Writewood to Agua Dulce, Day 43, mile 454

It was in the 50's when I left Writewood. My host drove the large group of us to the trail head. It is very foggy and cold and the trees were doing something I have never seen before. They were condensing water from the fog and it was raining only under the tree canopy. Outside of the tree canopy it was bone dry. I noticed at first that only the pine trees were doing this but as I gained elevation the fir trees begin doing it as well. It became sunny and cleared enough so that the peak of Baden-Powell was pleasant and the views were good. It is only 1/10th of a mile off of the PCT so it is worth the trip. Many of of stopped on top of the peak to rest, but the wind picked up and I didn't stay for long. I am very hungry today and I keep thinking about food. Mountain Goat and I are going to make a special root beer float together when we get to Agua Dulce. It's going to be with vegan ice cream for him and we're going to use Dr Pepper instead of root beer! Mountain Goat and I have become good friends. He is a really nice guy. He is 43 and from South Carolina. He hiked 700 miles of the PCT in 2014. He made it to Bishop and then twisted his ankle and had to stop. He is back to try again and he started from the beginning again.  He is a very skinny guy and he told me that he weighed himself and has already lost 10 pounds. I don't know how much I have lost..if any. He is married and his wife Lauren is a librarian. She did not want to do the PCT and is walking in England right now. That sounds pretty nice. I suspect that she is hiking from pub to pub! Mountain Goat has his own blog and you can see that here.

Our last night at Writewood, one hiker bought the boot candle...not sure what all that was about. This is Meekat with the taco, she and her friend Black Widow are visiting from Austraila.

the bed and breakfast part was cute...too bad I was camping on the floor!

My hostess in Writewood

It was only raining under the trees!

This little guy looks like he is smiling...even though he is dead. He must have had a good life.

Here is a link to a short video of the clouds blowing over the pass. windy day at the pass on the PCT

It was really cold and foggy

My hosts in Wrightwood we're very kind. It was great to have a place to do some laundry, shower and sleep. It was very full however and I was in the bed and breakfast part. That meant I had to squeeze in in tiny floor space of a room with a queen bed. I was not allowed to use the bed or put things on the bed! Last night we all met at the Yodeler for cheap tacos. I actually did not purchase a taco but rather walked to the grocery store and bought some cottage cheese and avocado. That and a kombucha was dinner and it was absolutely delicious. Mountain Goat says that I am the most healthy eater he has ever seen on the trail. My food cravings are out of control however. I just want calories and fat....man I crave fat. Yesterday I bought a cheap no name peanut butter...it tasted like crap but I ate half the jar because I was so hungry for something and it was all I could find. I never thought that I would be eating crappy peanut butter! Today I am in Agua Dulce for a rest day and I picked up a care package from my mom and aunt Peggy. Yummy! Lots of treats to eat and share...I am so pleased!

One thing I have discovered along this trip is that I have to make decisions about what kind of hike I want to have. I was forced to skip some sections for fire closures and during this stretch there was another closure for an endangered frog. Almost every hiker took a  7 mile alternate but Mountain Goat and I decided that we were there to hike and took a 20 mile alternate. I am so glad that we did. It got us off of the crest and down a bit lower to the actual fracture line of the San Andreas fault. We got to see crazy green rocks and some impressive rock formations. One was called the Devil's Chair and it was impressive. I have been so lucky with  the weather. It has been very unseasonably cold and I love it. When it gets hot I lose all motivation and strength. I can handle cold just fine. The night before Writewood and the night after Writewood were 2 of the coldest nights and both nights were spent in a campground along the trail that allowed campfires. Both sites had a trail angel present tending to a hot fire for us. That warmth is so wonderful....most nights are cold and dark.

I heard that there was a bunch of talk about the woman who got bit by a rattlesnake and got treated. She is back on the trail and hiking again. I heard that she had an entry on the PTCA site and I was going to link to it...but I can not find the entry. Sorry!

Top of Badden-Powell. It was quite windy!

Not sure what this is about...I suspect a PCT hiker with a quirky sense of humor.

A fantastic spring for a water source on the first day of this leg.

The trail angel just outside of Writewood. I just can't explain how nice it was to have some fire to gather around.

Tons of us stayed here at the camp with the trail angel and the fire. I was gone the next morning quite early.

Mountain Goat and I chose to take the long reroute. It was steep, long and a rough trail but I am glad that we did it.

There was lots of water on the reroute. That was nice for a change.

The trail was rugged and sandy. It was hard going. The trail crew has to work hard to keep this trail passable. Here is some of the techniques they use to stabilize the slope.

You may not be able to see it in this picture but the rocks were green tinged.

I hit mile 400! I am 15% completed!

One of the water sources on this leg once we completed the reroute. It was a hot dry long hike...I had a lot of water weight for much of the trip. I have discovered that I enjoy hiking at night during the cool temperatures. I will try that tactic for the Mojave Desert.

the kindness of strangers and trail angels is so amazing. Just little kindnesses make such a huge difference out here.

this leg was through a lot of old hot dry burn areas.

at the fire hall they had free water and they had soda and snickers for a donation. I ate a snickers! I really did and I loved every bite.

there was a water gnome keeping watch over the water cash.

these are the left over containers from Coppertone. Coppertone is a trail angel who gave out root beer floats. This is from a 2 week supply of floats for the hikers. When I got to Coppertone he was out of most of the good stuff but he found some carrots for me. Delicious!

Coppertone. He hiked in 2007. Many through hikers come back in later years to provide some trail magic for other hikers.

Many of us made it to the KOA campgrounnd outside of Acton last night. We all kipped in our bags under the pagoda. I am so pleased that they allowed us to stay. It is Memorial Day weekend and it can be difficult to find anyplace to stay. I ate ice cream and drank a ton of cranberry juice. Oh, and I swam in the pool...what a treat! We got up and started hiking at 4:45 to beat the heat today.

Today I am in Agua Dulce at the Saufley's. They are trail angels who have totally changed their yard and home to accommidate all of us hikers. They are well organized and even I am in awe of their slick system. They have hourly shuttle to town and twice daily shuttles to REI about one hour away. This is the place where hikers get clean and organized and ready for the next hot section. Bless them!

there was a strange little alter along the trail with odd ceramic creatures in it.

the tunnel under the highway

Part of the trail piggybacked onto a nature trail. It was great to see all of the plant identification signs.

It is truly amazing how many of us hikers can fit into one small space.

Today I am resting and cleaning and repairing gear. My mom sent me a care package and I have tons of food to eat. What a great problem to have. 

I have some other videos that I want to share. I just figured out how to post them to you tube and link to them. Here are some older videos that I have taken.

The windowsill at Papa Smurfs in Big Bear

the breeze in the grass

A noisey windmill outside of Big Bear 

Love to all of you and thank you for your ongoing support!

Big Bear to Writewood CA, Day 37, mile 370

I left Big Bear feeling rather rested. I had a long 20-plus mile day the first day. I was hiking rather slowly, and my group went on ahead of me. I reconnected with them that evening and it felt good to be around friends. The trail followed a river much of the way. I was up above the river but it was so exciting to actually see water. One landmark is the rainbow bridge. There were several bridges along the way and we all enjoyed playing in the water and soaking our feet. Mostly the trail has been hot and dry. 

Rainbow Bridge

swimming in the cool creek

The next day I hiked onward to the infamous Big Creek Hot Springs. The PCT goes right by the hot springs it is so easy to stop. I had read that there were high levels of bacteria and fecal coli form in the water, and judging by the evidence of toilet paper under every bush, believe it. I chose to only put my feet in. It was very difficult because they are beautiful hot springs and I longed to put my whole body in. I did not take any pictures, I'm not sure why, Maybe I was just jealous!

For some reason, after the hot springs, I was a very slow hiker. It took me all day to get 17 miles. I'm at a point on the trail were fast people are blowing by me. There's a group of people that I am leapfrogging with but there is also a group of people that are really moving quickly up the trail. Last night I camped next to two gentlemen who rolled in quite late and ask to use my site. I left on April 15th They left on May 5th. It's a little difficult to not feel inferior. But I did pass the 300 mile mark and that was satisfying.

No too bad after a night of vommitting!

Well, there may have been a reason I was going so slowly. That night I woke up feeling very ill and I vomited several times. I normally am hitting the trail and walking at about 6:30 a.m., or earlier if I can. I hit the trail that morning at 8:30 and I did not feel good. The two guys that were camping near me left very early that morning and I was tucked back in a corner off the trail all by myself. I knew I had to get going but I felt so poorly that I didn't want to get out of my tent. I also realized that people could walk past me all day long and never know I was back there, tucked away feeling ill. I heard my friend Hatchet walking by and I called out his name. He stopped and we talked so at least one person knew that I was ill. He was going to hike 15 miles that day and stop before Cajon Junction. I was going to shoot for the same target so that I could hit Cajon Junction in the late morning. I don't know why I got sick. I have been treating my water and I don't think I ate anything strange. I did stop two miles before dinner last night to get water and I lost all self-control. I ate a bunch of coconut and an entire Theo's candy bar. I was pretty full but I ate dinner anyway because, well, it was there and I needed to get healthy food in me. I did not feel overly stuffed that night but obviously something didn't sit well.

A trail angel treat! There were oranges, water, hard boiled eggs!

I hiked about 3 miles the next day. The trail connected with a road for a short ways and then took off into the hills again. I began to hike into the hills. I knew that I needed to eat and drink so I tried to drink some water and felt immediately sick again. I hit a cooler with some trail angel treats in it and I wanted nothing to do with any of the food. I ran into a young guy named Taylor who was hiking back down the trail with some nasty infected blisters. I took his presence as a sign and decided that I could not hike 15 miles without eating or drinking so I paired up with him and we hiked back to the road and hitchhiked to Cajon Junction and got a  motel room. I slept and felt feverish for the whole day but amazingly I was able to leave the next day and I hiked 22 miles!

We had all been talking about Cajon Pass for days now. It is a tiny little spot right by I-15 that has a McDonald's, a Chevron station and a motel, that's it! People have been talking about what they are going to order at McDonald's. I heard they make really good milkshakes at the Chevron using real ice cream. Some people got excited to get a hotel room for the night and shower maybe even twice! My goal was simply to survive the day. I didn't eat any junk food due to my stomach. I ate oatmeal instead...yum! We all needed to stop at McDonald's on the way out of town to get water. It is the last water source for the next 23 miles of hot dry stretch and it was a like a party in there. I think it had been about 25 years since I had last been in a McDonalds.  

in bed with the flu...I think it was the flu.

I made to to Writewood just fine. It was really cold last night and when I pulled up into the campground just 5 miles shy of town, there was a trail angel there with a hot fire and burritos! He hiked the trail last year and just wanted to give back. It was so nice to feel the heat from the fire. I headed to bed right after eating and did not partake in the beer or the tequila. That way there was more for others right?

a tunnel under 1-15 on the way to Writewood

This a poodle dog bush. It will make you very sick and I
need to avoid even brushing up against the plant.

The area I hiked through was an old burn so was pretty hot and exposed.
Luckily the weather has been cool so it has been really tolerable.

Right before Writewood, the trail passes the ski area and the unused ski lifts...it is a bit surreal looking.

The PCT went right past this STOP sign. We all survived just fine!

Breakfast at the Grizzley Cafe was fantastic!

I was going to take a day off in Writewood but now I am thinking that I may start hiking tomorrow. I feel pretty rested really and ready to go. I am giving some thought to the Sierras and the snow but mostly I am thinking closer to home and developing some strategies about how to make it through the Mojave Desert. Sheesh. For being in the woods and not having anything to do...I have a lot to do and figure out and plan. 

I have already had to order a new pair of shoes because my feet have grown too big for this pair and I am getting blisters. I just picked up my new pair and I can't wait to try them on. Yipee