8,800 miles
April 18th
Total Mileage: 68 (Pioneer Mail Picnic (52.6mi) – Rodriguez Spur Truck Trail(68.4mi))
Today’s Mileage: 15.8mi
Update: tough day in the heat but we reached mile 68. A 30 mile dry stretch beginning tomorrow. We are likely to get off at Scissor’s Crossing and hitch into Julian to deal with some things.
April 17th
Total Mileage: 52.6
Today’s Mileage: 20.6 (Fred Canyon(32mi) – Pioneer Mail Picnic Area(52.6mi))
At the time of this entry, we’re at Mile 42 on the trail. It is still quite early in the day, but we decided to have a coffee and take a rest at a little cafe in Mt. Laguna. Last night, we cowboy camped and the temperatures dropped close to freezing. I only got about a single hour of sleep again, unfortunately. This time due to just being way too cold. I think the quilt I made is a bust, lol. I had it securely tucked around me, but felt extreme cold in specific regions. I need to check it today and see if more down needs to be pushed into other portions of the quilt (karo steps). At this point, I’m pretty certain I need to buy a Zpacks or similar alternative bag at kickoff.
The 6 miles we did this morning was beautiful, meandering up to 6,000 ft through a copse of pine trees. It is surreal to go from desert lowlands to pine trees within only a day. The trail is already littered with cones. We reached this town early in the day, and experienced our first resupply of buying in a local store. It was quite expensive. I spent around $34 for three days worth of food. The Idahoan potatoes that we bought for $.80 at WinCo are $3 here. At times, it feels more than just a fair mark-up for the remoteness and straight-out price gauging.
Unfortunately, Mike’s knee is doing extremely poorly. It sounds like it is inflammed from repeated stress, originating with a soccer injury long ago. A helpful stranger highly advised us to reduce our mileage and take 15 minute breaks after every hour of hiking. I think we’ll reduce the next couple days significantly and see how it goes. We did that heavy mileage the first day mostly because it was a dry stretch, but now there appears to be plenty of water every 6 miles or so on trail.
One interesting note: last night, as we were staring up at the Universe, a very bizarre thing happened. Three aircraft flew right over us, and they were likely advanced military. They had an unconventional sound…maybe like a vacuum? My best guess is that perhaps they are the stealth choppers that were used in Pakistan a few years ago, or likely large drones. They didn’t have the typical helicopter wub-wub-wub rotor sound, but they weren’t moving at the speed of planes. They were all dark from the front, but we saw red-green lights on the backside, and the last plane had a different red light and felt like a chaser plane, that was perhaps recording data, or something of that sort. It was cool to witness… very strange.
Stay tuned, sports fans. We’re not on the ropes yet.
April 16
Total mileage: 36.9 (Lake Morena(20mi) – Long Canyon(36.9mi))
Today’s Mileage: 16.9mi (+1.6mi for water @ Cibbets Flat)
Today started off a bit rough. The wind during our first night was very strong all through the night and my tent collapsed. (We knew this was a possibility as the ground we pitched on was small gravel and the stakes didn’t want to hold very well. Setting up in the dark on our first night was less than ideal.) Mike had the foresight to not use his tent and just sleep beneath the stars (cowboy camp).
Foot maintenance has begun.
We ran into Miles again. I wouldn’t see him again until Mile 900, at which point his trailname had changed to Highwater.
Mom & Maya returned this morning to rescue James from these plush accommodations, and with them came a welcome round of Monsters and Mountain Dew. We were back on trail by 9am, and immediately rewarded with a beautiful vista of fields with foothills rising in the distance.
The day probably had more elevation than Day 1, and it just sorta snuck up on us. By 2pm, we were feeling the heat and the climb. At around mile 12.5 for the day, there was a gravel desert road that descended to the side, with a sign that said Cribbets Campground – .6 miles. Initially, we thought about calling it an early day, just to try and recharge after that brutal Day 1. Let it be stated that we have found that most signs lie. It was definitely more than .6 miles down, and the road descended the whole way, ugh. The campground was an anomaly. Green grass, plenty of shade, nice privies, water faucet, and not another soul in sight other than 12 or so hikers. This little green valley was completely surrounded by dusty, dry, relatively barren desert hills.
We took a siesta there, eating a meal and using the privy. One funny anecdote. I kept commenting to Mike that “I’m eating here, cmon!” Because I was certain he was passing gas. Finally, he said, “Man, you really stink.” We eventually realized that neither of us had been passing gas, and that instead we were inhaling the fumes from the privy, which was at least 150 meters away. Funny. It had no odor inside, but it was hitting us a long ways away. Guess their smokestack design works.
Those fumes might have been the inspiration we needed to move on. We ascended the mile back up to the actual trail and carried on another 4 miles, stopping at a little small alcove area where 8 other hikers have already set up. We were surprised to learn we’re at 5,300 ft tonight.
We’re both pretty banged up at the moment. Mike’s right knee has been really bothering him. Sounds like an old soccer injury that has flared up. My right ankle is quite sore at the point of contact with the top of the shoe. Also have only one nasty blister between two toes on left foot…and it is nasty. Will not show a photo, but it’s tempting. 🙂
April 15th
US-Mexico Border(0mi) to Lake Morena(20mi)
Today’s Mileage: 20mi
We are now on trail! Our lofty goal was to leave James’ house in Irvine at 6 AM. That turned into 7 AM, and we reached the Southern Terminus sometime around 10 AM. James decided to join us on trail for the first day, which made the day especially exciting. He brought his bottle of 40-year old scotch to share for this momentous occasion, with appropriate glassware, and it was fun to share with Mom, Maya, Lori and Ryan. The 3 of us quickly toasted and drank, as someone said Border patrol was coming. By the time we’d finish photos and touching the actual wall, we started hiking at 11 am. This was a really late start for a 20-mile dry stretch. We were all carrying around 5.5 liters of water each, so a heavy haul.
For the first half of the day, the time and miles just fell off the clock, kinda like the first hour of a marathon. Everyone was super excited and the weather was perfect, topping out at 74 degrees late in the day.
We saw something interesting in a gully around mile 5.5. It was perfectly still coyote watching us. We soon realized it was caught in a barbed wire fence. Sad to know he’s going to have a long slow death. He looked already very gaunt.
Later in the day we also saw a small gray snake with a black stripe, that I think was just a typical garden snake, and also a bearded(?) lizard.
When we got around mile 13, we saw the upcoming descent into the canyon and, worse, the 2 mile ascent that awaited us. At this point, my partners were no longer singing or talking. We were kinda all on auto-pilot.
The ascent out of the canyon (mile 15-17) definitely proved to be the hardest part of the day. Mike realized he hadn’t eaten enough calories and was “bonking” as it’s known in the running world.
The three of us reached the top of the canyon around 6:30 and knew we had 3 miles to reach Lake Morena, where there was a small convenience store with milkshakes, beer, food, etc. At this point, we decided to really drop the hammer to reach the store, with the understanding that whoever reached it should order for the others if there was a fear of them closing! Mike and I reached the store in the dark, 15 minutes before they were to close the deli side. We order milkshakes for the three of us. James got trapped in a bit of windchill and his final miles sounded a bit hairy, but fortunately he made it with a fresh root beer malt waiting for him.
This trail town store is probably on par with all the others, but takes getting used to. They hardly have any prices posted. :/ They know hikers are exhausted and that they have a monopoly. $12 for a 6 pack of Mirrorpond, $12 for a burger, etc.
The three of us walked a half mile back to the official campground and found a spot to pitch and cook our chili. Little did we know what a rough night it would be!
Jurek’s Minnesota vegan chili with Fritos.
EXTRA: Joe Brewer has an excellent video showing this stretch of trail from Campo (Mile 0) to Scissors Crossing (Mile 77). I highly recommend subscribing to his channel:
It is a whirlwind of activity now. My hiking partner, The Breeze, flies in tomorrow from Georgia and then we head to Portland 2 days later, ahhh yeahhh. I’ve found I can get 20 burns to boil (16 oz) with my JetBoil stove from a single 100g canister. That seems really good to me. I figured two boils per day, that is about 1.5 weeks worth of fuel. Here you can also see apples and bananas in the dehydrator. Found another failure to add to the list with avocados: raspberries. 🙂