warner springs

Scissors Crossing 77.2 to 3rd Gate Water Cash 99.2
Back from the kick off.   Water was very short but a beautiful day in the desert.  Camped at the 3rd Gate Water Cache.     Started early and hit the 100 mile mark mid-morning.  Am now  relaxing here at the community center.   The resort here is closed so the community stepped in with supplies & hot food that we can purchase here & rest from the heat.  Passed Eagle Rock in the late afternoon. Finished section A.   18 miles today. 

MP 109. I am camped under a large oak tree outside of warner springs. Started out at 6:45 am to try to avoid the heat. Hiked 19 miles and my feet still feel good. the grades are gentle but moving gradually upwards. Juniper and scrub oak are starting to replace the cactus, sage and tumbleweed. water is scarce. There was only one natural water source in the last 31 miles.

April 26, 2012.   Have now arrived in Julian, Calif.     Mile point 77.    I have averaged 13 miles a day over the first six days which is about what I wanted to do.   I am going to take a zero here.   In hiker parlance a zero is a day in which you record no miles, a day of rest.  From here I hope to hitch a ride back to Lake Morena for the kick off celebration.     You can read about it here.     http://adzpctko.org/
I should be back to Scissors Crossing on Sunday and will then recommence the hike.  

Julian is a charming little town.    More later.  

April 25, 2012.    Day 5.    17 miles.    Camping near the  Rodriguez Spur fire tank at mile point 68.4.    Hiked through the Anza-Borrega desert today.    The weather was cool.   Had a wild thunderstorm last night with driving rain and gusts of wind that must at least have been 30 - 40  - 50 miles per hour.   I was seriously concerned about how my fragile little tarp would fare and spent most of the night awake, holding on the the tent pole.    The wind was shrieking and the tarp was flapping so hard that it sounded like gunshots.    My tarp was blown down once and I had to go out to restake it in the rain.   In the morning I found out that most of the other hikers had similar experiences.   There was about an inch of rain.  All in all I was pleased, though.   My quilt got slightly wet, but not enough to compromise the insulating quality of the down.    

 Because of the rain last week, the desert is abloom with wildflowers.     They tend to be small, delicate and subtle with occasional splashes of ostentatious color.    The flowers sometime carpet the ground, white and purple flowers making a mauve carpet; or sometimes white with flecks of yellow, red and purple.   Unfortunately they are so tiny that none of my photos were able to do them justice.

     


When you stop and listen you can hear nothing but the wind and the buzzing of the bees.

A rainbow after the storm.

The cactus flowers are particularly ostentatious.

Two friends and fellow storm survivors:   Rainier, from South Africa and Matt, from Kentucky.   

This little fellow was not very anxious to share the trail with me.     I believe he is a western diamondback (rattlesnake).    When I came upon him he was stretched out across the trail and appeared to be about 3 to 4 feet long.   He quickly coiled up and buzzed fiercely.   

April 24, 2012.    4th day.   Mile point 52.6.      Gorgeous weather today, cool yet clear.   Perfect hiking weather.    The terrain has now flattened out somewhat. 

Hiked about 17 miles today.   Camped at the Pioneer Mail Picnic area.    Had a long conversation with a horse trekker who was ending his trek because his horse, one of three, became lame.    Years of planning and he is out after less than a week.   Lots of folks camping here.   Although the hikers spread out during the day they tend to congregate around the water sources at the end of the day.  

April 23, 2012.   17 miles.   3d day.    The weather today is misty and cool so I am willing to hike a little harder.

We camp at Long Creek, milepoint 37.1.   Water is relatively plentiful for this time of year, I am told.    The terrain is desolate and arid, yet beautiful.     Rock formations are striking, like fingers punching up through the ground.  

 The fellow below is my friend Nu, one of the five Japanese hiking the trail this year.   We camped together at Long Creek, haven't seen him since, but we agreed to meet up at the kickoff.    He uses only a tarp for shelter and carries no stove.    This is not unusual for thru hikers.   

April 22, 2012.   Second day.    9 miles.     Hiked down to Hauser Creek where I was able to find water at mile 16, first water in 15 miles.   Immediately ascended a 2,000 foot elevation gain out of Hauser Canyon.   Temperature again in the 90's, the hike was tough.   Arrived at Lake Morena in the late afternoon.    Milepoint 20.  

Jo was kind enough to do some posts for me while I was out of contact with the internet.   I am in Julian now, day six, and will try to get this journal up to date.  Unfortunately they may appear out of chronological sequence but I don't have the time to figure out the solution to that.

April 21, 2012.   Here I am at the pct trailhead marker.   The wall in the background represents the Mexican-American  border.   I was lucky enough to get a ride out here by someone who, in the parlance of the thru-hikers, is a trail angel.    In this case Pea Hicks, aka "Girl Scout,"  who hiked the trail in 2004.    A trail angel is a person who performs random acts of kindness to hikers.     Also in the car on the way out was a fellow who was making a documentary about PCT trail angels, there are many of them, and I was interviewed just before beginning the hike.   Perhaps I will appear in a movie sometime.      

girlscout

On the first day I walked 10.6 miles, temperatures in the 90's, and camped under a small grove of oak trees up a jeep trail just off the pct.   

PCT- 4-25-2012

I am at the Sunrise Trail Head, north of the Pioneer Mail Campground and
south of the Anza-Borrego Desert. There is rain predicted for this
afternoon, so I want to get in my hiking before the rain if I can. The
weather is beautiful, a little overcast, and it is a good day to hike in
the desert. There was a rainstorm about a week ago, and the desert is
in bloom with huge and gorgeous wildflowers everywhere.

Posted by Jo McClain

4-24-2012

I am near Mt. Laguna Lodge.  The weather is beautiful and water is plentiful.  I have had no problems with tendonitis and walking. My electronic devices are letting me down, but everything else is going well.

Posted by Jo McClain

sat down in the shade

sat down in the shade of a large boulder to rest and fell asleep. Woke feeling refreshed.

started hiking from Campo at

started hiking from Campo at 7:30 this morning. By noon the temperature was over 90 degrees.

Didn't bring any fuel for my stove reasoning that the isobutane fuel canisters would probably be prohibited to ship on an airplane.    Now I discover that in all of downtown San Diego there is no place that sells isobutane fuel canisters so I'm not going to be able to use the stove anyway.    Made myself a replacement stove with an empty cat food can.    I know that sounds strange but it is actually a pretty well recognized way to make a cheap and lightweight alcohol stove.    If you google "super cat stove" you will probably get 10,000 hits.   

The irony is that I decided not to use an alcohol stove for safety reasons:  California doesn't allow open flames to be used in some areas when it gets very dry, which is most of the time.       

Had to ship my pack in a big card board box on the flight out here.    Used nearly a whole role of strapping tape to make sure it was securely fastened.    Went to check it through as baggage and was demanded by security personnel to declare what was in it.    (flying with a one-way ticket)   So I told the woman there was a backpack, sleeping bag, clothes, etc.   -- Did I have a stove?    Yes, I do.    YOU HAVE A STOVE?!?!?!      STOVES ARE STRICTLY FORBIDDEN.  
Immediately I start to back track.   Well, yes, it's kind of like a stove, but it's not a real stove.   Not a stove, stove.    No fuel.   Doesn't have a canister.   Couldn't possibly present any risk.  I say.
  
So I am required to open my box and am demanded to show them the suspected stove.     I plunge in, rummage around and emerge with -- my titanium pot -- and hand it over.    Mind you, I never affirmatively said that the titanium pot was a stove.   That was their assumption.  

The woman disappears with my pot for a long time.   I start to get nervous.    Have to catch my plane.   People are standing in line behind me.  

She finally comes back, broadly smiling, and informs me that my "stove" is not the kind that is on their list and that I may check it through with my luggage.     (I am not making any of this up)    She asks me about my travel plans.   When I tell her I am going to hike the PCT she asks if it is something that I have always wanted to do and I allow that it is.  

She then proceeds to tell me that playing the banjo has always been on her bucket list and that she has started to take banjo lessons and we begin a conversation about her love of the banjo and her banjo playing.    

All of a sudden she ceases to be the adversary and I see her as a merely another human being.

   

Finally made it to San Diego only to find that my bus to Campo does not run on the weekends.    Serendipitously I've found a ride to Campo that leaves tomorrow morning at 6 a.m.    I had been hoping to update this blog via email through my new phone but can't figure out how to make the damned thing work and don't have time to figure it out.   I can update with text messages --which looks like what I'll be doing for a while.  

xxx

In a huge rush today running around trying to get everything done before I leave on Wednesday.    I will be flying to Denver to visit family for a day and then on to San Diego.   Should be on the trail on the 20th or the 21st at the very latest.    That's several days earlier than planned.   Although I had hoped to get a bigger jump on it than this, I am now glad that I missed the storm on Saturday night.  

Wow, 109 mph wind speed likely incorrect, but it makes you wonder how hard the wind really is blowing.

HPWREN multicast-based weather station data display 
20120228 03:38:00 - Mt. Laguna: 32.89N 116.42W 6200' 

Air temperature = 138.2C 280.8F degrees 
Relative humidity = 94.3 percent 
Wind speed = 48.8 meter/sec 109.2 Miles/hr 
Wind direction = 188 degrees horizontal 
Barometric pressure (not altitude adjusted) = 798.0 millibar, 23.63 inHg60 
One minute rainfall = 2.3 mm/(m^2) 
Solar radiation = 0 watt/(m^2) 
Fuel stick temperature = -6999.0C -12566.2F degrees 
Fuel stick moisture = -2.4 percent
NOTE: Very high wind speeds (above 80 Mph or so) 
are likely incorrect and due to anemometer ice buildup 
under wet and freezing conditions. The built-in heater 
should eventually allow it to recover. 

snowing at mt. laguna, 45mph winds lower down, up to 60mph on the ridges.

I understand there are thunder storms in the So. Cal. mountains.   Heavy snow in Wrightwood.   Freezing levels down to 3,500 feet.   8 to 14 inches new snow. 

Hope it doesn't delay my start. 

Many ask me if I intend to mail food and supplies to myself along the way.    There  are two schools of thought on this.    I would guess that about half of the thru hikers on the PCT mail the bulk of their supplies and about half simply buy their supplies at stores as they go.    I plan on the latter method, except that I will mail food ahead to two locations:   Kennedy Meadows and Warner Springs.    I may also, at times, send supplies ahead by mail in a box (actually a bucket) which will accompany (or bounce) with me along the trail.     
 
 Those who have hiked the trail seem to agree that even if you do resupply by mail you will almost inevitably be stopping at towns for additional food, etc.    So why bother with the huge effort of shopping and mailing I ask myself?    So I will stop at towns, probably once every 4 to 6 days to resupply with food and fuel.     That's the plan. 

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy him forever."