Trail-names, Burgers & Sleeping in Cyclones – PCT 2017: A Hiking Story [07]

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Part 6 ‘San Jacinto & Fuller Ridge ‘Alpha Mountaineering Crew”

Day 15 (12/04) – Dinosaurs

We allowed a generous sleep-in to 6am to recuperate after the days’ effort of coming down off the San Jacinto summit and ridge. Abi was still fast asleep, so I woke her up, setting off at 7am. 
Now, we were out of the alpine zone and re-entered the desert via a meandering mountain trail. Sometimes the trail went up just as much as going down! Looking back up at San Jacinto was amazing when walking down – to think we were there only a day ago!

Along the way, I decided that Abi’s trail name should be Rex, for her love of dinosaurs and an earlier moments discussion involving Jurassic Park. She loved it!

Echo, Abi – now Rex and I made it to the bottom of the mountain. We found a weird upside-down water spigot. We Awkwardly filled our water bottles here – very much needed after devouring our water supplies in the midday heat. We briefly met an African-American hiker here – Akhuna. A veteran of the Appalachian Trail, and on his second attempt of the PCT after an injury on his first.

We said goodbye, and the four of us road walked to a nearby trail-angels house. The trail angel here offered shade, water, power and fruit – perfect for our needs! She also offered a ride into Cabazon as she was already heading in, and we took it, knowing burgers and milkshakes were on the menu soon. On the way, we got to see the dinosaur museum and grab a photo. Great timing after Rex had received her dinosaur trail name!

We thanked the trail angel and ordered our meals. I devoured a burger, two servings of chips, a coke and a thick shake (which the waiter gave to me for free as a future aspiring PCT thru-hiker). Hiker hunger was getting real, and it felt good to finally be full. We joked about how we felt like homeless people in the restaurant.

After the food, we needed to hitch back to the trail. I went first in a pickup with an awesome guy named Scott, and Rex and Echo came a few minutes later.

We set off on the trail again in the late afternoon, passing Corky who had set up an early camp. ‘He’ll catch up’ we thought. We had to cross the flat stretch of land between the two mountain ranges in the area. There were a few homes around and we were soon approaching a large wind turbine station called Mesa. It was awesome walking past the fields of yellow flowers.

At the main building of Mesa, a security guard let us inside the office and offered us water and a bathroom. It was a common water resupply point for hikers, and we were grateful for it.

It was getting late, and we were running out of light. We decided to cowboy camp at the end of the valley. There was only an open field that was sloped and it was getting almost pitch black as the moon was behind the horizon. We camped all in a row with our feet backing onto a lone tree on the sloping land.

Distance hiked: 19.5 miles (31.3 km)

Total PCT hiked: 215 miles (346 km)

Day 16 (13/04) – Mission Creek and Whitewater Preserve

There was NO sleep to be had that evening. The wind picked up in huge gusts and made sleeping impossible!

‘I love sleeping in a fucking cyclone!’ I had to blurt out, Rex laughed. It is good to find humour in shitty moments like this, we joked for a bit about the situation, before attempting to sleep once more. We managed a couple of hours, before packing up to leave at 7am. Echo and I made breakfast, leaving Rex to sleep. We knew Rex doesn’t cook in the morning and is a fast packer, so we didn’t wake her.

We set off over the ridge, only to find more wind, which made the hiking tougher. There were lots of switchbacks, both heading up and down. Somewhere amongst all this, we crossed San Andreas Fault, the border between two tectonic plates – a unique experience for me as a lover of geology. I could see all the faulted and buckled strata, but never actually worked out when we specifically crossed the fault.

Spontaneously, we took a side trip to Whitewater Preserve, a kind of tourist resort on a desert river. They welcomed PCT hikers, but didn’t have a lot to offer other than shade and a bathroom, so we headed back to the trail. Rex and I had a quick wash in Whitewater river – cold but refreshing!

There was a long stretch of ups and downs again before hitting Mission Creek – a river we’d be following for a long time to come. We had lunch at the first available shade and decided on a short nap after the horrible previous night’s sleep.

Seven more miles was decided to be the goal before camping and pushed on up the creek. There was another nice swimming spot that we called a jacuzzi, and this time Echo and myself went in.

After several hours, we were exhausted. We almost made our planned distance, and found a flat spot behind rocks where we could cowboy camp out of the wind. I had to do some weeding to get right into my spot, but at least there wouldn’t be any wind cyclone tonight!

We shared some conversation over food before sleeping – a range of topics from ‘deep meaningfuls’ to the current days hiking. Rex decided my trail name should be Tatters because I had torn up clothes – receiving a fresh tear on my shirt that afternoon (I already have a lot in my pants). It felt fitting due to my last travel experiences with torn clothes, so I accepted it. At last – a trail name!

Distance hiked: 18.5 miles (29.8 km)

Total PCT hiked: 231 miles (371.7 km)

Day 17 (14/04) – A Cache With a Lounge

I awoke five minutes before my 5am alarm. No wind, and not too cold – a great night’s sleep! Echo also woke and we both did our routine breakfasts. Rex didn’t need to be woken yet, as per normal. We needed an hour to be fully packed, and she only needed half an hour. ‘A time-efficient girl – so hard to come by!’ I thought to myself.

The morning hike was cold in the valley following the creek. Eventually though, the sun broke out and soothed us in warmth. Echo must have had more energy than Rex and myself, sluggish to get our hiking pace on, as he sped off ahead. Rex and I decided to break out some yoga to music at mile four. It was fun and we decided it should become a thing – mile four yoga session!

We caught up to Echo at the final water crossing for about ten miles at least, dipping our sore feet into the cold stream as we filled our water bottles – I took only four litres, but * camelled at least a whole litre too. (*camelling is drinking a large quantity of water prior to a waterless stretch)

Up, up and up was the next few hours, crossing into a regeneration zone where a fire broke out. It was hard and my ankles were certainly feeling the constant stretching.

At the top, the snow became visible and scattered in the distant ridges – back in the high desert! Echo had once again zoomed off, with Rex and myself taking it much easier. We passed several snow crossings on the trail, but they were well-trodden, meaning no snow gear was needed.

It was about 4:30pm, and we were doubting if we were going to make the campground near the bottom of the valley about 8 miles away. We decided to have dinner on top of the peak, then push on into the evening. It was nice to travel with a spontaneous hiker where decisions are made in the moment.

Time went by, as did the dying light. We found a trail angel cache involving a dumpster and a couch up on a ridge, three miles from the road. ‘Oh my gawd!’ We both thought staring into the dumpster and the magic within. My favourite hiker cache to date!

We pushed on into blackness. I eventually was enjoying attempting to navigate with no light, and managed to get all the way until the last half mile – it became almost a game! I was impressed at how well your eyes can work in near-pitch-black conditions.

Seeing others’ camped at a campsite, I arrived pretending to be a monster with my shadow. Awkwardly, I then realised the people weren’t hikers I knew. Continuing on, we eventually found other hikers camped at the back of the campground, including Echo. Echo was happy to see us again, and the three of us cowboy-camped again in the pine forest.

What a day – a record distance!

Distance hiked: 25 miles (40 km)

Total PCT hiked: 256 miles (412 km)

Day 18 (15/04) – The Township of Big Bear Lake

OMG, IT WAS COLD!

I was shaking, frozen in my sleeping bag from the cold thick air rolling through the valley. It was in the negatives, as my water had also frozen. I thought about snuggling up to Rex or even Echo just to get warmer, but to move was painfully cold. My sleeping bag is rated to -6 Celsius (20 Fahrenheit) comfort, but it’s definitely not comfortable at that, let alone zero degrees!

We bit the bullet at 6am and packed up, it was the first morning I had hiked in multiple layers. Eventually it was warmer and the sun hit, and we made it the final ten miles to the highway, where a much needed water cache was waiting. We grabbed a hitch into Big Big Lake from a local lady in a SUV.

We checked in at the hostel in town and finally got to relax. Rex and I had Thai for lunch – huge plates of Pad Thai and some spring rolls. We met some friends there: SF4T, Maximus, Medic, Corky (who arrived late in the evening). There were no more beds, so we slept on the couch. It had been a long time since sleeping on something other than my sleeping pad, so it was great!

Distance hiked: 9 miles (14.5 km)

Total PCT hiked: 266 miles (428 km)

Day 19 (16/04) – Chilling Out in Big Bear

A great sleep followed by the smell of coffee and pancakes – hurrah! This was the second zero-day I’d had and definitely needed it. Sadly, it was Easter Sunday and not a lot was open, but we enjoyed just lounging around.

The post office was closed, and I had a new phone ordered waiting there (my phone’s power button was partially broken). I had to wait until Monday for that, but I did my grocery shopping with the others.

Rex went in super chef mode and made a delicious spaghetti bolognese with salad and garlic bread, followed by baked cake. We were in heaven!

Doc, the hiker (but for now) volunteer was treating guests with… alternative… herbal remedies. One of which was fresh cut greens beans in a can to treat sunburn. We laughed as Mechanic had his hands in two bowls of the stuff, and Corky with it on his forehead. We laughed at the hilarious situation, but were surprised when the colour changed on their skin…“Oh wow”.

It was a little sad to see everyone break apart here. Maximus and Medic were already ahead; Rex, Corky and Claire were leaving in the morning. Rex needed to get ahead to meet up with her dad. Sara was staying due to injury; which left Echo and me again, leaving late the next afternoon.

Day 20 (17/04) – Shortest Hiking Day of the Trip

We said goodbye to Rex and Corky in the morning, it had been amazing hiking with them – but we were planning to reunite after Wrightwood.

Echo and I were chauffeured around by Doc and his car, going to the outfitters where I bought new pants, and to the post office.

Bottlecaps joined us, and we hit the trail again at about 4pm (after Doc dropped us off). We only hiked about 2.5 miles before camping at a small campsite in which an older couple we had passed several times were camped – Mountain Woman and Mountain Goat.

Distance hiked: 2.5 miles (4 km)

Total PCT hiked: 269 miles (432 km)

Next Post:

Part 8 ‘Hippy Hot Springs & Big Miles to McDonald’s’

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