Water, Water, Where is the Water?

 Stats: Tuesday night 5/17, MM 152

(109.4 new miles, 152.2 total miles, 2,497.8 to go)

 

End of a long week, ready for R&R

This is a longer blog, will try to keep them shorter and post more often going forward. 

After our day of rest on Mother’s Day, we set out from Lake Laguna on a very windy morning, temperature about 30 degrees. Quite a change! Climbs weren’t too bad, most of the terrain was smooth. Along the way we saw some of the most gorgeous views I’ve ever seen. It was so windy all day you felt like you could get blown off the edge of the trail! 

Video - Dan walking on the edge.

Watch short video of a windy panorama.

We arrived at a picnic area that had a water spigot. Met Jamison, a younger guy from Colorado. His pack weighed only 20 pounds with food and water – about ½ of our pack weight! There must be something we can do without.

Next we saw a rock area that overlooked a big mountain. Looking more closely, we saw what seemed to be grave markers on the rocks that had pictures and dates. Felt kind of sad, almost like we were intruding.

On the map we saw a campsite very high up with beautiful views. But it was too windy so we went back down the trail about 1/3 mile to 3 campsites below some bushes. Overall a cooler today, thankfully, temps in the 60’s. 

Tuesday was another day of amazing views of big valleys and mountains. The trail was flatter than normal so we were able to hike 17 miles, most yet! 

There was water at the trail head but we needed to filter. Most of it was clear, but some yellow stuff also. Yuck! Thank God for filters. Then we came to the 2nd water barrel and found bees buzzing all around. Other hikers there said to go for it, they’ll not bother you. And they didn’t – no one got stung. When you’re thirsty enough, you’ll do anything!

We ran into Semi, a man who got his name from his kids because he hiked the AT and didn’t finish. Also saw Lucy, who we had run into before. 

After 15 miles we were really tired but decided to go another 2 miles. We also figured out how to lighten our packs, so we’re going into Julian tomorrow to send some items home.

On Wednesday we woke up at our usual 5AM – it’s colder at night so we pack up early and get moving to warm up. By 5:45 we’re ready to hit the trail on most days.

After 10 miles we came to Scissors crossing, the access point to get a ride to Julian. Three other hikers joined us, we were all hitchhiking for rides into town. 

Chris picked us up in about 5 minutes in a small car (the other hikers had to wait). He had a lot of stuff in his trunk but still managed to fit 2 packs in it. I sat in the back seat with my pack on my lap. We rode 7 miles into Julian on winding mountain roads. 

Nailgun, Chris, Gramps, and Dan

Chris is an army vet who served 2 tours in Iraq, he’s disabled now. We enjoyed talking with him. He drove us to the PO, gave us his number and said we could call him in the AM for a ride back (which we did).

After the PO (I sent 3 pounds home – may not seem like a lot, but it was almost 10% of my pack weight!), we went to the hotel, cleaned up, and washed our clothes. Mom’s Apple pie served free pie, scoop of ice cream and a drink, complimentary to hikers. What a blessing! We went there for a mid-afternoon snack, then later went out for dinner.

Mom's Place

Thursday, Chris met us for breakfast at 9AM, our treat, and we gave him some gas money. Then back to the trail by 10AM. Quite hot today so we carried 4 liters of water each. Remember, 2 lbs per liter so added 8 lbs of weight to our packs. 

We met Bubbles, who was resting in the shade. After a brief conversation, we took off. A short while later SHE came up to US when we were resting, then walked 4-5 miles with us. Found out she has one lung from an infection she had when she was 17, plus her heart is on the opposite side of her chest. With all that, she could keep up with us just fine (not that we’re fast or anything!). It was very humbling and encouraging: if she can do this, we can too.

Bubbles

We weren’t going to hike 14 miles because we started so late, but we needed water and had to go that far to get it. When we arrived at the spot, we found a water cache: a few skids of water bottles. Thank God! It’s way too hot to be without water. The cache is supplied by some "trail angel" to hikers on the PCT where there is not any water naturally on the trail. We had to hike down a steep trail to get to it, but well worth it. What a huge blessing for us!

Near the cache was a huge campground in the shade. We decided to call it a night – after 14 miles in the heat with little water, we were done. Well done!

Got up 5AM as usual on Friday, did the usual routine. Today’s hike was a long gradual climb, 10 miles to a pickup point for resupply at a local store. On the way we passed the 100-mile mark. Only 2,550 more miles to go 😃!

The store is run by Wonder Woman, and she also runs the shuttle. When someone calls, she locks up the store, picks them up, then opens the store back up.

Wonder Woman and Nailgun

We got there around 11AM, blazing hot, felt very fatigued. Several other hikers were already there drinking soda and eating snacks. How hot was it? It was so hot that sitting under a tree felt like being in air conditioning. Since it's not humid here, most of the heat comes from being in the sun.

We met Scoop and Kidney. Kidney got her name because when she hiked the AT she passed a kidney stone so had to go home. But she was able to come back and finish the hike. Also met Guy from England who was icing his leg due to a shin splint. About 15 hikers in all, lounging around all day. We thought about hiking more, but it was 9 miles to the next tent area so we decided to hang out with the other hikers and camp at the trail head later. Wonder woman took us back there late afternoon and we set up camp.

Another "appetizing" water source

Saturday, we were up and going as usual. Today we hiked through huge prairies with cattle grazing. Trail went straight through prairies with cows all around us. It’s a beautiful wide open prairie surrounded by mountains.

Watch video of the prairie views.

Some of the cows wanted to join our hike. Watch here (video from Gramps).

Next we came to Eagle Rock. So cool! 

Watch panorama video of the Eagle Rock area. Not a tree around in this desert area!

In addition to the cattle, saw 2 snakes. Don’t know what kind, didn’t get close enough to see (or take a picture). We also saw Guy sitting on the side of the trail. He said he didn’t need help, he was going back to sit out a few more days to let his shin splints heal.

We met Squeaky, who hiked the AT in 2017 (a year after me). She works as a hiking trail guide all around the country. We saw another hiker we knew from the store going the wrong way, but found out later she sprained her ankle and was also heading back to town.

Bubbles hiked with us on and off for most of the day, and ended up camping with us. We stopped after 14 miles today. Two guys arrived at our campsite after dark, talking, so we hoped they’d move on but they stayed. Sound carries out there – when they kept talking, I reminded them of the unwritten rule that at Hiker Midnight (dark), everyone is quiet and most are sleeping soon after. Thankfully they respected that and stopped talking.

Nice shady spots

Fish, cow, or just interesting stump?

Left camp at 5:45 as usual on Sunday and started a long day and long uphill hike. Not as steep but 12 miles, the longest climb I can remember. Half way through the climb, Dan and I went off the trail to get water. Found it in a basin, smelled like rotten eggs but we needed water so we filtered it, thankfully it was OK. 

We continued up the trail until we got to Mike’s Place, where he had huge container of water for hikers. Another blessing. 

Also had an older style ranch house with a big porch, surrounded with open spaces, cars, projects in progress, and other odds and ends. Lots of hikers were already there, on the porch and in the yard. 

Mike's Place - Nailgun on the porch

One nice feature: an outdoor privy! Not something we’ve seen yet out here.

Um, missing a few walls!

About 10 of the other hikers “cowboy camped” (sleeping bag only) on his porch. I put my tent up a little distance away because I knew it would be noisy on the porch, even though it was very windy at night. Gramps and Danny went to cowboy camp on the other side of the house to escape the wind. They didn’t know there was a sensor light above them until too late to go somewhere else. Every time they moved the light went on, not a good night’s sleep. Two other hikers slept in tents in the driveway, I heard banging noises like they were building something.

On the way out of Mike’s Place on Monday, we downed a liter of water then filled our bottles. We had a pretty easy climb, then a nice downhill. We kept passing hikers, then those hikers would pass us, all day long. That’s often how it goes on the trail – you pass hikers then they pass you. Passed a 66-yr-old German man, Micah, talked to him a bit off and on. We also met Klina from Ireland and Laura from England, hiking together. 

We really needed water, and found the next mapped water spot at the bottom of a steep downhill. When we got to the water, we found that the underground spring barely trickled into a little puddle where you scooped the water out. Painfully slow process, but had to do it. At least it was fresh!

Another windy night of camping, we found shelter best we could.

Tuesday we got up at 4:30 to beat the heat. We had a few hill climbs, but not too bad. Our goal was 12 miles to a town where we planned a zero day. We needed water, found some after 5 miles at a trail angel’s house named Mary. She manually fills a huge tank just for hikers. Another blessing right where we needed it.

Made it to the road to Paradise Valley Café, a hiker favorite. We walked a mile to enjoy a burger, fries, and coke. SO good after a hot hike! Many other hikers were hanging out there. 

Another trail angel, Grumpy, gives rides. We paid him to take us to a hotel in Idyllwild, about 17 miles away. He was a very unique character, eclectic in his observations about the views, trees, and life in general. Interesting conversation.

We’re ready for our day of R&R on Wednesday, a shower, laundry, and eating "real" food. Next blog I'll talk about what type of food we take on the hike, and favorite foods for days off.

Overall we’re doing very well, and progress is starting to pick up. Like the AT, the scenery is breathtaking, and even surprising in some ways. Here are some pictures from Gramps of local plant life - beautiful and beware, sometimes a little of both. 

From Gramps, a look ahead:

“We head back out early tomorrow morning for the next section of 60 miles. If you zoom in on the two photos you will see the two mountains we will be ascending. The one on the left is mount San Jacinto which is the taller of the two at over 10,000 feet in elevation. We will top out a little over 9,000 feet on both mountains. Once we get past these two we have a 20 mile downhill to I-10 leading into Cabazon California where we will get our next R&R.”

While in Cabazon, we’ll also pick up a package from our own personal trail angels: Mary, Elaine, and Jackie. Can’t wait!

Thank you as always for your comments and prayers, we appreciate every one.

Godspeed!