We woke up this morning after a late night. The young lady at the front desk took Twist to the store a few miles down the road and bought beer for all of us hikers at the KOA. Another hiker showed up late, Clay. He had been craving ice cream, but the store had already closed. Fortunately for him, the people at the campground were very hiker friendly and opened up the store so he could get that ice cream he wanted.
Needless to say we were all moving a little slower that next morning after a case of beer. Not to mention the local raccoon that terrorized Dream Laugher all night. AND the roars from the nearby big cat preserve. But we were still out by a quarter after seven in the morning and heading up and over the mountain to Agua Dulce.
The trail for the day started out right on the Santa Clarita River.
As we climbed up from the campground, so did the sun.
We all hiked pretty close together through the morning, except for Clay who had gotten out of camp at least two hours before any of us.
As we reached the top of the first climb of the day (just after the video above was taken), we saw yet another young Rattle Snake.
We crested the second climb of the day and got a great view of mountains we hadn't seen yet.
As we reached the base of the next highway, we crossed under it through a tunnel and into the Vasquez Rocks State park.
See the moon?
DISCLAIMER: The video below contains ONE curse word.
Walking in and out of the rocks was jaw dropping. A few hikers got a little lost with all the possible side trails to take but eventually found their way through. After a leisurely 10.5 miles and a mile walk down a side road we arrived at Hiker Heaven! There is no shortage of hospitality here. We've had our laundry done, got a place to sleep (couples get a room) and bicycles to go in and out of town as we please. Thank you Saufleys!
A hiker that had to get off the trail in town donated a tent to the hiker box at the Saufleys. We set it up and it didn't last more than a couple hours before it was claimed in a coin toss between hikers.
Our room.
We will zero here tomorrow and do a quick resupply. Then it's on to the Andersons at Casa De Luna only 24 miles away.
We woke up behind the fire station this morning and decided to take a route around the Poodle Dog Bush that we devised using a series of highways and service roads. Dream Laugher decided he would come along and we'd try to make the KOA campground by late morning or early afternoon.
Shortly after we started down the first leg of our detour we were able to get service and read about an 'official' detour on the PCT-L. But because we were already a couple miles into the day and confident in the detour we had invented, we were determined to charge on.
After turning off the highway 3 miles in, we hit a series of service roads and walked under high voltage power lines for the next few miles.
From our detour we could see the mountainside that the trail went along.
After the service roads, we had to cut through an RV park with a locked gate, but luckily there was a gap in the fence and we were able to hike through relatively unnoticed.
We hit Soledad Canyon Road and got a view of all the iron in the mountains.
On the last stretch of road we passed a movie set.
We made it to the KOA campground in a little over 5 hours and settled right in. We ordered food and Capernicus and Oddball showed up shortly after.
Dream Laugher napping in a golf cart while we waited for lunch to be delivered.
Twist, Oddball and Capernicus talking about the Poodle Dog Bush they went through.
We are loving the KOA here. For only $5 per person we get a campsite, showers, a pool and a hot tub. Tomorrow will be an easy 10 miles to Agua Dulce to stay at Hiker Heaven with the Saufleys, so the next few days should be fun hanging out and meeting other hikers.
Today we headed out from the Boy Scout camp knowing that the next couple days we would be walking through the burned area from the Station Fire a few years ago. Along with that, water would be scarce and we had heard whispers that Poodle Dog Bush was so bad in some sections that it was impossible to get through without contacting it. So we set off to find out first hand what it was all about.
We had a nice quick morning and reached the fire cleanup detour at Pacifico Mountain Road. There we took a little break and were visited by a lizard who was after a bug behind Twist.
After a quick break we continued on down Pacifico Mountain Road and started to really see the damage the fire had done.
You can see it atop the mountain.
Looking back toward the untouched area.
The pine cones still attached to the burned trees.
The view for the afternoon was pretty much the same....burned.
But as we continued on into the fire affected area, we began to see Poodle Dog Bush in quantities we hadn't seen yet but had heard were coming.
As we hit the fire station we looked at the maps and saw there was a picnic area down near the road. So we headed down to scope it out for a campsite and were a little disappointed when we found no site and didn't want to camp right on the busy highway. As we were sitting under the shade of the outhouse assessing what our next move would be as far as a campsite another hiker, Dream Laugher, came down to check out the supposed picnic area. Or lack thereof. We all decided to walk back up behind the fire station and see what we could find for camping. There wasn't anything better, but we were closer to the water and had a cleaner outhouse so we took it!
You can see Dream Laugher's tent pitched in the planter....yes, that's Poodle Dog Bush next to it.
We opted for the pavement (which wasn't too bad) under the water tank.
Tomorrow is supposed to bring the section of trail where the Poodle Dog Bush is the worst. We have worked out a tentative alternate to get around it using a series of roads. But will see how we feel in the morning before deciding which way to go.
Today we woke up at camp and started to gather our things. One day hiker wandered over to chat before his hike and just before we were heading out we met another thru-hiker, Jaybird.
We had a few options today regarding the endangered species detour. This detour closes 7.7 PCT miles to protect an endangered species of frog. So our options consisted of:
1) We could take the new official endangered species detour, which is 20.5 miles long.
2) We could take the old endangered species detour which was only 4.9 miles but also included some road walking on hwy 2.
3) We could ignore the detour all together and charge through. We heard of some hikers doing this. Poor frogs.
We chose option 2, the old endangered species detour.
We had some fun during our road walk.
The day hiker we meet earlier that morning spotted us on the road and pulled over to say hi and give us a beer!
Tailgate enjoyed most of it. I think mostly because he didn't want to carry a full can of beer. It was actually quite good.
Later down the road another car pulled over to see if we needed a ride. We declined and explained we needed to walk these miles. However, we were surprised to hear that they had given our friend and fellow thru-hiker, Robo Cop a ride back into Wrightwood that morning. Robo Cop's partner Happy Pants had to leave the trail while in Wrightwood. The couple explained that Robo Cop was headed back to Wrightwood to get off the trail too. We were so sad to hear this news! I hope they both get a chance to jump back on the trail this year for a section hike or two.
We got off Hwy 2 and continued on the PCT for awhile.
Later, we passed mile 400! It seems like just yesterday we were passing mile 100!
Shortly after mile 400 we arrived at Camp Glenwood, a Boy Scout camp near Hwy 2. We decided to call it a short day and camp here. The next section of trail is very hot and dry from what we hear. I think camping here will position us to hit the next few water sources and camp sites more effectively. We will see.
This afternoon we took some time to catch up our written journals and probably will call it an early night.
We had a hard time leaving Wrightwood this morning, it was such a fun little town. But we managed to get a ride back to the trail on highway 2 along with Robocop from a local trail angel named Mary. We were very appreciative and were back on the trail at about 8:15am. Immediately we got daytime views of what we had glimpsed in the dark while hiking the other night.
Our view out over the desert.
A glimpse of Baden-Powell where we would be hiking today.
One thing I love about hiking in the forest is not only the long range views, but the close up as well. For instance, trees in this area come in all shapes and sizes.
This one seemed to have grown itself into a knot at one point.
We took a short break at the base of Baden-Powell and Robocop joined us. But he was going to be taking the high desert alternate so we headed off to summit the mountain by ourselves. The climb up was fairly easy and there was surprisingly little wind at the summit making for a very enjoyable time.
This is the "Wally Waldron Tree" at the junction of the PCT and the trail up to the summit. It is mostly out of the ground except for a few roots and estimated to be over 1500 years old!
The view toward Mt. Baldy.
And toward the desert.
We enjoyed the views from Baden-Powell and moved on down the other side. The long stretch down was filled with wide open views so we took our time and eventually made it to Little Jimmy Spring where we filtered water.
Me...filtering.
We would have camped at the very nice Little Jimmy campground just past the spring were it not for all the stories of the scraggly looking bear who frequents the site looking for food. So we continued on for a couple more miles and camped near Islip Saddle just past the third crossing of Highway 2.
It's windy here, but we have a great Mountain Hardwear tent so it shouldn't be a problem. Tomorrow we will have to decide on what detour to take around a section of trail closed for an endangered species of frog. Odds are we will opt for the old alternate that requires a bit of road walking...but it beats going 20 miles out of the way on the official one.
I guess we technically did some miles today very early in the morning during our night hike. However, it felt like a zero. We woke up from a few hours of much needed sleep and decided to look around the Pines Hotel for any other hikers. We found Robo Cop and Bo. We also heard Coop and Alex made it in too.
Our little cabin at the Pines Motel.
We decided to go take care of our chores first thing. So we headed to the local grocery store to re-supply.
Jensens had a great selection and we were in and out pretty quick.
The next and more important order of business was lunch! We decided to head to the Yodeler with Robo Cop. Bo, Southern and Rubbs also joined us. We all enjoyed some awesome grub and a few beers. I had an Ortega cheeseburger, fries and a fat tire beer. All of which were Devine.
The Yodeler
We went back to our room and Tailgate took a nap and I caught up on some good old reality TV shows. I may have even snuck out while Tailgate was napping and got my self a rocky road ice cream cone.
On a side note, people have been asking me if I have been losing any weight yet. Well, my answer is no not really. I have maybe lost 5 pounds, but I can tell I am becoming more muscular. Also, I have been devouring all kinds of crazy calories whenever I get the chance and am maintaining a good weight.
Speaking of calories, later that evening Tailgate and I ordered two pizzas for dinner. We ate every piece and went to bed fat and happy.
We have a big climb up to Baden-Powell tomorrow, we'll need the rest.
-Twist
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, May 6, 2012
May 5th, 2011 Day 35 Today's Miles: 27.4
We woke up this morning, decided to check out late and night hike the long dry section between Cajon Pass and Wrightwood. It's 22.5 miles with no water and in a burned area to boot, so it seemed like a great night for our first night hike! Oh, did I mention that the moon on the 5th would be the brightest moon of the year? Needless to say, we were excited to see how this decision would play out.
We hung out at the McDonald's for a few hours until it was time to hit the trail and did some more food damage. We both had another order of nuggets and fries along with sodas. I went back for another large fry and a good ol' hot fudge sundae, while Twist went "healthy" and downed a whole bag of "spicy" fruit from a street vendor.
We set out for the trail at about 3:30pm and while it was still warm out, we knew it would only get cooler as the evening went on. The first few miles out of Cajon Pass were pretty interesting. We went under the freeway and got to see where all the train noise we had been hearing the last day and a half had been coming from.
Walking under the freeway:
The train tracks next to the freeway.
Just after we crosses the tracks, a train came rumbling through.
We had a few hours of daylight left and wanted to at least make it to Swarthout Canyon Road before dark. Along the way, our Rattler count rose to seven with our first baby rattler sighting.
He's somewhat hard to spot in the photo, but he was a curious little one that came toward us for a couple feet before we went around.
We reached Swarthout with plenty of light to spare and because we weren't counting on it, didn't need to take any water from the cache there. While we were there we met Brake Man and Grasshopper along with Donkey Legs who had hiked the AT together four years previous. Shortly after dropping our packs and talking with the other hiker's, Alex and Coop hiked up. They were also planning on night hiking. Twist and I didn't take any water from the cache but it's a good thing it was there because just as we were getting ready to head out, Coop bumped his Platapus water bladder into a Yucca instantly poking a hole in it and lowering his water capacity for the dry dry stretch of trail ahead. We tried to patch it but nothing was working and we had to get moving so I think he ended up taking one of the Arrowhead jugs from the cache as a container until he got into town. After this I wanted to name him "Pokypus" but I don't think it'll stick.
We left the road and our first crossing of the San Andreas Fault. Soon enough the sun went down and the biggest full moon of the year came out!
The moon rising back over Cajon Pass.
This being our first real night hiking experience, it took some getting used to. Twist had a little bit of a difficult time getting used to hiking in the dark, but by the end of the night she adapted to it like she was nocturnal! Ha! The craziest part of night hiking is all the glowing eyes watching you as you march by. A couple times we stopped when a pair of eyes would be watching us from the middle of the trail just up ahead. Later we would find out that these blinking eyes actually belonged to small owls who would land on the trail and fly off when we got too close, but we managed to get close enough to identify them more than once.
The moon was bright and given the section of burned trail we were hiking, we got some amazing silhouettes of burned trees all around.
We hiked pretty much non-stop all night, only stopping for five to ten minutes at a time because if we stopped too long our body temp would drop quickly. The temp was around 35 degrees near the top of our climb. Dancing through the Poodle Dog Bush In the dark was interesting as well. Let's just say neither of us will be breaking out the Poodle Dog Shuffle at the local bar anytime soon.
We reached Wrightwood at about 4am and LUCKILY the owner of The Pines Hotel was there to answer our rings at the office door. He checked us in (only charging us for one night) and showed us to our room. We instantly took hot showers to warm our bones and jumped into bed. We are looking forward to seeing which other hikers are here in the morning. The plan is to resupply tomorrow....actually today after a couple hours sleep and get back on the trail tomorrow morning. We learned a couple lessons from our first night hike; 1. We like night hiking. 2. We don't like it enough to do 27 miles all at night. Instead, we will try and keep our night hiking to a few hours or 10ish miles at a time instead of hiking all through the night unless we absolutely have to.
