Our “oak duff mattress” under the big oak tree gave us a wonderful night’s sleep. The cows thought so, too— they spent the night bedded down around us, but left at dawn. We slept in untill 6:00am before leisurely making our way along Agua Caliente creek, and then on to Warner Springs. First thing was to get a room, clean up a bit, then to breakfast at the golf course restaurant. There were only four golfers— all the rest were hungry hikers! Main topic of conversation was, “Yikes! The snow!” Everyone is debating what to do about the Desert Divide, three days hike from here.

Next agenda item for me was laundry, and I made it just in time to start my load before someone else. It was so cold (60 degrees) that I brought my sleeping bag to sit in on the laundry room floor. While our clothes dried, I had a great time talking to a hiker from New York state who was once a submariner on the Nautilus! Awesome! Then I headed for the hot pool for a good soak. Bill and I feel like we’ve been “jell-oed.” We had time to read, get our box from the post office, plus some goodies from the hiker box, and then spent awhile trying to figure out why/how so many bees were getting into our room. Before we figured it out, one of the rascals stung me! Oh well!

A continual parade of hikers can be seen here— the ones just coming off the trail look tired and grubby— the rest of us clean and relaxed. At the pool, we enjoyed both the hot soak and the conversation— lots of different topics. Hikers have wide-ranging opinions! Before we went for dinner, Bill discovered that the terrific winds yesterday (we learned at Warner Springs that some of these gusts hit 50mph!) had literally blown his mosquito headnet right out of its storage pocket on the side of his pack. So we will order more fabric and have it sent to Agua Dulce at the Saufley’s, where I can sew him another one. On the bright side, the weather is improving, the flowers here are beautiful (iris, lilacs, roses…) and at dinner we had a chance to talk with a very interesting chap who was at ADZPCTKO and had a book on hiking the Israel National Trail. He let me borrow it for awhile to look at, and it was fascinating. The author warned in the beginning that his friends often tease him about lapsing into Welsh, because after all, the book is in English (the only English guidebook to the trail) and sure enough, Welsh phrases popped up all over the place (always translated, though).

Note from Alexa: Mae hynny’n ardderchog!

The chap we were talking to has hiked all but the south portion of the trail, and after looking at the book, I can see why— it’s rugged desert country when sometimes the “trail” is a ladder down a canyon wall. But talk about geological beauty— wow! So that was a fun read, and Bill also called ahead to Big Bear City’s “PCT hiker rest stop” to tell him we hoped to be there by May 7. Oh, and the guy with the Israel National Trail book also told us he and friends had been up in the Desert Divide / Fuller Ridge just a short time ago, and he thought we would make it through just fine!

Walk to Rivendell: Still The Barrow-Downs (presumably captured by the Wight!)

At 3:00am, Bill and I had to get up and rig the tarp. It had clouded over and a light mist was coming down. At 5:00am we got up, and when we came out of our cozy gully, we were shocked to see rain coming down, just across from us on the other side of the valley. Out came the rain-gear. The wind was fierce, and got worse as the day went on— but it never really rained on us— we were on the “dry side” of the valley, with the cacti and ocotillas, all of which had at least some flowers! Very pretty, but walking a narrow trail with the wind slamming you around and cacti waiting to “bite” your ankles got tricky sometimes! The views were spectacular, especially when some sun broke through and there was a huge rainbow.

By 11:00am, we’d reached the famous “3rd gate water cache” where a group of thruhikers were hunkered down out of the wind. And what a wind! There were several times when I literally could not make progress against it! We topped up our water, and after awhile, we could see the Montezuma Valley and finally the beautiful big oak trees of Barrel Springs. Then surprise! Another hiker oasis with lots of free food! We enjoyed hot chocolate, hot dogs, chili and conversation. Then it was several more gorgeous miles of huge wildflowered meadows, the famous Eagle Rock, and camp under a venerable oak tree (soft oak duff! Ah— like a mattress!) A herd of cows came over to watch us for awhile before they made camp, too!

Walk to Rivendell: The Barrow-Downs

Another hiker passed us (in our cowboy camp near the trail) at 4:45am, and laughed, “you guys call yourselves hikers? How come you’re not up yet?” We cracked up laughing and decided he was right, so we hit the trail before sunrise. My “I will not be scared of big dropoffs by the trail” got a good workout today— but oh man, the views were awesome! It was a very pleasant day to hike— the only downside was an unbelievably rocky trail almost all day. The wildflowers were very nice— one whole valley was carpeted with yellow!

We managed NOT to get lost at Chariot Canyon this time! By lunchtime we were already at Rodriguez Truck Trail, and the trail rumor turned out to be right— there was an awesome hiker oasis setup. We headed straight for the free showers and showered with all our clothes on (we were really hot and sweaty). The breeze dried us in no time while we ate our lunch supplemented with cold juice. The “oasis guy” is an avid horseman who told us about riding the length of California on the old “CA Riding and Hiking Trail.” He’s having a blast hanging out with us hikers!

We mushed on to Scissors Crossing, where all the others stopped to camp. But the wind was howling, so we went on for another hour, switchbacking up to a cozy, sandy gully we spotted in 2005, and made a great camp there.

Walk to Rivendell: Bonfire Glade in Old Forest

Today was a day of one spectacular view after another, since we were climbing up to and along the Laguna Mountains. We were cheering about being able to do the really tough climb early, while it was still cool, till Bill noticed a potential disaster— “Monty, your trek pole tip is gone!” Oh no! We walked back down, hunting for it, and finally, near the bottom, along came “Noga”, who had found my tip! Whew! Back up the hill again, till pine trees, green grass and snow patches replaced the chaparral.

We got a great lunch at the Mt. Laguna store, where the entire long porch was lined with jolly thru-hikers. A guy sitting by us was eating a pint of ice cream. “It’s a pint at every resupply now,” he joked. “Then farther along, it’ll be a half gallon, and by Stehekin, it’ll be a gallon!” We then moseyed over to the picnic area for a two hour rest, plus rinsing out dusty, sweaty socks and shirts. By 2:00pm we were on the PCT going past one spectacular “big dropoff to the desert” view after another. Tonight we are near Pioneer Mail picnic area.

Walk to Rivendell: In woods near Stock-brook

The Three Montys

We “breakfast crew” had to report for duty at 6:00am today, and we gave all the hikers another feast! I also finally snagged both the other Montys for a picture, and am now the proud owner of a pin (I put it on my hat) that says, “I am a friend of WS Monty.” Then Bill and I packed up, cleaned up and walked a mile to church. Very sweet people there— they love to pray, and all gathered around to pray for us! We were very blessed. The church folks had a potluck after, but we had miles to do. Since we are trying to slow down and give the Sierra snow time to melt, we took our time.

We had gorgeous views and we climbed high above Lake Morena, and despite our carefully slower pace, kept passing people.

Note from Alexa: I’ve seen their ’slower’ pace. I think they’d outdistance Luke Skywalker on his speeder.

At 5:30 we stopped to cook dinner at a huge thruhiker “encampment” at Fred Canyon Creek, which included a bit of drama when a British hiker tried to make a little cooking fire, and another hiker rudely tossed a pot of water in it and hissed about “no open fires in the back country!” Not true! All the other hikers rallied to defend the Brit and pulled out fire permits to prove it. We passed on until sundown and camped just off the trail. It is a cool, nice evening.

Walk to Rivendell: First Meeting with Black Rider