This was another very good but hot hiking day. We started off tired, though— the wind howled and roared all night and kept shaking my sleeping bag. The day started at 50 degrees but soon got hot. The wind continued for some time— we had to squeeze between some rocks to eat breakfast without being blown away. We enjoyed fantastic views of desert and mountains to the east, and gradually the wind slacked off. We reached the crucial water cache at Bird Spring Pass, and whew! There was plenty of water. Then came the 2 hour climb out of the pass and at the top we could see snowy Sierra peaks on the horizon!

Then came a long time of hiking through pretty but viewless forest till we reached the “burn zone” and had to hike in hot sun mile after mile with no shade. Around 2:30pm, I just “bonked” and it was really hard to keep going. Fortunately it wasn’t far to McIver spring and cabin. What a great place! We bypassed it in 2005. That was a dumb thing to do! We washed our socks and ourselves at the spring and relaxed on chairs in the shade by the cabin for quite awhile.

Best of all, Bill got a miraculous Father’s Day gift— sitting on a table in the cabin, next to the trail register, was his pocketknife that he lost at Casa de Luna. It belonged to his grandfather and was very special to him. Wow! Much refreshed, we finally got back on the PCT and camped a mile from Walker Pass down in a gully out of the wind. It’s a warm night!

Walk to Lórien: Rolling hills near Rivendell

Today was much better for me— I could hike steadily along and didn’t need extra rest breaks. Early in the morning we reached fenced-in Robin Bird Spring, and Bill crawled under the fence to get water and rinse our dirty socks, while I guarded our packs. Off we went again through a very pretty stretch of PCT— grass and trees like a park, then down through Jawbone Canyon, which is an ugly name for a lovely place— lots of trees for shade, and interesting rocks.

But we had one bad experience. We heard a roaring noise up ahead and before we’d even finished saying, “what’s that?” we had to leap off the trail because roaring around the bend of the PCT came 5 motorbikers in full “armour.” Yikes! Bad, bad! If we wanted to be trail nazis, we could have reported them.

Shortly after, we came to a PCT trail register and discovered 10 hikers a day ahead of us. Now we were worried. What if that meant no water left at 2 key water caches up ahead? But no problem— there was plenty at Kelso Valley Road. It was a hot day, and one of the “up ahead” hikers had used twigs to leave an “unprintable” message on the trail about having to hike in the heat. By late afternoon, the wind began to blow and we were having a hard time staying “on course” in the gusts. Managed to make camp behind some Joshua trees in a roaring, now chilly wind.

Walk to Lórien: Crossing small stream near Rivendell

Today was a very tough day for me, so it was a good thing the trail was basically easy. I still feel very weak, and the 5-6,000 foot elevation after being at sea level for 2 weeks didn’t help. But the PCT was full of interesting things today— desert views to the east, ridges with windmills, rugged mountains.

At lunch we were enjoying a spectacular view of Cache Peak when a Navy jet came roaring and twisting up the canyon, below the windmills! Whee!

At Golden Oak spring we took on more water and treated it with GSE. Hope it works! (GSE = Grapefruit Seed Extract, recommended by Meadow Mary). By suppertime at 5:00pm I was totally wiped out and discouraged at being “slow”, so I cried a little bit. Well, no need— we still got over 26 miles and passed the 600 mile mark! We found a nice place to camp under oak trees with just enough wind to keep the mosquitos away.

Walk to Lórien: Windy day in mountains near Rivendell

Even though we ate breakfast at home before heading out, we had no problems with commute traffic and pretty soon we were zooming along I-5. I kept staring at the east for a look at the Sierras, but no luck— the air was too hazy. We took the bus from Bakersfield and wow! When we left, the hills were green and Tehachapi Mtn. had snow on top. Now everything was brown, and no snow.

Trail Angel Terry Larson gave us a ride back to the PCT. He said we were only the 3rd hikers going to the trail with him this year. Everybody else was leaving. Off we went— and oh man, my pack was heavy– six days of food, full load of water, and uphill trail. Between being weakened by giardia, allergies and no training for the last 2 weeks, I was huffing and puffing and hiking like a snail. But from 3:45 till 7:00, we still did 8 miles, and managed to find a fairly wind-protected campsite among bushes and pinyon pines. We found bear poop nearby, so we kept our food bags right next to us and ice axe and trek poles handy.

Walk to Lórien: In the mountains near Rivendell