Trail Miles: 494 miles
I woke this morning after a great nights rest in the manzanita grove. After packing my stuff I wandered down to the house where Joe and Terry Anderson had coffee, pancakes, and waffles ready for the thru-hikers. Before shutteling us back up to the trail they took polaroid pictures of all of us for there photo album.
Once back to the trail we started our next ascent up the hill. Unfortunately today there were no ominous clouds, so we would have to walk under the heat of the sun. As we climbed up the hill we were thankful that the air was cool. After three quick miles, Jon, Debi, and I caught up to Dominique and Erica ("Canadian Bacon" collectively) and "Nabor J". The rest of the lackadaisical day would be spent with them.
We made our way over the crest and slowly dropped down the north side of the hill, where once again we would weave between two distinct areas. The manzanita and chamise would break for moments as we passed into shadier Black Oaks and Interior live Oaks.
After 10 miles we dropped down into a creek bed where we cooked up a lunch to lighten our packs (because the Andersons provided us with two meals, we had two extra in our packs). The creek was a bad source for water, so we hiked a mile further to the next water source, a small spring. Since we were tired, we all decided to hang out there to wait out the heat of the afternoon sun.
Two hours later we continued our climb, resting every hour. The climb was a constant waver between the oaks and chapparal. Soon we came across a cache which we thought was for PCT hikers. After drinking some gatorade, we found a note informing us that we were wrong. It was put there for the Horse Race tomorrow. Woopse, well it tasted good.
While we rested there abit, more hikers caught up with us. Soon we were nine strong. We slowly trickeled away from the cache and started to drop casually down the desert hills. With the typically dry conditions the ground is soft, so when it rains little rivers form all over the hillside working there way to the watershed. These little rivers, now gone, have left miniature valleys all over the hillside, a small mimic of the larger terrain we have been traversing.
After a long casual day we finally pulled into a decent place to camp. By then we were all hungry, so we decided to do a potluck style dinner. We all cooked up our own dinners and passed around our food. Since there was so many of us, it was like a 15 course feast. Tonight we are camping with more people in one spot than I have experienced on the whole trail.
Tomorrow we will hike roughly 20 miles. We probably could go further, but we want to stop shy of the Mojave crossing so that we can get an early start on the long hot stretch. Another added twist to tomorrows hike will be the Horse Race on the PCT. We might have to step off the trail constantly to let horses and jockeys zip past us, leaving a dusty beat up trail for us to follow. We'll see though.
Tomorrow we plan to hike the 20 miles down to the desert floor, so we can rise early and cross as much of the desert in the first shot as possible.
June 4th Afternoon
Elevation: 3730 ft
What a morning. We woke up and started down the trail. The horse race was today, so we were expecting to see horses, and we did. As we hiked along in clusters, occassionally the the front hiker would shout "horses." We would all step down off the trail and let the horses pass.
After 4 miles, we decided to take another trail down the hill. As we searched for the trail, some hikers opted to go on, those are the lucky ones (maybe).
The trail dissappeared, and before we knew it we were bushwacking through the chapparel. Losing the trail and getting all cut up, we slowly slowly worked our way through the shrubs. Twelve thru-hikers emerged bleeding cut up and dirty into a Korean Presbyterian Retreat. Immediately I went for the shower to clean off and do a tick check.
After the shower we continued on to do a road walk for the rest of the day. We met a road crew on their lunch break. After chatting with them for a bit, they offered us some of their food. Gratefully the twelve of us chowed down on sandwiches.
We continued with our roadwalk, and now are all resting at Three Points, planning the rest of the day.
Happy Trails, Inner Peace, & Harmony
Parting Photo at the Anderson's (aka Casa de Luna or Lunatic Lounge)
Sometimes we travel in herds
Brian sporting trail "Bling"
Stepping off the Trail for the horse racers
Coming out of a mad bush-wacking experience
The road crew feeds us
This old gas station is a Church on Sundays, and a Bar the rest of the week