wet when I went back to fetch my sunglasses. We were a bit stiff and tired but all in all a great day.

September 5, 2003 Day 5. I decided to do this last small segment (about 5 miles) with Bill Redman because it would make the trip to Scissors Crossing more manageable. Bill thought we should do a turn around and just park at Lucky 5 Gate. It was a pleasant morning. San Diego was burning up but the mountains were delightful. This is not an alpine area. More of it is open, rocky and burned. Still it has its own beauty. Once again the Anza Borrego opens up to the east and today it was quite clear with the Salton Sea visible in the distance. The trail is open, clear and serpentine here. There are many signs of flooding in the remarkably short washes. It is a reminder of how quickly these things can fill up with water. Because of the burns the rock outcroppings become more visible. One of them looks as if some mason erected a wall for no reason. I have seen this before on the way to Hellhole canyon and isn’t nature a wonder. We ran into a rattler. I think this is our 3rd we have seen and the fourth we have heard. They like the trail as much as we do. We woke up the last one but this one was wide awake. It is the one dangers of hiking that bothers me a lot. I suppose we are more in danger of breaking a leg but the thing about snakes is that they are easy to miss until you are right on them. I don’t want to hike alone for this reason. The trail follows State One for quite a while and veers off to continue on the escarpment to meet the Mason Truck Trail. We lunched on the concrete water tank overlooking the descent into Rodriquez Canyon, around Granite Mountain and into Scissors Crossing. We will be going early in October or as soon as the desert cools off. Maybe you can join us.

Burnt Rancheria to Lucky 5 Ranch August 15th, 2003

We were very worried that if we didn’t get an early start we would suffer greatly from the heat. It has been 100 degrees here in El Cajon for over a week. Kristin decided not to go because of the worry that she would “melt.” It turns out that this walk was in the coolest part of the county. It got in the low eighties but the first third of the trip was a cool overcast day with a little mugginess. It was good to be back on the trail. We did 17 miles more or less and most of it on the Laguna Escarpment overlooking the Anza Borrego. The desert air was pretty murky. The beginning of the trip is pines and oaks. These areas are peaceful and pleasant. I took some of those ubiquitous pictures of glades that always intrigue me. Soon we are in the brush that is so common in San Diego. It was surprising to still see some flowers at this late date. Many of them, a tiny purple one, on a dead plant, probably dried at its peak. We passed the radar domes on Stephenson Peak. Bill Redman took some pictures of me and Robb Latimer, our new and weird hiker, with the domes in the background. The miracle of this area is the forest east of the trail and the shrubs to the west. This climate from the cool ocean air with moisture and the dry desert air is fascinating. I have finally “got it” how dramatic and important these zones are. Certain flora doesn’t’ grow everywhere and while environmentalists are a lot of trouble they are right that we have to protect certain plants because of their limited life zones. The trail is also the “Desert View Trail.” The trail becomes a shrub and brush route as the forest recedes. The 2002 fire turned the area into a wild plant paradise. We saw a white penstemon which looks like a weed with great white flowers and a sage and many others I don’t know. It is nice to have the shrubs gone for a while. It opens up the view of the desert. The new growth is an example of the good side of fire. It is a remarkable comeback. At Pioneer Mail the trail turns right to the old roadbed for S-1 that cuts through the rock of a cliff overlooking the desert. It is a neat place with brown friable metamorphic dramatic rocks and old concrete bridges. Near the end is a monument to three people who died launching themselves off in hand gliders into Vallecito Valley. I will take hiking. This place is at the end of Kwaaymii Point Road which reconnects to the new S-1. The trail moves away from the road west of Garnet Mountain and continues through the beginning of Oriflamme Canyon. Donna had gotten a hold of me earlier and warned of a thunderstorm coming in. We saw the result of a recent storm in the washes and it made us a little nervous to see thunderheads in the south. They were plenty far away though. Near the end of the trail a water cache in a shelf like box is set up. Robb was about to pour some on his head when I stopped him and said “We shouldn’t use that. It is for people in need.” He talked too much, asked too many questions and makes me look like a quiet person. I don’t want him on the next hike but will ask Bill’s permission to exclude him.

June 20th, 2003 Boulder Oaks Campground to Burnt Rancheria Campground

I have to make these trips when I am off, when my friends are available and hopefully when the weather is nice. Luckily today was the perfect day. Bill Redman and Kristen Greenaway joined me. Kristen’s Uncle Bob from Canada came along too. Our June gloom seems particularly long this year. It was raining in El Cajon in the morning. When we got to Boulder Oaks it was still overcast but clear when we dropped off the second vehicle at Burnt Rancheria. The trail goes under the highway eight underpass. For me this was a Rubicon. Dreaming of this trip I kept wondering where it passed it and it seemed, even though we have gone a tiny amount of the way, a big deal. Maybe it meant I was serious about doing this trail. There was a bit of water in Kitchen Creek. There are some interesting rocks there. The Buckman Springs Valley is very pretty and we got some shots. We are fortunate to be hiking in June. There are many flowers and color. This stretch wouldn’t be much out of the wet season. It would be very brown and cheerless. I am glad we didn’t do it when it was hot. We kept hearing something vaguely like a rattlesnake. It made me jump several times. Kristen thinks it was clusters of cicadas. I think she is right. Several flew by me on the trail. I have never heard more than one of two together. There was a lot of Scarlet Bugler. It often lines the trail so you can see where it goes ahead. We can’t figure out why it is just on the trail, planted? My favorite flower along the whole trail I have now identified as the Golden Bowl Mariposa , yellow with brown speckles inside. I thought it was a poppy. Uncle Bob kept running ahead of us for some reason. I think of hiking as a communal activity, a chance to get to know each other and talk, to share the trail. It is not the way everybody feels though. I don’t know why he kept running off, more about that later. We took an early lunch at the crossing of Fred Canyon Road. As we left this area we gained quite a bit of altitude quickly. Cibbets Flat was below us and looked like a great oak shrouded campground. Kristen brought along her dog Oscar is a strong trail dog. He would run ahead of us, find shade to stand in, and the run ahead again when we caught up with him, smart dog. Kristen has a special collapsible bowl and he drank about a liter and a half. I like quartz and there is quite a bit strewn along the trail, big pieces too. It seems some one threw them out like bird seed. One of the landmarks on this section of the trail is Long Canyon. There are a lot of long canyons along the way and I said, too early, is that Long Canyon? It wasn’t. I asked several times and it became a joke. We finally got there. Once again proving I don’t usually know where we at and can’t imagine what it will look like till we get there. It branched out to the right, wasn’t very wide but quite beautiful. We saw our first Wild Roses which at one point filled the canyon as giant shrubs but grow smaller too. I think they are properly called California Roses. Long canyon has a mix of oaks and pines. These were the first pines on the trail. Uncle Bob had disappeared again when we sat down for another meal and rest. Kristen said it is good we don’t have big egos. I had no desire to keep up with him but I was beginning to worry. We sat in the shade of an oak. There was a little water in the canyon, enough for a hiker to safely filter for use. Kristen saw some bees and said that is how she knows that the water is drinkable. I wonder if that is true. We saw a pair of jeans and shirt discarded on the trial and a jacket. It is spooky. I didn’t know how far the illegals get on the trail and can’t figure out why they leave clothes. We saw a few shiny, prickly, holly like bushes and a long brown lady finger on the trail I can’t identify. We saw several hummingbirds. I wondered where they go when there are no flowers. We walked out of the canyon in some switchbacks and passed near several pretty meadows. Climates are so fascinating. There are oaks and pines in the canyons but further up it are chaparral and the occasional open meadow with grass and trees. I look forward to understanding how this works. I had a brief panic attack worrying about Uncle Bob. We hadn’t seen him since way before Long Canyon and we worried he wouldn’t know where to turn off the trail to get to the car. I decided to stop worrying and quicken my pace. I was a little angry with him. He should have stayed with us and I should have said something when I understood his personality. We got into the pines which smelled good. A few dead trees apparently the victim of the bark beetle. We had started to track Uncle Bob’s tread which included a big “N” and saw horse tracks as well. A one point he marked the trail with an arrow and the word “Bob”. It pissed me off. The trail notes said the ground was covered in “Duff” which turned out to be dead leave and branches. When we got to the turn off for Burnt Rancheria we made a big deal of looking for Uncle Bob’s spoor and saw that he found it. I said to Bill and Kristen “I bet he says, Where have you been?” and we found him by a park bench and he said “Where have you been?” what a prick. I didn’t talk to him for quite a while. I restrained myself from lambasting him and now I wish I had. Still it was a good trip and we all enjoyed it.

Hauser Canyon to Boulder Oaks Campground June 10, 2003
It was a June Gloom day in El Cajon when we left and beautiful, clear and 60 degrees when we arrived at the trailhead. Bill Redman and I walked back to Hauser Canyon from Lake Morena so he could get the steps that he missed because of the emergency pickup. It is an easy trail over the hills to the canyon. We took some pictures of trees he thinks are Junipers. The trip down and back was easier for me because of the lower temperatures. We walked to the helicopters landing spot. I don’t like retracing steps but it had to be done. It may be nuts but we have to do it. I want to say I walked the whole trail someday and so does Bill. We saw the most amazing bug with three fuzzy almost fluorescent segments about 6 tenths of an inch long with a narrow black band between the second and third segment (the thorax and abdomen). It seems to have six legs and is impossible to photography because it won’t stop moving. Of course we can’t figure it out now or find a photo on the internet. The god awful tarantula hawk was flying around. We found a good sized rattler on the trail on the way back and they scare Bill even more than it does me. We threw rocks to wake it out of its stupor in the sun and it finally noisily left the trail. I will never be able to forget that sound. We saw and photographed a horned lizard (horny toad). I haven’t seen any of these since I was a kid. We saw a yellow poppy that we have seen before and than an exact replica in purple. Indian paintbrush lined the trail and wild mustard. We heard the train whistle from Campo. That was a surprise. Maybe the train nuts are at work on a Tuesday. The agaves and yucca were in bloom. It took us almost four hours to get back to Lake Morena. We took a lunch break in the cool shade of an oak. A golden eagle with a four to five foot wingspan raced by chased or followed by ravens. The trail follows the lake and then goes northeast. It is an old jeep trail. I found out what chemise is. It is prettier that manzanita. We went up gently and then into a small beautiful valley with oaks and a dry creek. The trail goes up follows a ridge and then goes down to Buckman Springs road. There is a warning poster about not running over a special frog when you are driving on the road at sixty miles an hour. Good luck. We passed under the cottonwood bridge and saw swallows and their mud nests. Bill says now he knows what happened to the ones at San Juan Capistrano. The trail runs about 100 yards east of Buckman springs road for quite a while on the old road then turns right to Boulder Oaks campground. It was a great day.
PCT Journal

Campo to Lake Morena -May 27th, 2003

Brendan brought Bill Redman, Gary Good and I to the monument. Gary is an old friend of Bills from Wavetek days. We took some pictures and touched the Mexican side. Brendan show no remorse about not joining us and sped away to go to school. We began about 7:15am and headed north. The trail is easy to follow and we never had a problem finding it. The rains provide some pretty flowers and growth. I tried reading the instructions from the PCT book while walking but that is an accident waiting to happen. I never can imagine the trail exactly until I get on it. I studied the maps and instructions but am always a little surprised by the actual thing. I suppose that will change with experience and time. We passed Highway 94 and saw some discarded clothes and water bottles. There is no question that at this point in the trail some illegals use it. Bill didn’t want to camp in this area, only day trips. I think he is right to be a little cautious. Soon we crossed the old railroad tracks and saw a giant PCT sign. I don’t imagine many people see it. The railroad is supposedly being rebuilt and will be in use in the future. You can see the 94 for quite a while. Hiking is not an efficient way to cover miles but a pleasant one. We ran into “Solo” from New York tall guy about 35 with a big pack. He was finishing the PCT today. 27 days out of Tehachapi on his third and final summer on the trail. He must have been up early to finish. We found his campsite quite a way up the trail. It was exciting and motivational to see him. He warned us of a rattler over the next hill. He had seen 10 since Tehachapi and said they had become a nuisance. We didn’t see or hear the snake. It got plenty hot, about 100 degrees, and we took a long break under a tree. I get headaches in the heat and a stop ends it. At about 10 miles we stopped for an hour and lunch. I am starting to understand Topographic maps and for the first time can guess landmarks and our general position. This is an easy trail to follow but it is great to know where you are at. Gary didn’t seem to want to get up after the long break and we should have known something was wrong with him but I figured he was just tired. We got to a long trail overlooking Hauser Canyon. It is a long switchback to the bottom and then you go up a zigzag on the other side. We saw signs in Spanish that said, “Don’t expose your life to the elements. It is not worth it.” Gary stopped several times and finally Bill asked him about his symptoms. He was nauseous and weak. He would rest, throw up, and walk a bit more. Hauser Creek was dry. We met “Dr. G” Bill Gager a retired math and science teacher from South Carolina. He was spending 20 days on the trail and had a space blanket covered umbrella ala Ray Jardine. Supposedly it keeps you much cooler. He said “you have to do this while you are healthy.” At the bottom of Hauser Creek Gary got up to go first saying “I will go ahead.” He moved at a snails pace and we would walk ahead and wait. About a third of the way up that side he quit and lay down for good. Bill went back to him and I finally did too. Bill said “he can’t go on and needs to be taken out.” We agreed that with the cell phone I would walk up to a place where I could call in the cavalry. I tried about 10 times on the way up and kept getting Mexican Cell service. 45 heart pounding minutes later I found a spot in view of the Lake and got search and rescue on the phone. They were terrific and it only took about 45 minutes to find them, land an Astraea helicopter at the site and take him and Bill out to Lake Morena. They had a fire truck, paramedics and forest rangers waiting. I am sure Gary was embarrassed. Bill doesn’t like to fly. He wanted to walk out and get credit for the hike. We will redo that portion even though Donna thinks that is nuts. Gary went to the hospital and Bill walked in from the other end to meet me. We were both wearing our headlamps in the dark. It was pretty funny. I heard a rattler just before I ran into him. It sounded like a sprinkler going off. Bill said “I won’t hike with anyone but you and Kristen anymore. We both felt bad about what happened but in the end it was Gary’s decision to go with us and he wasn’t in shape for it. We learned a few things. It is my responsibility to make decisions for others safety and we should have stopped him sooner. He was a guy and didn’t tell us how he was feeling until Bill asked. We should always ask direct questions. Also take more water. I was out when I arrived and lighter colored shirts for the hottest days. What a start for the PCT.