Day 23 (June 1st)
Mile 275.0- mile 292.2
17.2 miles (27.7km)
This morning I woke up in a cozy bed next to my mama. I really enjoyed my zeroes with mom and Ken but I was eager to get back on trail, and back to my tramily, today. In the morning, we stopped by the post office again to mail my bounce box of food forward a couple of weeks. There, we ran into Salty who was still waiting on his shoes to arrive. So frustrating! Since Salty didn’t have his new shoes, we left him behind to wait and mom drove me back to the trail. Mom and Ken hiked the first three miles of trail with me before turning back. It was fun to hike with them, though I was a little jealous of their one tiny backpack– mine is feeling pretty heavy after this resupply. As we walked up the trail, they both talked about how they could see why hiking was pleasant, but they couldn’t imagine doing it for months. Honestly, it’s hard for me to imagine too! I’ve been out here for three weeks and it feels both like a lifetime and no time at all.
After we said our goodbyes, I really picked up the pace. I know that if I want to catch my friends I will have to pull some bigger days. Today I got on trail around 1pm, but I still managed to hike over 17 miles before the sun set! I can really feel my trail legs coming in.
I ran into a hiker named Chris (from the Netherlands) who was on his very first day of trail. He started from Big Bear Lake and plans to hike for 3 months. It was refreshing to see the trail anew through his eyes. We hiked 8 miles or so together and encountered a rattlesnake, burnt out forests, beautiful views, and a gear malfunction when his platypus bag leaked most of his water out. He stopped early– good practice for his first day of hiking– and I continued on to try and get some miles!
Right before I made camp, I had to cross a creek that was about knee deep. I took off my socks, gaitors and insoles and crossed in just the shell of my running shoes to avoid getting everything wet right before bed. Hopefully this tactic will mean that my shoes are dry by the time I put them on tomorrow morning!
Day 24 (June 2nd)
Mile 292.2- mile 307.9
15.7 miles (25.3km)
I arrived at the Deep Creek Hot Springs around 3:30pm and, having hiked 300 miles to sit in these hot springs, I decided to stop for the night early. I was a little worried that the hot springs would be busy, since it is a Friday night, but they were relatively quiet when I arrived. This is definitely the earliest I have stopped hiking since I began the PCT. Most days I walk into camp as the sun is setting. Yesterday, I made camp in the dark! But I made good time today and I am not one to walk past a paradise without stopping to enjoy it.
Most of the day the trail followed Deep Creek along a sort of gorge. It was pleasant to listen to the sounds of rapids all day and to look down at the quiet sandy beaches along the shore. I hiked 11 miles by 12:30pm when I took my lunch at a beautiful rocky stream. My plan when I arrived at the hotsprings was to take a couple hours to soak and eat dinner and then continue hiking– but I got sucked in by the beauty of the pools (and some convincing from fellow hikers) and decided to stay the night. I wondered if Salty might catch me, given my early stop, and the idea of hiking with my friend also convinced me to stay put.
The hot springs are really neat! There are several natural pools and, additionally, there are several more spots where rocks have been cemented into place to make additional pools. There is a whole system of sandbags to make the water deeper or shallower. Some of the pools were nearly too hot to get into, but the river is right there to enjoy. Some locals told me that the engineering of the place was done by Charles Manson and his cult back in the day– though this might be an urban legend. Other locals told me of a brain eating aomeba that apparently lives in the pools. As a result, I kept my face well out of the water.
Despite the threat of aomebas it was a beautiful place and a great way to spend the afternoon! Tomorrow I plan to pull some bigger miles, so I’m glad I was able to rest up tonight.
Day 25 (June 3rd)
Mile 307.9- mile 329.5
21.6 miles (34.8)
Knowing that I am back in the low (i.e hot) desert, I woke up at 5am this morning and was on trail by 6am in an attempt to beat the heat. I hiked along the Deep Creek gorge as the sun rose over the rocks. Eventually I made it to the dam spillway, where I spent a few minutes yelling and listening to the echo– excellent entertainment value. I followed what I thought was the PCT, but soon realized that I was well off trail. ‘No matter’, I thought, ‘I’ll have to cross the river at some point… I might as well do it here where it is ankle deep and regain the trail on the other side’. I felt really smart as I made this crossing, as the comments on FarOut said that the actual PCT crossing involved wading in waist deep water. Little did I know that the other side of the river quickly turned to an impassable rocky bluff– so I ended up walking nearly half a mile in the river to the *actual* crossing, soaking myself up to my waist in the process. I felt a bit silly, but it was a hot day and I didn’t really mind the soak. The next part of the day was much hotter and more exposed. I walked over grassy low desert shrubbery and relished any shade that fell on me.
For lunch, I crawled under a low growing tree and was able to find some dappled shade. Just as I was getting ready to leave, I looked behind me and happened to see Salty come over the ridge! We both waved at each other excited to have found eachother after a couple of days apart. He was the only one of my tramily who was behind me and over the past couple days and I have been hoping he would catch up. We discussed our plans for camp and I left him to take my vacated lunch spot. The afternoon was a bit bleak, hiking along dusty gravel roads and past a power plant, until I finally made it to Silverwood Lake. The next mile looked out over a lovely lake where people were jetskiing and swimming. I eagerly made my way around the lake to a picnic spot with picnic tables (hallelujah!) and privys (HALLELUJAH!). Salty arrived about 40 minutes later while I was eating my dinner. We then pushed on together to hike another 3 miles to a group camping site. This site is a rentable site that FarOut indicated often had available space for hikers. We crossed our fingers that there would be somewhere to stay, given that it is a Saturday night. When we arrived, we found that a preschool coop had rented the site. Luckily, when we asked, they said we were welcome to find a spot to camp and have some of their food. I fell asleep to the sound of a dad reading his toddler a bed time story and fell into sweet dreams of adventures with my new friends.
And here is a photo just to show my trekking pole strap tan:
Day 26 (June 4th)
Mile 329.5- mile 349.8
20.3 miles (32.7km)
Today we visited the only MacDonalds on the PCT at Cajon Junction! The nearly 12 miles to get there were hot and exposed, but at least there was water every few miles, so we didn’t need to carry much. Salty and I hiked together today, which is not something we usually do– I guess we were both bored of the few days we’d spent hiking and making camp without our crew. I passed the time by asking Salty questions about his life, family, philosophies, etc and he mostly appeased me by answering. Arrival at the MacDonalds was bittersweet for me, as they didn’t have many vegan options on offer. I went to the gas station next door and bought a Gatorade and a banana, which helped to ease my sadness. Then, the internet told me that MacDos apple pie is accidentally vegan! Amazing! I bought two and some fries. Once I finished those, I ate one of my usual lunches– a wrap with avocado and roasted chickpeas. I then snacked on some sourpatch kids– Maybe hiker hunger has hit me after all!
After a long break at MacDos, we continued back to trail– and encountered some wonderful trail angels handing out trail magic in the form of quiche, fruit, veggies and homemade loaf cakes. I was extremely full at this point, but who can say no to pineapple on a hot day? We stayed briefly to chat and snack, but soon continued on our way– starting the long uphill that will bring us to Wrightwood tomorrow. We didn’t have any cake, and Salty loudly regretted that choice for the rest of the day.
After 3 miles and I needed a short break under a tree to digest my huge lunch. Another 3 more miles and we made it to the last watercache before an 18 mile water carry into Wrightwood. We sat here for awhile, reading the cache guest book and chatting with our friend Crash. Salty treated a bee sting, turned blister, on his toe that was extremely gnarly.
We would have been tempted to stay at the cache, but Julien had texted us earlier in the day to warn us of his experience fightinh with the cache mice all night– he recommended that we hike on. Crash decided to brave the mice, but Salty and I hiked on another 3 miles, aiming for a lone tentsite up the mountain that was listed as a site for one. Usually the one person sites have space for several tents, but this one was actually pretty tight! We pitched our tents right next to one another and made it work!
Day 27 (June 5th)
Mile 349.8- mile 369.3
19.5 miles (31.4km)
This morning I woke up before sunrise in my cosy sleeping bag and sighed loudly. I sat up and sighed again. Suddenly I heard Salty from a few feet away, “are you okay?”. I laughed and started to pack up my tent. When I finally emerged, I unzipped my tent to see the most beautiful inversion of low hanging clouds that I could have imagined. Salty and I took our time taking down our tents and taking dozens of pictures of the view.
In the morning, we hiked from just over 4000ft elevation all the way up to 8400ft. It was slow going and Iagged behind Salty on the way up. I finished the third book in the Wheel of Time series and was devastated to learn that the library has a 13 week wait for the next book. How will I survive my hard days now? After 14 miles, I made it to the first water of the day– a puddle on a dirt road. I could have hiked a side trail to a spring, but I didn’t want to hike any extra miles. I collected a couple of litres and hiked 1 more mile to a campground for lunch.
There I found Salty and Trail Magic! Trail Angel Joe had baked goods, cherries and cold drinks set out for hikers to enjoy. Salty had also thoughtfully brought me some water from the spring (which he had hiked the extra miles to). It was a nice (late) lunch, and with only 5 miles to go to the highway into Wrightwood, I was very motivated to hike on. After a nice conversation with Joe, Salty and I ran down the mountain to Highway 2 into Wrightwood. We caught a hitch in a built out van into town, and then immediately caught a second hitch who offered to drop us off directly at our AirBnB. When we knocked, Julien and Thunder opened the door, accompanied by our new friend Crash.
Reunited at last!! It was a really nice week of hiking, but I am so thrilled to be caught up to my friends. The rest of the night was spent chatting, laughing, drinking and eating terrible barfood. I am now going to sleep– clean, cozy and very happy!
Day 28 (June 6th)
Mile 369.3 -369.3
0 miles (0km)
Today we took a zero day in Wrightwood. It was a wonderful day– filled with amazing people, excellent food, corn hole, chores, and tons of laughter. I feel so grateful that I get to hike this trail with these incredible people!
Top: Julien, Crash, Salty; Bottom: Me, Thunder
