Jay and I Completed Section C and D with a few new adventures, new friends and new gear.
We left Big Bear spending a whole day circumnavigating the lake. We did a very good job of making our miles and staying at designated Camps. The first camp we made it too,Little Bear Springs Trail Camp, was burned over and really ugly with logging truck tracks everywhere and no living trees. It was kind of sad. The water there was great. On the trail you become water obsessed, some areas this year are very well watered, others are pretty dry and you have to plan your hiking around where to find them.
After the burned out campsite we hiked along Holcomb Creek. It was a good trail and stayed mostly above the creek. After following the creek for several miles there was a crossing. The creek was high and fast the crossing was HARD. Jay was worried about me falling in, a very rational worry, so he went downstream to catch me when I fell. Ah well, He thought he saw an easier crossing, lept onto a rock in the middle of the stream bobbled twice then fell in! Over his head, in icy snowmelt water, brrrrr. I helped him back to shore and we did a quick change job to get him into dry clothes. We pushed a little harder down stream and found the wide ford where a jeep road crossed. We changed into water shoes and practiced our swift water linked arm crossing. Safely onto the other side of the river, we put our shoes back on and in the mean time met a Southbound Hiker named Jaimie. She gave us some dried yogurt. It was really yummy. We talked about the trail and the hike for about an hour, then we headed off on our opposite directions.
The next big thing for us was Deep Creek a beautiful catch and release trout stream. On our way down to the crossing we met a triple crown hiker named Freefall. He was hiking toward the ADZPCTKO at Lake Morena in a few days. He informed us that the trail through Deep Creek was closed an we would have to do a long road walk around. BUMMER
After crossing Deep Creek on this dramatic bridge we began our 4.5 mile roadwalk into Cedar Glen to pick up our resupply. This was a tough resupply the walk was up a steep paved road that became busier and busier. We finally reached the top and discovered the Malt Shop, We had Veggie Burgers and Root Beer Floats. When we arrived in Cedar Glen it was early afternoon but we were beat. The post office had a bunch of packages for us. Jay got a terrific hand made comic book from his Homeschool Coop. He was so enamored and touched he sent it back home for Dad to save for us. There was no way we could hike back to the trail before dark so we took a bus into Lake arrowhead and got a room. The next morning the Easter Bunny cam a day early and brought Jay some Candy Eggs and a beanie baby that looks like Seymore the chipmunk. We met Dave at the hotel breakfast. He has a son that is a fire prevention ranger that works at Bandelier. We talked a little over breakfast and when he found out we were stuck for a ride he offered to run us up to the trrailhead.
When we got there it turned out the road was open for 4 wheel drive cars so he said" Let's see how far I can go." We made it down the whole way. Skipping the nasty Easter Weekend road walk. We said goodbye at the Mojave River dam. Jay and I hiked about 3 miles and camped. The ride and the trail closure put us ahead of our schedule so we hiked one full day into Silverwood Lake campground. They let PCT hikers camp for free.
We stayed three nights and Jay got to meet some great kids from Compton that were camping out. It was hard for Jay to leave his new friends behind but we needed to get to I 15 because our ride to the KO was picking us up there
It was a lovely hike. We stayed high on a ridge circling around little Horsethief canyon, then dropped down to these cool sand hills. That led to the I 15 at Cajon Pass. We got to the Hotel in early evening on Wednesday, when I checked in I found out that another hiker was staying in the hotel. I knocked on his door and was delighted to meet Dustin, now known as Radio, We had fun sharing our adventures. He and his friends had been slowly catching up to Jay and I, reading our comments in trail logs and seeing our tiny foot prints on the trail. It was so exciting to meet another thru hiker that is going our way.
We also met Dave the next day. It turned out that we all got to go to the Kick Off party in Lake Morena. We had a blast there meeting Sunshine and her dad, they are hiking the trail this year too. She and Jay are the youngest kids this year except for a one year old who is being packed.
We met Dustins friend Chemical Burn at the Kick off and many many others. A horse riding PCTer was kind enough to pick us up and return us to the trail after. His name is Mendorider.
On the saturday of Kick Off I donated my hair to Locks of love and got it trimmed down to about 1/4 " long. My camera is broken so I didn't get any photos of my new do. I should have some by next post.
At kick off we found out the conditions in Section D may have been better than I thought. Dustin and Chemical Burn invited us to hile with them so we decided to hike it. We wound up spending alot of time road walking on the closed Angeles Crest Hiway. We met some snowboarders that were hiking in to do chutes that still held snow. We also met a couple who are bike touring around the world. They had just arrived from New Zealand and were on their way to Seatle before turning East and pedaling to Boston. Wow we thought we were on a long trip.
We tried to figure a way through the Station Fire Closures but didn't do it right and wound up hiking through a section that had burned, That wasn't much fun so we decieded to hitch to Acton. A JPL engineer crammed the four of us plus packs and Utah into his 1994 Saturn. It was a tight squeeze but we had a nice campsite on Cinco de Mio, we ate pizza and drank Coronos and called Mendorider for some more help. He was eager to bring us to Aqua Dulce and on the way he tool us through the Frazier Rocks, a frequent movie locations site that looks a little like Southern Utah. We hiked there then went to lunch in Aqua Dulce and then we met the Saufleys. OMG. They don't call it Hiker Heaven for nothing. Everything a hiker needs is here. Rides to the city for gear shopping, A mail station a trailer guest house, anything and everything a hiker could need is here. AWESOME. Yesterday we went to town and I got a new camera for mothers day and some size small hiking pants. After shopping Donna drove Jay and I to a fabulous French restaurant called Lechien and we had an early Mothers day dinner.
Jay with my new camera
Chemical Burn
Radio (Dustin) in his new glasses.
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