An unexpected stop

So, originally I had planned on hiking straight to Warner Springs from Mt. Laguna, taking four days to do so. I did not count on how brutal the 37 miles after Mt. Laguna would be.

The first day wasn't as bad as the second. There were a couple places with shade, and one guaranteed water refill. All signs pointed to no water on trail between miles 48.7 and 77, though, so I had to load up with enough to make it a day and a half.

I loaded up 6 liters there, double my normal water load. Man that made my pack heavier. Also made it more awkward, as I had to hang the extra 3 liters off my pack in a non-optimal way. I also made "dinner" and ate it there, so I wouldn't have to use water to cook, later.

Turns out there was another water source a few miles later, which also had some shade, so I was able to resupply some there. After that, though, it was seven miles to my campsite, for a total of 19 miles that day. I had planned on only doing about 15, but wanted to get through that dry stretch quickly. After multiple days of just 10-12, that was a stretch.

Luckily, some lovely person had dropped a water cache at my planned campsite for the night, so the liter and a half I went through on the way there was able to be replenished. It was very warm that night, though, and the campsite (Sunrise Campground) was right near a freeway. Combine that with the fact that I was all sticky with sweat, and I barely slept 2 hours that night.

Miles 59.5 through 77 were torturous. I got a bit of a late start, so I didn't get going until about 7, which was less than optimal for what turned out to be the hottest, most exposed day I had experienced so far. There was a lot of ledge walking, no tall brush, and no cliffs above that might provide shade.

At 68, there was a supposed water source 1.1 miles from the trail. Luckily, I had enough water, so I didn't stop. Might have been nice to verify the source for the Water Report, and maybe get some cooler water, but wasn't necessary.

I made the mistake of hiking through the hottest part of the day, but without good shade, stopping wouldn't have done much. The little shade I did find around that time was very awkward to try and sit under. It actually hurt to prop myself up on the slope, so I didn't stay long.

I finally found some decent shade about four miles from the end of the day, and stayed there for a while. I got bored pretty quickly, though, and there was the siren song of the end of the day, so I moved on after about 45 minutes. Also, it was around 4 pm, so the heat was waning.

The last 3.5 miles of the day were almost completely flat. It was boring, hot, and completely exposed. It was torturous.

When I got to Scissors Crossing, I was exhausted both mentally and physically. There were a few hikers resting under the bridge there, along with a water cache. I dropped my pack, enjoyed a little shade, and drank most of what was left of my water. I had not planned on going to Julian, but after the last two days, I needed a break.

After a bit, I hauled my pack back on, moved up on to the road, and stuck out my thumb. With 18 miles to Julian, hitch-hiking was necessary. Apparently the people nearby are used to hikers trying to get to Julian, and are willing to pick them up. Took me about 15 minutes to get a ride.

The guy had just gotten done with a round of golf. He lives in Julian and works at the Julian brewery. He and I talked about the trail and how he would live to do it, but he has kids, so he is just going to section hike.

Next stop, Julian.

Hayes Peak

I figures this panoramic shot deserved it's own post. This was taken on Hayes Peak, and covers about the 90 degrees between North and West.

Some landscapes from the first 4 days

Just some shots I took a long the way

Days 2-4

Day 2:
Woke up not hungry at all. Not a good sign, but not the worst, either. The original plan was to make it to Cibbets Flat Campground (15-ish miles) by end of day. Yeah, that didn't happen, for a couple reasons. First off, I was still recovering from the 15 mile push plus another 4-5 miles looking for water with low water on day one. Second, once I got hiking, I realized my ankle was bugging me.

Pippin was already up and gone by the time I got moving, so I hiked solo. I had just enough water to make it the 5 miles to Lake Morena Campground, but there was guaranteed water there, so I wasn't too worried. It was a bit of slow going with my ankle, and I knew it wasn't going to be a good idea to push on past there that day, so I took a Near-0 to rest and RICE my ankle.

While there, I met back up with Roy and Katie (she is the one who made the awesome patch). They started with me at S&F's, but were doing 10s to start. They are fun people, so when they asked if I wanted to join them for day 3, I said yes for the company and to take it easy on my ankle.

There was a campground worker who lived on site in his trailer. He came around to take our fee for spending the night there with his dog, Larry. Larry was cute, and I got a little dog fix, as I was missing both Lucky and Chinook (my parents' dog).

Forced myself to eat a burger and malt from the malt shop just off the campground, but it took a few hours to get through it. At this point I was a bit worried about this no appetite thing, but I figured I would get myself rested and fully re-hydrated before I raised a true alarm about it.

There were a couple guys doing Trail Magic at the campground. They came by the PCT hiker spot and offered rides to their campsite where they were doing Chili dogs and S'mores. Since I had no appetite, I turned it down, but they also said they were going to be at Kitchen Creek Crossing doing Magic the next day.

Also, there was a shower on site. $.50 for 4 minutes of hot water. It was wonderful. I also rinsed out my dirty clothes and hung them dry.

Day 3:
Woke up at 4 am to hike with Roy and Katie. They like hiking in the dark. It's not for me, as I prefer to be able to see more than just what my headlamp illuminates, but the companionship was good.

My ankle was feeling better that morning, so that was good. Roy and Katie like to knock out all their miles before the heat of the day and rest for the afternoon, so they weren't going super slow, but weren't really pushing it, either. Water was still scarce, but the guys doing Magic were going to provide water, so we weren't too worried.

At one point, Katie called a break. I knew we had to be close to where the magic was happening, so before I dropped pack, I checked the Halfmile App to see how far it was. We were .08 miles away. I asked if they were sure about the break because of that, but Roy had already plopped down, too.

I hiked on for about 3 minutes before coming upon the site of the Magic. The guys had water, sandwiches, pop, gatorade, apples, and chips. Heaven. I dropped my bag, told the people there (2 Angels and about 5 hikers) about Roy and Katie, grabbed an apple and Gatorade, and said "I am going to walk back and taunt them." Which I did, and it got them up off their butts right quick.

We chilled there for a while, enjoying the company and the food. I was even able to steal some ice from the hosts for my ankle and elevate it. Eventually, though, all good things must end, and we moved on.

We made it to Cibbets Flat Campground that night, a day behind my original schedule. Ran into a little more magic there: more apples and some more ice. My ankle was grateful for latter.

It was really windy that night. REALLY windy. A few people's tents had to be moved around so they wouldn't blow down. Made it hard to sleep. The wind also blew a bunch of dust into my tent, even with the door zipped and the rain fly on.

My appetite was back, so I actually made dinner and ate most of it. I took that as a good sign.

Day 4:
Katie and Roy woke up at 4 again, but I wanted to sleep in, so they left without me. I hiked most of the day by myself.

It was a great day for hiking. I was in the shadow of a hill most of the day, so the sun wasn't beating directly on me. My ankle didn't hurt at all, and the trail was fairly smooth and level after the first bit, so I made good time

Made it to the Long Creek forge, and there were Katie and Roy! I had caught up to them. Also there were Simba, Lauren, and DaviAnna. Simba got his trail name on the AT. Not sure why. I should ask.

Simba and Lauren had to make it to Mt. Laguna before the post office closed, so they booked it. DaviAnna, Roy, Katie and I hiked pretty much together the 4-ish miles to Laguna, arriving there about 11am.

We had lunch at the little cafe there, and went to the store to pick up a couple things. Then we set up camp at Burnt Rancheria.

The weather started being a little weird, with the wind coming up again, but changing direction a lot. It also blew a bunch of clouds (we are at almost 6000 feet elevation) through our campground. Windy and damp.

This campground also has a shower. I am not quite ready to be dirty hiker-trash, yet, so I used it. I wanted to rinse out my dirty, dusty clothes, too, but with the misty air, I figured they wouldn't dry very well.

The wind is still blowing heavily, so we will see how well I sleep tonight.

The Long Walk Home: Day 1

Up at about 5 to pack my stuff. The sinus junk had gone away, and I was feeling better mentally. Pack was ready to go by 5:30, which was when breakfast started. Scout and Frodo provided it all again, and it was really tasty.

26 of us were starting from S&F's. It was a lot to organize, but they handled it with an ease born of lots of practice. At 6 we loaded into the cars and drove to the Southern Terminus. There was a lot of good energy, which helped alleviate some of my nervousness.

I made a fairly big mistake that first day. Last year I had 2 1.5-liter Smartwater bottles for water. I forgot they made them that big this year, and started with 2 1-liters. Since I only went through one bottle last year getting to Hauser Creek, I thought I would be fine.

I arrived at Hauser bone dry. Hauser was also bone dry, and I still needed water to cook dinner and breakfast, as well as make it the 5 miles to Lake Morena. I ended up going upstream over a half mile to see if some pools still had water in them. No dice. After getting back to camp, I got a bit of water from someone who had extra so I could make it 1.6 miles to a cistern that was for sure full. Luckily I had enough light left to do it. I was completely exhausted after that, though, so I just purified some water to drink, put up my tent, and went to bed.

I hiked most of the day with a German guy whose name I can't remember. Big surprise, as I am horrible with names. When we stopped at the stream at mile 4.4, he said it looked like a good spot for Second Breakfast. Hearing that, I commented that saying things like that would get him a Hobbit nickname. He said he was fine with that, so I said "OK Pippin" and called him that the rest of the day.

We saw two pretty big rattlesnakes when we got water after getting to Hauser, so that was interesting

Another Hiker creation

Another hiker who is staying here tonight embroidered patches in prep and handed them out. There were multiple colors.

It Begins

Landed in San Diego. Got picked up by Greywolf to head to Scout and Frodo's.

Lots of nervousness on my part. I am questioning my sanity, but I am not going to quit now. Going to give it at least a month (unless I get injured).

I hate plane travel. Always get a crick in my neck and some sinus crap. Usually a decent night's sleep clears most of that up, luckily.

So many people here at S&F's. Haven't been able to take it all in, yet. They have an amazing setup for the hikers. Big tents for people to sleep in. Pretty much everything a hiker might need is here, and what isn't is a short trip away.

I just got handed a little handmade charm from an Australian guy. He has a bunch, and they are trying to get them to Canada.

Scout and Frodo are going to feed us both dinner and breakfast on top of giving us a ride to the trailhead. They say they don't take donations, but apparently they don't turn down smoked salmon, so I am glad I brought that as a host gift.