Day 33
Today's Miles: 18.5
After soaking in the hot springs last night, we (well I should say "I") woke up a little late this morning. We managed to pack up and get on the trail by 8:15am though and started our hike out of the Deep Creek area. Before we left, Twist managed to get a couple pictures of the river and hot springs.
Technically you aren't supposed to camp near the springs....
If the sun hadn't gotten in this picture, you would be able to see it reads, "No Camping". You can see a hiker's campsite right behind the sign along with his underwear drying on it. Ha!
The hike out of Deep Creek was much like the hike in. The trail hung high over the creek, giving us great views all morning.
As we continued to wind our way over the creek, we popped around a bend and got our first view of Mt. Baden-Powell. We will be summiting it in a matter of just a few days.
We encountered a lot of spray painted rocks along the trail, but just before we dropped down to the Mojave Spillway, we ran into three ladies who were working hard at removing the graffiti.
Thanks Ladies!
The Spillway from above...
The spillway from below.
Shortly after the Spillway, we ran across a small ice chest left for PCT hikers! We each had a soda and were joined by Lucky Nalgene who had left before us but mistakenly overshot the trail at a river crossing and had walked a couple miles or so out of the way.
Twist diving in for a Coke!
We leapfrogged with Lucky Nalgene, Alex and Coop all day and passes them on our way to have lunch at the side of a small creek. Now along the way, we kept seeing Oak Balls in the trees and it reminded me of my Step-Dad Russ. He loves making little animals out of them so as a tribute, we collected the Oak Ball and other materials over a mile or two and made what very well may be the first (but probably not last) PCT Oak Ball Cow!
Notice the detail in the tail area, Russ? Ha Ha! We left it on a rock as a trail marker.
As we wound in and out of the hills, we got some great views of the cloud cover up ahead of us.
As well as of the Lizards around our feet!
We descended down from the hills and started toward Silverwood Lake.
Me in front of the rock damn.
We got some pretty nice views around Silverwood.
We picked a camping spot at a boat-in-area with picnic tables and trash cans, ahhhhhh the little things!
I've never appreciated a table or place to sit more in my life than on this trail.
We set up camp and just as we were getting in our bags, Alex and Coop hiked down to join us by the lake. The trail these last few days has been great. Hopefully it continues that way into Cajon Pass because there is an on-trail McDonalds that we plan to put outta business tomorrow!
-Tailgate
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
