- Miles hiked 21
- Total miles 325
- Hiked from 5:15 am to 4:00 pm
Today featured trail magic, damn dam and pizza and beer.
Hated to leave my idyllic little camping spot this morning, but got going at 5:15 anyway. Cruised up the trail a couple of miles to the hot springs. Apparently no rangers showed up, so those who chose to stay there had a good nights sleep. The hot springs were nice, but I only put my hands in. The rest of the hike out of Deep Creek Canyon was uneventful.
Hot springs
Still in Deep Creek Canyon
And still in Deep Crrek Canyon
Got about 8 miles into my day when a dayhiker goes by the other way and said Coppertone was set up just ahead. Oh yeah. No root beer floats this time, but an individual sized cherry pie and a banana sure hit the spot. I had been puzzling about what to have for second breakfast prior to this! Then another trail angel by the name of Hot Sauce Monologue showed up with her van and started cooking breakfast burritos for everyone. Double Oh Yeah!
This is such a great sign to see on trail
I waddled away from there with ideas of an easy cruise over to Lake Silverwood on the mind. It turned out to be not a bad hike, just nothing special. Most of it was in a recent burn, so there was no reprieve from the sun (it was cooler today at least) and there were no features that made a guy want to stop and enjoy. So I did a poor job of managing my hike, going far too long between breaks and not eating enough.
This is somewhat typical of where we get our water from. Yes, I filter it!
I was targeting Lake Silverwood today for my mileage. Coppertone had mentioned that there was a bit of a road walk to do before we got to the lake. So when I came out onto the first road off the trail, I immediately headed up it towards.the lake. I only got about a quarter of a mile when I looked down onto the road below and saw hikers. Doh. Took the wrong road. So I backtracked to the original trail crossing, and sure enough, there is the trail on the other side of the road. OK, now everything is fine. Well.... I came to another road and took it towards the lake. And it was a steep bugger. Got to the high point on it and it was a dead end. OK, now it is time to pull out the maps. Sure enough, the road I wanted was still down there below me. I eventually got it all figured out.
Nice view of the Silverwood dam that I should not have seen
Today I got introduced to the SoCal winds. You hear about them on other blogs and see evidence of them in the form of wind farms, but today I got up close and personal with them. I actually had to stop a couple of times while hiking for fear that they would knock me over.
I made it to a day use area where rumour had it a pizza place nearby would deliver. Teamed up with a couple of other hikers and ordered a large pizza (actually ordered a medium but they sent a large) and a sack of beer. An hour later, I was in a complete food coma. Made it through all but two slices. And they have breakfast written all over them.
Windy Lake Silverwood
Tonight I am stealth camping at a picnic area. There are mixed messages reagarding whether PCT hikers are OK to do this or not, but the idea of having flush toilets, running water and a picnic table are too much to resist.
Home for the night
No comments:
Post a Comment