Elevation: 2330 ft
Trail Miles: 220 miles
Today was a day of sounds. From Early morning until setting sun and beyond the day has been filled with a variety of sounds.
I awoke this morning to the soft rush of water down the creek. The small city backs up the water for use and turns it off and on, so about every hour the creek fills up for 20 minutes until it slowly drains again. After hearing that creek sound in the morning I rose to greet the sun readying itself to beat down on us all day.
The next sound was the distant freeway traffic which became louder as we approached interstate 10. As we neared the freeway and railroad, we passed under some powerlines. The electric buzz of power hummed overhead until we were a couple hundred feet from the powerline towers. After four short miles we perched up in the shade of the freeway underpass. Thru-Hikers came and went through the hot morning, but a few waited the arrival of my friend Heather. Between the loud whirrs of passing semi's you could here the occassional joyous yelp as another thru hiker found shade.
As temperatures rose to 94 degrees in the shade we waited for Heather and Matt's arrival (former coworker and friend of mine). Around one she arrived with 12 beers, 4 gallons of water, a big bag of M&Ms, a canteloupe, and a honeydew. I can't imagine what it was like for them to see 10 thru-hikers stinky dusty hot and tired ravishing through the mellons. After thanking them, enjoying drinks with them, and saying goodbye, we slowly returned to the heat leaving behind the world of the "underpass cats" to hike on.
Shortly after leaving the freeway we worked our way up into the hills of wind farms. The hike was accented by the somewhat hypnotic spinning of windmill blades, and the quite whirring and whispering that seemed to pass over the blades. I took a small snack break in the limited shade I had and stared up at the rotating blades.
After climbing up 2000ft and over the first small pass into the San Bernadino Mountains the only sound we heard for miles was the wind. It was not until the last two miles that we heard the flowing water of White Water River.
Pulling in at sunset we layed down in the flowing river to wash our sweaty bodies and clothes. We then cooked ourselves a dinner, and now as I write I am listening to hundreds of frogs croaking into the night.
May 16th Evening
Elevation: 7320 ft
Trail Miles: 238 miles
Today was a hard day. Not too much physically or mentally. Maybe too much of both. The day started with a nice simple walk along and out of White Water River Valley. But before we leave the valley we have to do a thigh deep river ford through snow melt. That was fun, but I did worry about slipping and dropping my camera in the water.
That being done, we rose about 2000 feet to walk along the crest of some foothills to the San Bernadino Mountains. Walking along in the wind, having flashbacks of Apache Creek we dropped back down about 1700 feet to Mission Creek. The creek we were to follow the rest of the day.
Slowly winding up the valley, we had to cross Mission Creek around 20 times throughout the day. At all crossings there were logs that we could balance our way across. Doing this was fairly easy, but it did get the adrenaline going. Got it going just enough to push me to the next creek crossing. It also made progress slow, as all three of us would cross before continuing. With long gradual ascent up the valley we repeated this process over wide logs, slippery sticks, bouncy limbs, and rolly branches.
All these crossings and one final uphill climb of nearly 1500 feet have slowed us down. We started out at 6 am, finished at 7pm and only logged
roughly 18 miles. On a similar day without the river crossings we could have done 22-26 miles, or at least i think.
Tired, and running low on food, we need to push hard tomorrow and the next day to get to town without being clompletely hungry.
May 17 Evening
Elevation: 7380 ft
Trail Miles: 255 Miles
Todays hike was much easier than yesterdays. Yesterdays was not tough it was just very slow uphill progress. Todays was uphill and downhill, uphill and downhill, uphill and downhill.
I knew that we were going to climb to an elevation of 8600 ft, and then drop down the rest of the day. It was rather unnerving to get up to 8400ft only to drop 500ft and try again. But I guess I should get used to this whole up and down thing, there is alot of it on the trail, or so I've been told.
We woke up and hit the trail an hour later than yesterday, and stopped hiking two hours earlier than yesterday, but still covered about the same amount of distance. The only thing that slowed us down was the occassional snowfield we had to cross.
All in all today was a nice hike. Unlike yesterday, I seemed to be full of energy, and I started out before Jon and Debi by a few minutes each time to hike alone. With nice soft trail for most of the day I seemed to move along at a nearly running pace. The smell of the pine trees was abundantly fragrant today. As I hiked I was reminded of the times I would go camping as a child, with the boy scouts or hunting with my family. I walked among memories, energy, and a few randomly placed thoughts (Guinness, Macauly Caulkin in "The Good Son", Cottage Cheese, among other random thoughts).
Of course as the day wore on my energy diminished, but I was constantly being hit with a stunning view San Jacinto to the south, reminding me of how far I have come.
Tomorrow as we descend into Big Bear City, we will have completed 10% of the trail. I just need to do what I have already done 9 more times in different conditions, climate, and elevations and I will find my way to Canada.
May 18th Late Morning
Elevation: 6480 ft
Trail Miles: 265 miles (TEN PERCENT!! oy vey! they still is alot tot go)
After waking up fairly early for a short day, we soon discovered that alot of us had strange dreams last night. Not necessarily nightmares, just bizarre ones. I dreamt about waterskiing in a swimming pool. We all panicked when he could not be found. Turns out he decided to go to the library. We all laughed, it was like a simple sitcom with lots of hidden oddities I will not go into.
After a quick 10 mile hike out of the pines and into a more desertlike environment we arrived at highway 18. After trying to thumb a ride down to Big Bear City, some dayhikers came down to their car. I asked for a ride and after figuring things out, they gave me a ride into town. Jon and Debi waited another 15-20 minutes before getting a ride from another person.
Now that we are at the inn, we are hanging out with a few thru-hikers until our room is clean. Once it is clean, a new batch of thru-hikers will storm into it filling it with dirty boots, packs, and clothes...and fragrant bodies.
But first, I had to attend to some medical issues. Simply stated: Ticks are not fun. Removing them is harder than it seems, and they find the worst possible places to make home. Injured and maybe aquiring a new trail name, I look forward to hopping in the shower.
Tomorrow we head back to the trail...or that is the thought.
Happy Trails, Inner Peace, & Harmony
Hypnotic Wind Turbines
That looks like a place to camp
Frigid morning stream ford.
Yup, another Rattlesnake
Yes indeed, we are on the Pacific Crest Trail