‘Hippy Hot Springs’ & Big Miles to McDonald’s – PCT 2017: A Hiking Story [08]

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Part 7 ‘Trails Names, Dinosaurs & Sleeping in Cyclones’ 

Day 21 (18/04) – Need To Get The Band Back Together

No alarm this morning, but I still arose at 6am. It felt good never needing to sleep in. I was glad to have set up my tent, as there had been a little moisture in the air. In fairness, you could probably hike the first 700 miles of the PCT without a real need for a tent, but it’s still chilly sometimes, and the tent allows for some warmth. I like to both use my tent, as well as cowboy camp – it just depends on the conditions.

Today was going to be easy hiking. Some small uphill sections and then downhill for the rest of the day. I convinced Echo and Bottlecaps to do some ‘mile 4 yoga’ (something Rex and I started previously) at a grassy area by a fallen tree. I felt good after, and we continued.

We were passing around the other side of Big Bear Lake, the town we had stayed in previously. The lake looked much bigger from this perspective. We stopped for our first lunch at around 11am at a clearing with seats – Echo wasn’t hungry and pushed on past us. A squirrel popped out for a visit. It wasn’t until Bottlecaps and myself had eaten that we realised Echo went the wrong way! He was headed back down to the road, but was too far ahead to chase. Luckily for the GPS app, he will realise his mistake and return. We decided to push on and meet him further on.

Most of the day was walking through a dry and sparse pine desert, with occasional snow around. We made it to the creek at the bottom, although the intended 17-mile campsite was too open and windy. Echo caught up, and we pushed on another mile – finding a sheltered wind-protected spot.

I realised tonight that aside from Sara (who was injured), we were at the back of our friend bubble. I knew I’d catch up easily, but it was my hiker family and not being with all of them was a little saddening. ‘Will I even see Maximus and Medic again?’ I sadly thought to myself. Ah well, it is early days and more people will pass through. I just wanted to catch up to Rex, Corky and Claire (Porter was now off-trail) at least and get the band back together – maybe after Wrightwood.

Distance hiked: 18 miles

Total PCT hiked: 286.5 miles

Day 22 (19/04) – Deep Creek Hot Springs

Cold… again…

It didn’t appear to be as bad as the night we cowboy camped before Big Bear. Though even in the tent, I was not overly comfortable. Luckily, it was too long before I had planned to get up anyway. The alarm eventually went off at 5:30am, but it was even colder than before. I opened the tent and a wave of cold air rushed inside. I made my usual coffee and oats in as slow time as possible to procrastinate getting changed and packing up. When I went to grab my bottle, the water had frozen the cap shut and ice was forming inside. ‘Damn‘ I thought, as I looked for where the sun was coming up – it was never going to hit us in time. I ended up getting up and packing up. The tent was frosted and the poles were covered in ice, making it a slow and tedious job. It took almost two hours from waking up to actually leaving camp – the slowest yet.

We had a long easy downhill day, and I felt good once having warmed up. I did my ‘mile 4 yoga’, and my pace was good. It was the first time I felt like I definitely had trail legs – where they could take me anywhere without too much pain or drama. I was getting fast, and so was Echo. Bottlecaps desperately kept up with us but he was panting and puffing trying to keep our pace. During the hike, we passed several day hikers coming our way. It was funny because day hikers always let you pass – far before you actually get to them. We joked that it was because all they can hear is ‘tk tk tk tk tk tk’ from the many pairs of trekking poles hitting the ground – thinking this:

“Oh shit, PCT hikers incoming… GET OFF THE TRAIL NOWWW”

We laughed for too long at the whole thing haha!

We eventually hit the somewhat low desert as the flowers started appearing again, along with some little flies that I called ‘eye-fly fuckers‘ – who fly around your sunglasses and get in behind them at times. How… like HOW… can flies hover one inch from your face no matter the pace you walk? Bastards!

We had lunch at Deep Creek Bridge, a large pedestrian bridge crossing the wide creek. I dried out my frosted tent and had a swim – damn refreshing! We had lunch there too as it was super beautiful, and finally set off again.

It was another 9.5 miles to Deep Creek hot springs. Again, I set the pace, pushing hard following the same creek around. We followed above the gorgeous Deep Creek set at the bottom of the canyon below. Another wonder of the desert!

Once we arrived at the Deep Creek hot springs we were greeted by a guy named Hippy Dave (who was just that). Several nude girls and guys were around, and a huge swimming hole with pools of warm spring weather built up within. We stripped to our underwear (not quite embracing the nude vibe going on), and jumped in the creek before then jumping into the hot spring pool, which was super hot! Our legs and feet were in heaven.

We decided to cook dinner at the Deep Creek hot springs and push on after a few nor miles to catch up with our friends.

As we cooked, one of the skinhead guys came up to us and asks “…You guys want some ice?“. After smelling all the weed and alcohol in the air, I assumed he meant crystal meth ‘ice’. I replied, “No, but thanks for the offer“. He walked away, tipped out an ice box full of ice on the sand and left…

“Ohhhhhh…. he actually meant normal ice” I said, to which I’d have gladly taken some…. ‘shit!‘. We all laughed.

As we packed up and started filling our water bottles, four semi-naked girls entered the spring behind us! We talked briefly to them about how we’re doing the PCT, etc, and we set off. Why???

We started to have weird conflicting thoughts about how we were not gay, and there was a reason we left the girls to start hiking… but there wasn’t a really good reason other than we were trying to get to Wrightwood before the weekend to pick up mail. As soon as we started hiking around the spring, 3 more girls rocked up – ‘you have to be kidding me!‘ we said. We really wanted to turn, but we wanted to push on too. It was decided to agree to just push on hiking – “we’re not gay, we just really enjoyed hiking” joking to each other as we laughed and hiked on.

We eventually came to a nice beach by the river not far after the springs. It was getting dark and I still didn’t have my new headlamp (waiting at Wrightwood), so we camped there.

Distance hiked: 23.5 miles

Total PCT hiked: 310 miles

Day 23 (20/04) – An Epic Journey to McDonald’s

We left at 6:30am and headed out of the valley. There was a dam we had to walk behind about 4 miles away. I was far behind, as I had to use nature’s toilet – but caught up somewhat just in time to see Echo heading the wrong direction and called him back. Bottlecaps was already well around the corner gone the wrong way. Always check your maps at trail junctions I’ve learned after making the mistake once myself. We had to ford a river and we waited on the other bank – no sign of Bottlecaps. I left him a note in the sand and we pressed on.

The October 2016 fires became evident right away – endless hills with no vegetation. It made for shadeless hiking and a lack of nice spots to have breaks. The burnt trees made surreal landscapes and were quite beautiful at times.

The day started with a lot of uphill but eventually went down down down all the way to Cajun Pass. On the way, we passed a young local couple who were interested in our travels and who also wanted to hike the PCT themselves. The guy wanted to shake my hand as if I were a celebrity. It was so weird because it was not the first time. It’s a crazy feeling that you’re actually inspirational to some people, when all I’m doing is something I love and want to do for fun.

We eventually passed a dam wall of a lake on the low side, and came up to the water level via the other side. The lake was huge! There was a small beach area in which we had a refreshing 10-minute break to wash the sweat off before pushing on. We hiked around the perimeter of the lake until the opposite side before continuing west.  ‘West… why are we still going west, I want to go north!‘ I said to Echo. We had a quick swim to cool off at a beach by Silverwood Lake and pushed on.

It was getting late in the afternoon, but we wanted to push on further. My legs were getting sore, but something inside gave me internal strength. We knew there was a McDonald’s at Cajon Pass, and I joked before that we should make it there earlier…. but maybe we could? I started to believe I could get there. Echo was half committed, but I pushed him to try – it would be a huge 32-mile day!

We pushed into the dying light of the evening, under huge power lines, and to a giant canyon in which we had to traverse its perimeter. I still didn’t have a headlamp at this time, as I left it at the summit of San Jacinto a while back. It was hiking in the dark again, but the starlit night made it possible to see some vague outlines. I just had to be sure not to walk off the canyon!

I pushed on hard, now bloodthirsty for McDonald’s and its fatty goodness. Camping was not an option! Echo suggested we camp and go there in the morning, but I told him I’m getting there tonight, and convinced him to follow. Down, down, down grassy hills all the way to the pass below. I could see the highway that the McDonald’s was in the distance – ‘come to me burgers and shakes‘!

Eventfully with tired legs, we made it to the road leading to McDonald’s. We had just hiked 32 miles…. 32…. miles! Crazy! We staggered in, haggard, hungry, tired and stinky, like two stray dogs ready to attack anything in our way. I ordered a large double quarter pounder meal, a large vanilla shake and twenty chicken nuggets, and finished the lot with ease. I fell into a splendour of satisfaction and contentment and almost resorted to sleeping on the comfy stall chair. ‘Would they care?‘, I thought.

Eventually, we left, and I suggested we camp under the highway bridge – Echo didn’t want to and we pushed through it looking for a spot on the other side. I didn’t mind him choosing, after the feat we just accomplished.

Echo suggested a spot in the sand just next to the highway. ‘Here will do’ he stated. The sound of the cars was loud, but Echo thought it wasn’t too noisy. We set up beds and got in… moments before a massively long and endless train some 10-20 metres away flies past SCREECHING on the tracks! It was one of those interstate ones with hundreds of carriages and went on for ages. Echo was laughing as I sat there shaking my head at him. Earplugs in I guess!

Distance hiked: 32.5 miles

Total PCT hiked: 342 miles

Next Post:

Part 9 ‘Motivation into Wrightwood & Mount Baden Powell’ 

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