Days 23 - 29
May 3 - 9, 2021
Mile 266.1 - 369.3
After a relaxing rest day in town yesterday, it was time to get back on trail. We checked out of the hotel and walked to a bagel shop. I bought two, one for breakfast and one to pack out for lunch on trail. I also stopped at the post office to mail some postcards and send my mircospikes home. I had not needed them for the San Jacinto mountains, but it would have felt silly to not at least carry them out of caution. But for a while, the trail would stay out of high elevation mountains so they were unnecesary to carry for at least another 400 miles.
We got a ride back to the trail from the same guy as yesterday who had brought us into town. Joe was a really cool guy, helping out hikers until his own hike later in the summer. He dropped us off in the same spot where he picked us up. We started hiking at 10am. The trail was so perfect and smooth and the miles just melted away under out feet. Slice called the trail "vegan butter," so silky smooth it can't be real. A couple of us had one hiccup where we took a wrong turn and hiked on the wrong trail for about half a mile before realizing our mistake. We had confidently walked off in the wrong direction after getting distracted at a junction by a very friendly and cute dog. Eyes on the trail!
It was about a 20 mile day today and even though the trail was easy, it felt really good to be pushing these bigger miles. With just over three weeks on trail, it felt right to start upping my daily mileage. Thankfully, my tramily (trail family) agreed. I was feeling good and strong. I also felt a little sore, but the good kind of sore where my muscles ached a bit after a full day of hiking, letting me know that I was only getting stronger.
The next day, we put another 22 miles of trail behind us. For most of the day, we followed Deep Creek. It was a nice change of scenery to walk alongside a river for almost an entire day. We got to take a lunch break under a large footbridge by the creek. Unfortunately, we didn't last too long there before the abundant gnats flying in our faces encouraged us to keep moving. We stopped again about an hour later where the river slowed to a pool and we went for a swim. There were no gnats to force us away here, but after a good swim to cool us down, we felt the pull of the trail.
We made it all the way to Deep Creek Hot Springs by late afternoon. These natural hot springs lay right on Deep Creek, the hot water draining into the cool river. It was marvelous. We set our stuff down, stripped to our underwear, and clambered to enjoy the hot springs and cool river combination. I am no stranger to desert hot springs, so I took a bottle of cool drinking water and my umbrella with me as I made my way over to one of the pools. I found a nice little ledge I could sit on with the water level up to my shoulders. The shade from my umbrella kept the sun off my head and I was able to stay hydrated even as the hot water made me sweat. I sat in the pool for a while. There were other people, non-thru hikers, there as well. This location is incredibly popular as these natural hot springs are only a two mile hike out from a road and is quite the party scene. Someone mentioned that there was a two week period when every day emergency services were called to come rescue someone. Desert hot springs and drugs can be a very dangerous combination.
After cooking in the hot spring for a while, I cooled off with a swim in the creek. We decided to camp here for the night. It was getting late and we had already had a pretty big day. We found some spots to set up our tents, ate dinner together, and watched a big beautiful black rattlesnake crawl through the desert scrub before turning in for bed.
I didn't get much sleep before being woken up by Sorority Steve around 3am. He told me something had happened and a helicopter might be coming soon. He told me I should get my stuff packed up to avoid potential damage from the helicopter. Whoa. As I was trying to process this in my sleepy brain, I asked him what happened. He said a man had been found dead. Well that was the fastest I had ever gotten all packed up. I found Mango and Slice and got more of the story.
Mango had been woken up by someone screaming for help, for someone to call 911. She found a woman, two hikers, and a hot tubber doing chest compressions on an unresponsive man. She asked if anyone had checked his airway. They hadn't. She asked if they had checked to see if he had a pulse. They hadn't. She checked and found neither and also was able to tell that the man had been dead for a while. Using her Garmin inReach, a Personal Location Beacon that uses satellite communication, she contacted emergency services using her SOS button. They told her they contacted the local sheriff's department and to hang tight.
We all sat huddled on the creek beach for three hours until the local deputies were able to hike out. No helicopter was sent. There is no reason to needlessly put personnel at risk as there is less rush to remove a dead body than there is to save a live one. We wanted to leave earlier, but the deputy informed us through Mango's Garmin that it was a death investigation and they needed to interview anyone who knew anything. So we waited. They arrived a little after 6am. They were very nice and quick and let us leave after asking just a few questions. We started hiking at 6:45am. We had to pass the man's body on our way out. While we didn't receive any confirmation of what he may have died from, where he died and what he had on his person at the time showed that hot springs and drugs can be a dangerous combination.
Despite the grim start to the day, we pushed on. It was a hot day and I was very glad for my sun umbrella. I hiked with Sorority Steve and Bushwack (previously named Mocs, but recently rechristened) most of the day. We passed by the Mojave River Dam and stopped there for a short break in the shade made by the large concrete walls. We entertained ourselves by shouting and playing with the echoes off the walls. When we got to where the trail joined highway 173, we got a hitch to a small county store. We bought some chips and gatorades and ate ice cream on the store's porch. It was so nice and refreshing. It was another baking hot day and the frozen snack and electrolytes brought back some energy.
We met up with the rest of our crew at Silverwood Lake picnic area, giving them the gatorades we had bought for them. We set up camp and enjoyed the end to this long and crazy day. I cowboy camped, or camped with no tent, for the first time on top of a picnic table. There weren't a lot of good places to set up a tent around the picnic area and there were also a lot of ants I didn't want crawling over me. The table seemed comfortable enough, as long as I didn't roll off of it. That was a hell of a day and I was eager to fall asleep.
When I woke up the next morning, I found that my sleeping pad had a small leak in it. It wasn't too bad yet, but certainly needed to be fixed or replaced. I was a little shocked that after only 20 nights of use it already had a leak. I was always careful about where I set my tent and used a groundsheet. At least the rest of the day was much more typical than yesterday. I felt fast and strong as I moved over the trail. It was a really beautiful day. I got to see beautiful views and three garter snakes. Two were crossing the trail and easy to spot. The other one fell out of a bush two feet away from me as I hiked towards it. I hadn't known it was there until it fell. I imagine my presence is what spooked it enough to abandon its bush, but a snake falling several feet in front of me made my heart skip a beat. I reached the trailhead just beyond the Cajon Junction. I waited there for the rest of the crew to show up so we could walk in together.
Cajon Junction is a fun and interesting spot. The trail crosses this interstate and state route junction. There is a gas station and market, some fast food joints, and a motel. I was ecstatic to discover that the Del Taco had beyond meat tacos and ordered three. They tasted delicious. The market had a pretty good resupply. I only needed food for a day and a half. Mango and Slice got a room at the motel for the night. The rest of us were planning to hike out and sleep on trail for the night, but we hung out together in their room and enjoyed the air conditioning. We spent a while discussing some of the logistics of the upcoming section. It was a 25 mile stretch with no water, other than a water cache in the beginning, almost all uphill with 5,000ft of elevation gain, and it was going to be hot with almost constant exposure.
Sorority Steve, Bushwhack, Redline, and I left the sanctuary of our friends' motel room and hiked out another 5.5 miles. We wanted to give ourselves a head start for this upcoming challenge and get some of it done in the cool of the evening. We made it to the water cache in Swarthout Canyon just as it was getting dark and set up our tents.
The infamous dry uphill stretch north of Cajon Pass that I had fretted about so much yesterday, was not nearly the challenge I thought it would be. The morning was beautiful with the whole canyon covered in a blanket of fog. I started hiking around 5:30am. While it was mostly uphill, it never felt steep. I was at a lower elevation in the cool of the morning so I didn't feel the heat then. And though it became warm throughout the morning, I was increasing my elevation so it never got hot. It was just another day on trail. I made it to Guffy Campground just after noon. We had planned to camp here for the night and then nero into town tomorrow. I thought maybe this plan would change as it was still so early in the day and I didn't think everyone else was too far behind.
I took a break in a shaded grassy spot in the US Forest Service campground and listened to my audiobook and took a nap while I waited for my friends to catch up. I thought about continuing on and doing the last five miles to the highway to get to town. But I didn't want to just leave everyone like that. Also, finding and paying for lodging by myself for a Friday night would be hard. Everyone rolled up around 4pm and we set up camp. Since this campground was accessible by car, there were a bunch of other campers there setting up their camps and cooking dinner. It was a little louder than I had gotten used to, but it was so lovely to see these families out enjoying their public lands. One family kindly offered us water and other snacks, but we politely refused as we would be in town tomorrow morning.
The five mile hike to Highway 2 was easy. Getting the hitch was the hard part. A couple of cars were leaving town, but no one was headed in that we could ask for a ride. We stood there for a while. Most of us didn't have any cell phone service, but luckily Mango did. She was able to call one of the PCT friendly stores in town and they gave us a list of Trail Angels who lived in Wrightwood that we could contact. The first two didn't answer, but the third person did. Jeff drove out and picked us up 15 minutes later. Since there was seven of us, he made two trips. Truly an angel. We gave money for gas and thanks for driving us into town.
When we got to town, the first thing we did was go to the Evergreen Café. There is nothing better than breakfast after getting off the trail. Everything was so delicious. I went to the Mountain Hardware store, but they didn't have any sleeping pads other than a giant foam mat that I didn't want. I did my food resupply at Jenson's - they have everything a hiker could ever possibly need or want. I checked in at a cabin for the night. It was hard to find lodging in town. My original plan was to stay at a farm with the guys just outside of town. But I was feeling a little burnt out and needed my own space. I love those guys, but I needed a bit of me-time. I got to take a shower and watch tv for a bit. Then I went to join the rest of the crew for dinner. We hung out at the brewery and then I turned in for the evening. I capped the day off with ice cream and watched Bring It On: All or Nothing.
We took a zero day today. I slept so well. Even a lumpy mattress is better than a deflating sleeping pad. I felt like I indulged in town food too much yesterday, so I skipped breakfast and enjoyed my private room for a little bit longer before I checked out. I spent the day hanging out with the gang and doing other small chores I didn't get to yesterday. We checked into our room for the night and did laundry. Wrightwood is such a great little town and is so friendly to hikers. The Mountain Hardware store gave all the hikers an enamel PCT pin. I pinned it and an enamel Mountain Bluebird pin that I purchased there. A little while ago, someone gave me the trailname "Songbird" since I was carrying a pair of binoculars so that I could bird along the trail, and also because I frequently tend to sing myself. I finally started getting used to introducing myself to as Songbird.
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