PCT 2019 Day 9 May 12/19

Daily mileage 12 plus 6 bonus miles
Total mileage 167
Hiked from 6:00 am to 3:30 pm

And that is that.

I woke up to a calm but cold morning. I knew the day involved a boatload of climbing, so let's get at it. The first few miles went ok, but those same niggling doubts about about why I am out here crept into the ongoing self conversation that goes on continually in my head whilst hiking.

To explain: I really do not enjoy hiking in the desert. The scenery is alright when viewed in a vacuum. But when I consider the other hikes I have done, the scenery blows. And I still have 4 weeks of it to go.

I called my amazing wife to wish her a happy Mothers Day while on a viewpoint overlooking Palm Springs. While talking to her, a recurring thought bounced around inside my melon: Now that looks like a city that would have an airport!

As the morning wore on, the doubts about why I am out here grew. I hiked this selection of the PCT in 2017, so there is really no excitement about what is around the next corner. As a matter of fact, it is the opposite in that I know where the nasty bits are before I get to them.

Long story short, I have decided that the dream of a continuous thru hike of the PCT is not for me. I hiked 1,355 miles of the trail two years ago and have now rehiked 167 miles of the trail this year. I think that what makes sense for me is to simply pick away at the remaining 1,300 or so miles over the next few years.

It is not to say that the desert does not have some great vistas

So that is all fine and well, but now I had to get off the mountain and figure out a way home.

It is really hard to see it but there a a colorful striped snake on the right side of the trail

I knew that there was a side trail to Hwy 74 from Fobes Saddle so that is where I would make my egress. But wait, nothing is ever that simple. As I was heading for the saddle, I felt a slight twang in my right knee. By the time I got to the highway, walking was actually difficult. Man that came on quickly.

I hitched a ride back to the Paradise Cafe within 15 minutes of arriving at the road. Thank you Trail Angel Cathy. Then I caught a ride all the way to Palm Springs with a very nice family, again within 15 minutes of sticking out my thumb.

After a few calls with my ever patient wife I had a hotel booked and I took my first ever Lyft to get there.

So that is that. To be honest, even if I had not decided to leave the trail for now, I would have been forced off at least temporarily by this knee injury. Walking on it today (the next day) is challenging and I do not even have a pack on.

Thanks for following my ramblings.

PCT 2019 Day 8 May 11/19

Daily mileage 24 plus 2
Total mileage 155
Hiked from 5:30 am to 7:00 pm

Even thru hikers get the blues.

Despite the fact that I shared a campsite with an extremely loud snorer last night ,(world class actually), I got a pretty good sleep. But tonight to be safe I have a site that there is no way to fit a second tent.

Where was everyone today?  During the day I saw exactly two thru hikers. I also saw one day hiker who was hiking barefoot. To each their own. Then I saw two more thru's after supper.  Very scant.

When I woke up this morning, I had the blahs. Day 8 of re-hiking the desert. Don't get me wrong, there is beauty to the desert. But it is a beauty that could eaily be appreciated within a two day hike. I still have a month of it. And I have already seen it once two years ago.

So what to do for motivation? Well I decided to break my long standing  rule of only using music on hikes as a last resort. The decision to plug into music all day was also aided by the fact that I had "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer" on an endless earworm loop yesterday. Luckily it was the Billy May samba version, but still endlessly annoying. Anyway, long story short, it worked. The blahs were held at bay for the day.

I must admit that I can only bring myself to put one earbud in because I want to be able to hear any warning rattles.

The first half of the day was spent on a gradual downhill which was nice. But when I got to the bottom of Nance Canyon (notice how I place that name out there like any of you have the foggiest of where Nance Canyon is) at mile 140 the trail turned uphill. And it will remain uphill until around mile 180 when it gets as high as it is going to go on Mt San Jacinto. That is one long uphill grind.

Early morning light

Yet another very welcome water cache

The upcoming Mt San Jacinto

Hiking on the edge

The highlight of the day was the Paradise Cafe. It is a decent burger joint located within a mile of the trail. Hence the two bonus milea today. I had a rather good burger and beer before tackling the last 4 miles of the day.

The Gus Burger

Home for the night

PCT 2019 Day 7 May 10/19

Dailey mileage 22 (plus 1 that didn't count
Total mileage 131
Hours hiked 6:00 am to 5:00 pm

A day spent mostly in the clouds.

Having gone to bed (and not to sleeping pad) around 9 pm last night, I was very surprised when the alarm went off at 5:30.  Ugh I could always take another zero!  But no, Canada remains the same distance away when my feet are not shuffling up the PCT.

The hotel is located about a mile from the trail. There was a cheat available that would have shaved a couple of miles off my day, but once I start cheating at this PCT thing, why not do the Big cheat and fly back home!

The day's hike began with a flat fast stroll through some fields. A very fast hiker jolted me out of my daydreams when he asked to get past me. It was a young guy who goes by the trailname of Machine. I had not seen him since just before Laguna. We caught up with some trail chat later in the day.

There were some serious rain storms around here this winter

The trail meandered up a stream valley before turning it's attention to the Big climb of the day (around 2,000 feet).  As I climbed higher, we (we being the trail and I) got closer and closer to the high fog or low cloud that had been just above the trail all morning. Then I went into the mist.

That made for nice cool hiking but adios to any vistas.

Cruiser trail

Climbing into the mist

Limited views

The rest of the climb went fine. I stopped to get a couple of litres of water from a trail angel' s place before tackling the last of the climb.

Water provided by Trail Angel Mike H

There are not many camping spots in this part of the trail so I grabbed the first one I saw. Funny part is I think I camped in this exact same spot in 2017 on the 7th night of that hike.

Home for the night

PCT 2019 Day 6 May 9/19

Daily mileage 0
Total mileage 109
Hours hiked n/a

Zero day in Warner Springs

I messed up yesterday by arriving late into a trail town. That virtually forced me to take a zero because there was no time to get town chores done in the evening.  Typically I like to camp a few hours out from a town the night before and then I have all the next day to get my chores done.

And what chores are those you ask? Well let me tell you. First and foremost - shower.  Then eat food that does not have to be rehydrated. Then do laundry. Then eat some more food that someone else cooks. Then chart out your resupply needs for the next leg. Then eat something that actually has veggies in it.  Then shop for your resupply. Then eat at an actual table. Then catch up with your blog.

Simple as that. Add a nap or two in and you get the picture.

So on the trail I have something that I call my rate of acceleration. Simply put, how fast can I go from 0 to 2.5 mph. Let me explain. I wake up in the morning pretty much at first light. On this hike, i have fallen into the bad habit of lolligagging around in my downy cocoon for 10 or 15 minutes.  Then my bladder tells me that it is time to get up.  Packing up my worldly possessions take another 10 or 15 minutes. At that point I think I am ready to hike.  But wait, the bladder just announced that it is somehow full again.  So that puts my rate of acceleration at around 30 to 35 minutes. Room for improvement but still not bad.

Generally I have first breakfast a couple of miles up the trail, so that helps the time to get out of camp.

PCT 2019 Day 5 May 8/19

Daily mileage 24
Total mileage 109
Hiked from 6:00 am to 5:00 pm

A day of snakes.

My little wind sheltered camp site worked out just fine last night.  A few gusts got in there and shook the tent but overall it was a good night.

I got rolling with a single mission in mind: get to the water cache 6 miles up the trail. I had enough to get there, but only just.  Again, I cannot thank these trail angels who haul hundreds of gallons of bottled water up a remote dirt road  enough.

I was cruising up the only long hill of the day when I saw something silver stretched across the trail.  Snake! But there was no rattle attached to the end of it so my anxiety went down immediately. If anyone knows what kind of snake it is in the picture I would love to know.

So then it was on with the task of completing the climb.  The day was neither hot nor cold.  The wind did kick up a bit but not as bad as the last couple of days.

Over the top and down the other side to Barrel Springs.  I was the only person there, so I took a prolonged break that included a big lunch and just general down time.

Old mine shaft. How did these old timers know this was the right place to dig?

Then it was off to cover the last 8 miles into Warner Springs.  The profile looked pretty benign so I was thinking of an easy cruise.  Silly me. None of the hills were large, there was just a bunch of them.

100 miles in the bag

As I was mindlessly wandering up one of the hills, I saw something black poking out from behind a bush.  This one definitely had a rattle on the end of it and it was a big one. Luckily it was fairly flat terrain so I could walk around it.  It showed no inclination to move otherwise.

The rest of the hike into town was without incident. I had decided to stay at the only hotel/resort rather than tenting it.  The call of a shower was mighty indeed.  So now I am at the Warner Springs Resort for at least one night, likely two.

One thing about a small place like Warner Springs is that there is but one restaurant in "town" and it closes at 5:00 pm. I got here just after 5 which is why I am enjoying a couple of delightful frozen microwave burritos for dinner.

Home for the night

PCT 2019 Day 4 May 7/19

Daily mileage 21
Total mileage 85
Hours hiked 6:00 am to 4:00 pm

The day that not very much happened.

I got up near first light after an unexpectedly poor sleep and was away quickly. The miles just came hard today. It was in no way a punishing day elevation wise and the day was cool, albeit extremely windy, but I just was not feeling it.  But I am still early on in this hike.  The trail legs will come.

Random sign post

The trail ahead

I cannot recall being filthier in my life.  The last natural water source was Oriflamme Creek yesterday around noon.  Since then we have relied on the generosity of trail angels to provide water.  It would be the height of ingracious behavior to use donated water to do anything but drink it, so the filth gathers. Oh well, I should be in Warner Springs later tomorrow or early Thursday.

I know that before the start of this hike I said I would stretch out my hiking day rather than picking an arbitrary distance for the day.  Well, there goes that notion. What I had forgotten or ignored was just how whipped I am at the end of around 20 miles.

The cacti blooms are stunning

The trail behind

The misty fog on the hills I hiked in yesterday

Granite Mountain

Well, here is hoping for a calm night.  I am tucked away from the wind somewhat, but Big Agnes is getting rocked a bit already. BTW Big Agnes is my tent you filthy minded readers.

Home for the night

PCT 2019 Day 3 May 6/19

Daily mileage  22
Total mileage 63
Hours hiked 6:30 am to 4:00 pm

Easy hiking and lots of wind.

I slept very well in my dingy little cabin.  The wind gathered strength throughout the night and I awoke to a very misty and windy morning.

The profile for today's hike showed basically flat ending in a steep downhill.  And that is what the trail provided.  Basically cruiser trail.  I even managed my first ten by ten (ten miles by ten am).

The mist burnt off around mid morning meaning I could take in the sweeping vistas.  Just stunning.

Misty morning trail

Clearing up

I believe that is the Salton Sea in the upper right

Oriflamme Creek.  Yes I did get drinking water from there!

An abandoned section of the Sunrise Hwy repurposed to be part of the PCT

By late afternoon a few rain clouds made a brief appearance.  Just a few sprinkles but enough to urge forward progress.

At the end of the hiking day, I decided to grab a rather luxe campsite and get set up early in case of rain. I could have milked a few more miles out but stopping seemed prudent.  Now I am regretting that decision as I listen to a loud group in the site next to me going on about how they are bad ass hiker trash.  If you have to announce that status, then you probably are not.

Home for the night