Blog

May 5th
Total mileage: 253
Today’s mileage: 22

It was another challenging day. The wind last night was insufferable, and both Skyline and I tried in vain to get our tents up. After 10 minutes of futility, we both gave up and did our best to get our pads and quilts out without losing posessions to the wind.

Today required multiple water filtering stops. The creek looked bad but the water seemed fine. I carried 3L most of the time. It was a long climb up out of the canyon in the unrelenting sun. To top it off, the water report had a big warning about Poodle-Dog Bush being rampant in this stretch. It is akin to poison oak, and seems to prosper in places where recent fires have cleared the land. It looks and smells a bit like marijuana, and the surface of its leaf is kinda rippled and fuzzy like the outside of a pod of peas. No doubt the strong odor is to warn off other organisms.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poodle_dog_bush

At the end of the day, I met another hiker (who shall remain anonymous), and when I talked about my paranoia with the poodle-dog bush, he said, “Oh, that must be what I have on my ass.” Lol. Sure enough. Nearby hiker, Doc, confirmed that he had poodle-dog bush rash all over his butt and gave him some cordozone. Poor guy.

Finally got one bar of coverage at the end of the day, after being offline for the last couple of days. We knew it was going to be a cold night. I wore two hats, and my rain coat over my down coat, but it still was a miserable night. I sat up at 4 am and boiled water for Starbuck Via, just to warm myself up a bit.

The dreaded poodle dog bush. It tends to grow where wildfires have recently been:

I found my first soda cache of the trail at the first trail access to Big Bear Lake! Thank you Papa Smurf and Mountain Mama! I was quite surprised to find full-leaded Mountain Dew there. Rather than getting off-trail at this access point, I decided to push on to reach the main trailhead the following day, roughly 13 miles away.

One of the oddest moments of the trail. The PCT passes maybe 25 meters away from these large cages holding bears and other large mammals (I think lions and tigers too). They are used for the film industry. It seemed pretty sad. They didn’t even turn to watch me hike past.

 

 

 

May 4th
Total mileage: 232
Today’s mileage: 22 + 1 for water

Everyone had a rough night at Ziggy’s. The wind was so strong, it was scary. I kept expecting the canopy that was adjacent to me to collapse. I left before 7am and headed out into the tough climb. I guess moments after I left, there was a big brouhaha about a camel spider that was found in someone’s backpack. Ewwwww!

This stretch is notoriously hard due to weather…sometimes reaching 110 degrees at Ziggy’s. I got lucky and had reasonable heat the entire morning. 8 miles in, the trail reaches this beautiful canyon with radically different looking geological striations and a healthy creek. There is a ranger station located half a mile off trail, called Whitewater Preserve. I checked it out. It was a great little oasis with a nice restroom, potable water, and even a wading pool/pond for hikers to soak their feet. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the right time for a siesta, so I headed back out to the trail.

The second part of the day was pretty challenging, as there were several box canyons where the trail slowly worked its way out of seemingly impossible places. An older guy behind me called out, “Where have you gotten us trapped, Butch?”

We had to be on our water game today. I met up with a friend from Paradise Valley Cafe, Skyline. When we reached one of the last water sources for the hot afternoon, we found a nice piece of shade, took off our shoes and socks, and took a one hour nap that just passed in no time. We had intel that said there was decent camping at mile 232. We hammered out the final miles of the day and made it, but sadly found only exposed ground. The wind was unrelenting and we both had to abort on setting our tents up and settle for cowboy camping. There was very little sleep to be had.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 3rd
Total mileage: 210
Today’s mileage: 5

Today kind of vanished in a haze. We drove to Big Bear City (different than Big Bear Lake), then on to Palm Desert (Palm Springs), where it was 88 degrees. Six-2 was kind enough to take me to Costco, where the optometrist department bent the frame of my glasses back into place (yay!). We then hit a terrific Mexican place for lunch, and then a Walmart where I managed to get my entire resupply done for $10.

We drove to Ziggy and the Bear’s house, which is about 5 miles from where we had gotten off-trail. They are a famous trail angel couple who allegedly purchased the house purely to support hikers during hiker season. Very organized, very kind. Felt like staying at a grandparents house. I think it is common for them to host over 1,100 hikers per season. Anyhow, once we got there, Six-2 began walking south on the trail. I drove the car back to the bottom of Mt. Jacinto, to the exact spot where we had gotten off-trail several days prior, locked my set of keys in the trunk, and began walking north. We passed each other a bit later, hehe, which was weird. This allowed me to reach Ziggy’s, where I stayed the night, and allowed Six-2 to take his rental car back out to the city, where he needed to work another day. By having walked the 5 miles today, he wouldn’t need to make them up on the morrow, when he hitched back to Ziggy’s.

They had fresh oranges, and Little Caesar’s pizza and sodas for $1. Several times throughout the night, they brought out a 5-gallon barrel of rocky road ice cream that some local had donated to the house. In the front, they even had six outhouses against the curb. They asked every hiker to wash their hands, and had a long list of rules. They also did a good job collecting each hiker’s information and requesting future postcards. A nice couple.

UPDATE: I ran into Skyline and Claire here, saw Darko and Taters in passing, and was where I first met HoneyBadger (visible in pic above).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 2nd
Today’s location: A zero in the town of Big Bear Lake
Today’s mileage: 0!

Laundry and shower done. Feeling more human already.

We had a fun time in town, hitting Saucy Mama’s pizzeria and ending the night with another meal at Murphy’s Saloon, where we witnessed some truly awful karaoke. Here are two shots of Six-2, with a guy he kept calling Warren Buffet, hehe. Warren kept leaning over us and asking for coffee refills.

 

 

 

May 1st
PCT mile 206 (actual total mileage approx. 202)
Today’s mileage: 5

Mile 206. Finally reached the desert floor. Beastly hot. There was a water tank that we could see for miles and miles from above, but the trail just took its time meandering down, with switchbacks that barely gave up any elevation, and it was a bit of a slog. We were on trail around 6:30, I think, and even though we only had 5 miles to the desert floor and the revered faucet, it still got quite hot in that time. Here is a sunrise shot:

Interestingly, you can see a video camera mounted on the pipeline below. We heard a story that water was being stolen for some sort of narcotics. Hard to believe. Also, it’s hard to tell in the pick, but in the far background, you can just make out Fuller Ridge, where we were yesterday morning.

There is a 1/4 mile road walk through a housing development at the base of San Jacinto, and several of the very kind residents have PCT stickers such as this, with messages: “Help yourself to hose water,” etc.

The faucet was full of bees. A kind local, Scott, offered to drive us into neighboring Cabazon, a city where Six-2 had scheduled Enterprise to drop a car off for him. Scott took us to a local fresh market called Hadley’s, which is famous for their date-and-banana milkshakes. We enjoyed a round together and then headed over to the In-and-Out, where we both did some damage.

Six-2 needs to take a couple zeros to do work, hence the rental car, and he drove us back to Idyllwild to pick up his laptop that he had bounced forward (shipped) to himself. What I did not know prior to the drive is that: a) he really enjoys racecar video games, and b) he got a manual souped-up Jette. I think he enjoyed making my skin crawl as he aggressively took the winding mountain road. We then drove northward to Big Bear Lake and found a hostel. The plan is that I’ll take tomorrow off as a full zero to recover and then he’ll get me back to trail on Sunday. He’ll return to trail on Monday and do his best to catch up. (Fat chance!)

I’m now sitting in my rain coat and long johns, while the rest of my clothes are in a queue to go into the hostel’s laundry. I have just taken my first shower in 9 days. Lemme tell you…I was ripe.

Now is a good moment to share a few thoughts on the trail so far. Before starting the trail, The Breeze and I had been fortunate to sit down with two previous thru-hikers, Bacon-Bit and That Craig, to hear their wisdom. Bacon-Bit had said something to the affect that everyday has misery, everyday has beauty. I think that is absolutely right. There is definitely a lot of discomfort out there. That isn’t a surprise, but it still takes strength to deal with it.

My main discomforts still revolve around camp-life. I’m slow at setting up camp, I’m slow at tearing it down, I’m poor at picking a flat tent site, etc. I’m often too tired to even brush. Last night, as we descended most of that never-ending 8,000 feet to the desert floor, we struggled to even find a flat spot to sleep once it got dark. Once we finally did find a place, the wind was fierce and by the time I got my sleeping bag and pad set up for cowboy camping, I just went to sleep without even eating, despite hearing my stomach rumble. Obviously, that’s not healthy or even sustainable in any way, but I was just that exhausted.

There isn’t enough time in the day. One might think it is simply a matter of reducing the mileage for the day, but the problem is that water dictates everything. Our goal for the day is always decided by where the next water source is. Last night, Thursday, was unusual because we dry-camped…having carried liters for the day, we had saved 1 liter for camp.

In retrospect, we were very lucky that we didn’t see or step on any rattlesnakes. At times, the vegetation was so tightly pressing on the trail itself, we would have slowed our pace down to 1/2 or 1/3 what we were doing if we had seen even a single snake. Later, we heard most people saw their first rattlesnake on this descent, with one hiker even saying he saw three. Yikes.

We went to Murray’s saloon for burgers and beer. It was delicious.

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After having imbibed several beverages, it was during this time that Six-2 summed up the bout between Ironhusk vs. the Ironburger, hehe:

April 30th
PCT mile: 201
Today’s mileage: 19   (Near summit (mile 183.8) down northern escarpment (mile 201))

Lots of large black ants last night, but not a big deal. Haven’t seen any sign of large predators. We walked through our first snow today. It was a 20 mile dry stretch down, down, down. One of the sharpest escarpments in the US, supposedly.

In the photo below, you can see Six-2 in a rather precarious position. No thank you!

Earlier this morning, we were on Fuller Ridge, in the top-center of the above photo. As the day ended, we struggled to find a flat spot to camp upon. We both did a good job of managing our water for this stretch. I recall several previous blogs warning how long this stretch is and frustrating it can be, as you can see a water tank way at the bottom, but the trail meanders every which way, save down!

April 29th
Total mileage: 176 (although we’re around official PCT mile 183.8)
Today’s mileage: 15 (9 on May Valley Road + 6 on Deer Springs Trail)

Six-2 and I got a very early start after a cold night of cowboy camping. He was reluctant to stop at Idyllwild, as he needed to reach Cabazon in a few days time. I had often seen Idyllwild on various lists of “best trail towns”, and I was reluctant to miss it. We worked out a compromise. He agreed to drop into town for lunch and a beer, and I agreed we wouldn’t get sucked into the vortex of staying the night at the hostel.

It was fun to see the town crawling with other hikers. We chatted with Taxi, at the local brewery, and several others at the gourmet pizzeria. This was also our first time experiencing eccentric locals. A woman stopped and chatted us up on the boardwalk of the pizzeria. She filled us in on everyone’s business–sometimes while the subject was arguably still within earshot; and given that every local greeted her as they passed, you really did get the sense that everyone knows everyone in this very small community.

The food and beer were good, but everything was expensive. In retrospect, we probably should have just pushed on through to Cabazon.

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EXTRA: Joe Brewer has an excellent video showing this next stretch of trail from Idyllwild (Mile 179) To Big Bear Lake (Mile 266). I highly recommend subscribing to his channel:

Red Beard (Will Wood) also has a good video showing this stretch as well:

April 28th
Total mileage: 161
Today’s mileage: 19

Mile 142 to 151, plus 1 to cafe, then 9 on to Hurkey Creek campground

Reached Paradise Valley Cafe! Woot! Everyone was really, really looking forward to this pit stop. It is a little cafe on the edge of the desert with about 6 motorcycles on the side and 25 hikers here. There is already a sense of validity by reaching this place. I just enjoyed an enormous burger, fries, and am nursing my second blonde ale.

As we prepared to head back out, Taters read information to us about a possible alternative route around the closed segment of trail. I’m rocking my sunbrella already. Photo courtesy of Six-2.

 

The next 15 miles are a little in flux. The official trail is closed for 3 miles due to fire in past seasons, so there is a series of alternate trails to make up ground. None of them are official alternate routes. Some hikers are taking an 8 mile road walk to Idyllwild. It is hard to know which route to take, as the alternate routes are not well documented at all on trail, so it requires course-finding and a huge water carry. The problem is that I’m not as fast as most of the other hikers, I just often catch them in the evenings…so I am reluctant to do a lengthy unofficial alternate ridge alone in this heat when there’s the very real possibility that I’ll reach a junction that has no signage and no one else nearby. I think the safest option is to do a dirt road that parallels the highway to Idyllwild, as it still maintains continuous footsteps.

Several past thru-hikers have told me that Idyllwild is one of their favorite trail towns, so we all have high expectations.

UPDATE: Two women pulled over and offered us rides to Idyllwild, even though we weren’t hitching. And yes, we declined. The locals are very kind and supportive.

We hiked a bit further to Hurkey Creek campground and had a cold night of cowboy AND ninja camping. Quite a feat.

April 27th
Total mileage: 144
Today’s mileage: 17 + 1 for water at Tule Creek

This was the first day of ‘meh’. Up til now, there have been amazing views everyday. This was just a long hot day in the high desert.

One funny anecdote. Nearly everyone needed to visit Tule Creek, which involved a half-mile hike off the trail, down a steepish jeep road. When I reached it, there were already 10 hikers taking a siesta in the shade, including Darko, Taters and Six-2. Given that there wasn’t a lot of shade, I just decided to push on in the peak of the heat, with my ChromeDome Mean Umbrella Machine in swing. When Six-2 saw me preparing to head back out into the breach, he said with exasperation, “You’re not leaving now, are you?! In this heat?!” He later told me that goaded him into leaving soon after, hehe, and that he saw me up above on switchbacks approaching the ridge and did his best to give chase.

Six-2 and I cowboy camped on a hill with a nice view, near FM and a Scottish-Oregonian hiker named Toast. He was set up next to a large rock with several sizeable holes beneath it. We enjoyed watching him repeatedly throw things in there, trying to ascertain whether the recesses were homes to any critters. He was certain a snake was going to spring out. He gave us several memorable quotations over the coming weeks. One of my favorites was, “I’ve named my backpack Cheryl, so Cheryl can go farther than Cheryl did.” Hehe.

 

April 26th
Total mileage: 127
Today’s mileage: 18
Alternate title for today: Yavin 4.

Got a late start out of Warner Springs at noon. I was grateful that Maya was able to deliver my first main supply package of the trail. We had initially intended to mail it, but our plans were in disarray with The Breeze’s knee injury earlier in the week, and this locale was still within reasonable driving distance from James’ house that it made sense to not ship this time. Because trail towns are so frequent on the southern California portion of the trail, mailing resupply boxes is hardly needed. Generally, hikers prefer the freedom of buying food on the spot, because they know their preferences change, and also it prevents hikers from needing to waste a day waiting for a delivery that is late, or waiting for a Monday after having arrived in a town on a Sunday or holiday. My next resupply box will be to Kennedy Meadows South, the threshold into the High Sierras.

I felt good about getting 18 miles in between noon and 7pm, given the big ascent for the day. I knew the next water was at mile 127, so was really putting the hammer down the last several hours to try and make it before dark. The last hour or two went through a valley of amazing boulders. Some strangers were cowboy camping amongst the pink boulders, and they had a good fire already burning. I pushed on only because I had less than 1 liter, but I regretted about not having photographed them. I was surprised that the water source at mile 127 was a place called “Trail Angel Mike’s”, which I was familiar with from prior blogs.

There were about 20 hikers there. The host had just left for the evening. He had smoked chicken for everyone and left a cooler of beer. I heard he was very quiet, drunk, and announced he was leaving and wouldn’t be back. Unfortunately, by the time I arrived, there was no beer left and only one lonely piece of chicken, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I got my tent set up with the last bit of light. It was an interesting place. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

UPDATE: I pitched my tent between Six-2 and FM that evening. FM had a can of Dr. Pepper I was coveting and I made clear my intentions that if he left it cooling outside, it may very well not be there in the morn. Hehe. Amazing the number of times I ran into FM. We even chewed the cud again in Seiad Valley.